Burned up clutch

I really didnt slip it that much, just tried to get along to catch up, then wham.
my suzuki would not done this.
i have already fixed it, took out the wave washer and part plate at the back, so now its grabbier, but i cant imagine taking this bike out to ride it hard, it would have never lasted.

hopefully new parts, and no wave washer, will make it more reliable. sheesh.
comments?

 

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

May I be the first to say your oil looks like shit, looks like water in your oil. Clutch plates are very durable but turn to mush in water.Stuck a set in a parts washer once, just once.That failure stinks of contamination of your oil.

 

I would have to agree with Toe, An outdrive on a boat will have the oil look the same once the seals have gone an water seeps in..

 

I agree with the others. Many of us ride the piss out of our VFR's with stock internals and the stock clutch without any issues at all. Something else has caused this clutch failure or you have a very very rare faulty clutch.

 

FWIW, Honda has been using the same clutch and friction plates since 1993 in the CBR900RR, CB900F, CBR600F4, CBR600RR, and VFR800. The VFR is probably the least demanding of all the applications for these plates.

 

I've had 24 Honda's, no clutch issues ever. If you bought it used it's the unknown, oil was contaminated with something by the looks of it. Nice avatar Toe!

 

meatloaf, can you elaborate on how you ride the piss out of your bikes, and captb good on you to not have any clutch issues.
I doubt the stock clutch in your bikes would be any different if I did to it what I did to mine.
there was, and is no oil in the water, the clutch burned the oil.

the stock anti-judder spring was the fault in my opinion, so I removed it and have abused the new set up without failure yet.

I"m not dissing on the product, just poining out if I took a stock bike to the drags it wouldnt last either.

I asked for comments, thanks to all who responded.
I'll post more later.

 

It is the manner that the pads came off the disc and the mud look to the oil that lends to a water isssue.I have deep fat fried a clutch or two in my day and the disc's will turn to charcoal as they fail from heat. Those discs look look like the bonding let loose and the glue that binds them is water soluble. Not trying to anger but you can see in the pic that the pads have come loose from the disc ,many are just turned in place and look fine and not burned. Drop one in some water over night and it will fall apart.

 

Just an observation, from this distance .

 

I fried the clutch in my 3d gen attempting to learn how to drag race. The bike is geared a bit tall in stock form for good launches in my opinion so you have to slip it alot to get off the line smooth and fast. My clutch had 18k on it when I did this and it started slipping after about a dozen runs. I replaced it with a barnett clutch kit and never experienced another issue even doing several track days on it and a huge tour. The barnett is still solid 15k later. This is actually the only Honda clutch I have ever needed to replace, the Ducati is another story$$$$!

BTW,
My clutch didn't look as bad as yours, probably because I stopped racing and changed it as soon as I detected slip. Once it starts slipping the heat build up is exponential and total failure is imminent as you found out. This would be true on any bike, I believe.

If you don't mind me asking, how many miles were on your clutch at time of failure?

 

I had the Vance & Hines Billet clutch basket and the Barnett clutch stack with more copper coated steel plates and more friction plates in my GS1150ES, very durable for high rpm launches on street & strip. Expensive but the big Suzuki was known to explode clutch baskets so a wise investment.

 

You should not have removed those parts from your clutch. Now it COULD slip or have another short life.
Those clutch plates are NOT burnt otherwise the metal plates would have turned brown or blue from the heat.
It looks like the plates were stuck for some reason to have that happen.

You will have to take apart your clutch now and put back the parts you took out.
Also put the metal plates on a glass plate and make sure they are absolutely flat.

I hope you would not sell the motorcycle missing those clutch parts and not tell the new owner!

 

Sounds like what I was thinking exactly.

He did supply a good photo. Thanks!!

 

Yes......and remember that the clutch is in the same oil that the rest of the engine is running in,
so all of the abrasive material coming off of the clutch gets circulated through all of your engine bearings etc.,.
Why do you think Harleys have the transmission as a separate unit.

 

my bike is different than yours, it has this new feature called a oil filter.

to elaborate, there is no water in the oil. the clutch overheated, and cooked the oil.
i abused the clutch, it overheated, melted the outermost plates, cooked the oil. I nursed it home, and subsequently changed the oil when i replaced the broken parts.

point is, the stock clutch has the anti-judder spring. i removed that. it now works fine, has a better feel, locks up with a solid feel, and completely disengages more aburptly.

this isnt my first bike, neither my first honda.
how everyone thinks there was water in the oil, is beyond comprehension.

tires are worn out now at 3,500 miles, new roadsmarts waiting for stock items to be worn out completely, maybe put them on this weekend.

thanks for all the comments, I'll post more later.

 

Joe what year is yours btw? And did you take out just 1 judder spring /washer or both of them?

 

I guess what your not aware of is not all the oil gets filtered. Look at any VFR oil flow schematic and you will find the oil going to the crank and cams run thru the filter. The oil going to the transmission is NOT FILTERED. So guess what? You still can have contaminates in your engine oil. Seeing that the crankcase, clutch and trans share the same oil. If the oil was contaminated by water it most likely come from condensation. Even newer oil with a burnt clutch wouldn't look like that. When was the last time you changed the oil before beating your bike and what kind was it? I hope not non-synthetic automotive oi.

 

bike is brand new, with 3,500 miles. and yes the trans circulates oil without filitering, but I simply drove it home, wouldnt you.
there is no water in the oil, the color of the oil is from overheating.
i did replace it with shell rotella, a car oil.
bike is a 2008, i bought it with less than 700 miles on it, previous owner did not like the clip ons, bought a hd instead.
we both work for same company, when i got the bike it still had the nubs on the tires.

 

I might offer some personal information here, as it seems some of you think i am unknowing.
My first bike was a Honda C200. I was a tech at dealer level for 30+ years, Honda, Suzuki, BMW, Sea-Doo, I got my Honda passport (school credits showing I was factory trained) in 1976.
I truthfully cant count the number of bikes I have owned in the past, much less hondas. the Hondas I now own, not counting vintage dirt bikes, are '83 VF750, '82 CX500TC, '00 CR250, the vfr replaced my bandit GSF1250 I totalled by hitting a deer, (i have a lot of suzukis of all knds)
My current position at my present employer HPD ( [DLMURL="http://racing.honda.com/hpd/?section=intro"]Honda Performance Development - Performance Engine Design for Honda Racing[/DLMURL] , me at my work station, Honda Media Newsroom Image: Honda Performance Development ) is engine builder.

I appreciate everyones comments, yes the wave washer and small plate, with the smaller dia plate creating the anti-judder, were replaced with one friction plate, I have returned to slipping the clutch while driving and have not melted the new set up yet.