Any experience with oil types and gear change clunk noise?

Hello folks. About a month ago I bought my first VFR. Love this bike, but what I don't like is the clunk sound at gear change. The clutch works just fine. Two days after I bought it, I changed the oil and filter, I do not remember if the sound was the same with the old oil. The new oil is Motul 300V 10W-40 fully syntethic, recommended by the local Honda dealer.
Does anyone have experience with oils that makes clunky gear changes, and oils that fix the problem? Or is it just my gear box that's no good? Gear change from 1st to 2nd and 5th to 6th is quite good, the others makes this clunk sound. One more thing, when the engine (oil) is cold, gear change makes no noise at all, none of them...

 

It's common & nothing to worry about. I was concerned at first but soon realized that's what they do.

 

Maybe it's nothing to worry about, but I'd really like to get rid of it because noiseless gear changes sounds a lot better than this clunk Many 5th gen VFRs have a very smooth gear change with no noise, I'm curious to know if it is related to the oil type or not. My neighbors '00 VFR makes no sound (Castrol Power 1), 00TV uses Rotella T6 on his 01-model, Y2Kviffer uses Amsoil 10w40 on his 00-model, and they do not have any gear change noise

 

When mine starts to clunk, I tighten up the chain adjustment. That always fixes mine. A bit of extra slack and the chain is snapping and making that clunk. And it usually feels like the transmission.

 

I had the same sort of concern, the gear change felt sloppy and imprecise and it was hard to shift cleanly, so I installed a FactoryPro Evo shift star kit. This replaces the stock parts and has made for a much slicker and quieter shift, irrespective of chain tension. I'm not in favour of running the chain too tight as this can lead to tight links and a damaged chain.


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Could just be the oil... (I hate that I said that) but do you know what was in there before?

You may have to work through a few changes to find what you are looking for. Its prolly nothing more than irritation to you but to fix you will have to dig.

Most guys use 10-40 Mobil, castrol 10-40 or t6 rotella 5-40 syn
There are plenty others to use but those three are prolly most common full syn options here on the forum

 

Could be that your tranny was abused by a previous owner, too...

 

Thanks for your response

Chain slack is not the problem, it's perfectly adjusted, and remember - gear changes are smooth and quiet when the engine (oil) is cold. I don't know what kind of oil that was in there before, guess it was Motul 5100. I don't remember if gear change was more smooth and quiet before oil change, the first thing I did was to change the oil.
Abused by the previous owner? I have no guarantee but I really don't think so. Guess I'll have to try some different oil types, if I find "the cure" I'll let you know

 

if it's any reassurance, I have exactly the same characteristic on my VFR (14k miles, '99). Smooth changes when the oil is cold, clunky as the oil and engine get hotter. Currently running Castrol 10W-30 (from Hondat). I'm going to try Silkolene 10W-40 next. If I find a cure I'll be sure to post!

 

When I first got my VFR this year the oil from the PO was very black, so I put it straight onto Elf Moto 4 Eco semi-synthetic, and didn't notice any issues. The new oil became very black quickly too so after only 1000km or so I changed it to Castrol Power1 GPS (semi synthetic 10 W40) and that was when I first became unhappy with the gearshift. So after prowling the forums I ordered the Shift Star and when that arrived I went back to the Elf semi synthetic. It's never wise to draw conclusions when you make more than one change at a time, but the combination is great. It would be even better if I could adjust the gearshift down by half a spline to fit my feet better.

What causes a clunky gearshift? The action of turning the gearshift shaft with your foot is indexing the shift star which is directly coupled to the shift drum. The shift star has a detent wheel which pushes the star into specific rotational positions that correspond with the 7 gear positions (6+neutral); each time you move the shift lever up, the shift star rotates clockwise by one notch. The shift forks engage with angled milled slots in the shift drum that cause them to slide sideways when the drum rotates, and at their other end they slide a gear from side to side. To change gear the forks slide a gear along a shaft so the dogs projecting from the side of that gear engage with matching slots in their neighbouring gear, while disengaging the last gear in the same manner.

I think most of the clunk is probably that last bit of movement of the gear pairs getting together, and it is here that the Shift Star works it's magic, because it has a more positive detent action (stiffer spring + roller bearing) than the stock bits and so pushes the gears together cleanly whether I do a decent job or not. Otherwise if the gears are not fully engaged when you re-open the throttle, the undercut ramp on the dog/slot slams the gears properly together.

Colder, more-viscous oil would give more of a cushioning of the action, conversely hotter oil will yield more of a clunk. There are probably enough differences in oil formulations that one brand will seem noticeably better or worse than another, but all would be expected to get worse as they age.

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I used to run Motul 5100 10/40 semi but switched a few years ago to 7100 fully synth finding the engine and gear changes smoother. 7100 is suitable for street and track whereas 300V is recommended for race or constant revs above 5k.

Don't think it'd hurt your engine but didn't think the price difference was worth trying it so unsure of its affect on gear change.

 

Thanks for interesting feedback I see that one oil type can make silent gear shifts for some owners, noisy for others. Seems it's not the oil alone that makes the differences? Anyway, my next oil will not be Motul 300V, have to try if there is some oil brand that's better for my VFR.

 

Two oil changes later. I have tried Rotella T6, no luck, same clunk as when using Motul 300V 10W-40. Then I tried Motul 5100 10W-40 and the gear change is a LOT better. Not silky smooth but almost

 

my oil change 2qts of Castrol racing rt 10-40 and 1qt of 10-50-that oil does take heat better than 10-40. also try using napa platinum-it is maybe the best filter and flows very well. I have no clunk-it shifts very good and starts very easy.

 

OP states the clutch is OK. Clutches need the same TLC as brakes. A good start would be a bleed and refill.

 

This reminds me to ask. Do VFR have Helical cut gears or straight cut? I assume from the sound they are straight cut and new/better oil may make it quieter but a straight cut will never be quiet like a helical cut gear.