04 GSXR 1000 Warped clutch plates at 12000kms ??

[Gitzy]

Bare with me on this one.... Any feedback would be helpfull

Okies here goes, mate of mine just bought an 04 GSXR 1000, mint condition, very well looked after and smooth as silk with 11000kms on it..

Last fri 27/11 he changed the oil.. now he usually asks every little question about everything before he does anything because hes not very mechanically minded.. but this time he didnt..

He used a brand of oil called "Synblend" never heard of it so i cant comment on quality.. i think it was $58 for 4 litres..

anyway he rode around on sat morning and was complaining the clutch was slipping, quick spin round the block and yes it was slipping pretty badly..

I asked how much oil he used, he said "filled it"
as in 4 litres in a GIXER Thou.. pretty confident thats wrong.. his viewing window was completely covered as in above full. so we cooled it down and took some 800 ml out.. finally see the F mark..

So off he goes and rings me later and it hasnt changed..
I'm no clutch buff so i said take to shop..

He rings last night and seems he is up for a new clutch/plates.. they say they are all badly warped..

ok so heres my QUESTION..

Are they having him on, cos they can see theres some money to be made??


I'm not a big fan of this shop, hes had trouble in the past with 2000 Gixer 750.. 24000km valve check and forgot to put on valve cover gasket.. not good. stuff like that.. young apprentices making calls i think..

anyway does anyway have any theorys on this??

[Hillsy]

There are a few "SynBlend" oils on the market - it's an acronym for "Synthetic Blend" which means it's part synthetic / part mineral oil.

That in itself is not bad, but I'd say the problem would be that the oil has friction modifier additives - which are OK in a car or bike engine with a dry clutch, but for a wet-clutch engine they will make the clutch slip.

I doubt if the clutch plates would be "warped", but they might be contaminated enough to warrant replacement.

Best thing to do is change the oil back to a motorcycle specific oil and see if the clutch stops slipping. If it does, run it for a few hundred K's and change the oil (and filter) again to get rid of the crap oil.

He'll probably be OK if he hasn't ridden the bike with the crap oil too far.

[Gitzy]

Cheers Hillsy..

[Loz]

+1 throw 60 bucks at an oil change before you throw 300 at new clutch pates.

[Gitzy]

quote:Originally posted by Loz

+1 throw 60 bucks at an oil change before you throw 300 at new clutch pates.


Loz we told him that, but hes the kinda bloke that only listens to the bike shop..

[MONO]

Had the same problem last month with a mates 1200 bandit 58000ks two oil changes with a low grade motorcycle oil fixed ! Then motul in ,just can't go past it imo ........ps get the motor to operating temp ride it say 1/2 hour or so, pull clutch lever in constantly but avoid letting it slip an spin this will only make it worse. And what every one else said all good advice.......nigel