Changed the clutch fluid today... WOW!!

I have an 01 VFR that just hit 12,000 miles recently. The bike had 7300 miles on it when I bought it from a friend 11 months ago. He had never had any of the fluids changed except for the oil. The bike has been a "clunky" shifter and a little problematic going from 1st to 2nd since I got her. The fluid in the clutch master cylinder was amber colored.

I changed the clutch fluid and bled the clutch today and Wow what a difference it made in the way that the bike shifts. It feels like a different bike. It shifts much smoother now and there is no clunk at all when going from 1st to 2nd. I would like to thank everyone who has ever posted on clutch bleeding/fluid change, the search function gave me all the info that I needed to do this job. Maybe next weeend I'll change the brake fluid.

--David.

 

It was an easy job to do and took less than 30 minutes start to finish. I would recommend having some Teflon Tape handy in case you need to seal the threads around the bleeder. I had a little bit of brake fluid seeping out betewwn the threads on the bleeder and the slave cylinder threads after bleeding even though the valve was closed tightly. To fix the leak, I just removed the bleeder, put my finger over the hole in the slave cylinder housing, had my wife wrap a couple rounds of teflon tape around the bleeder threads and re-installed the bleeder. No seepage after this, didn't loose much fluid and did not have to re-bleed the clutch. -David.

 

My clutch fluid is nice and clear, but my brake fluid looks like root beer.
Guess I better tackle that soon. Thanks for reminding me.

 

Amazing what a difference a fluid change and bleed will make. I did my clutch on my 93 and it made a world of difference. The lever pull even felt better.

 

Clutch and brake fluid changing are both on my To Do list. I'm sure both are nasty by this point. Actually, I'm sure the brake fluid is.

 

Don't shoot the messanger....but if you change the clutch and brake fluids per the maintanence schedule (every 24 mos - IIRC) it won't get so nasty on ya and after you have done it once - it's pretty painless...:smile:

 

LMAO i've never done it and i've had my bike 11 years! It'll get done this summer though, since i am installing SS brake and clutch lines.

 

After changing my front and rear brake fluid last night I figured why not look at the clutch since I've had a few clunks going up and down between 1st and 2nd. I found about 2/3 of the reservoir was a thick brown sludge with a 1/2 inch of actual fluid riding on top. I am simply amazed that the bike shifted so well with all that crap and after cleaning the gunk out and refilling, now the clunk is all but gone after a nice run today.

 

I've always wondered why the clutch fluid gets so dirty so fast. Since it is a closed system, it must the exteme heat jsut cooking the fluid? Another reason to get these bikes running cooler!