Stranded in Bandera

[tlwood28]

Well, not the weekend that I had hoped for. I drove the R1150R about 320 miles from Dallas to Bandera. I had no problems whatsoever on the way down. Pulled into the hotel parking lot, checked in and got a good nights sleep, looking forward to enjoying the great roads in the Texas Hill Country.

The next morning, I go to move the bike, and...no clutch. No pressure, none at all, yet if I stood the bike up I could see fluid in the window, although it looked a little low. Of course, the bike would not willingly go into gear.

So what happened? I take it this is the slave cylinder problem I saw mentioned on this forum time and again. I can't recall any hint of an impending failure. It was fairly windy, and I was wearing a full helmet and ear plugs, so maybe if there was grinding I wasn't hearing it? I certainly didn't feel anything. I stopped several times along the way and never a problem.

I called my dealership and the "local" dealership 90 miles away. Both opined that it was probably the master or slave cylinder. I had the bike trailered to Austin for them to diagnose the problem and will know something later in the week.

So is this what I get for buying a low mileage bike with minimal records (purchased a 2002 RR with just over 5000 miles last June)? The bike now has just under 11,000, and I had hoped for a "little" more mileage than this. I had changed all the bikes fluids when I bought it and have rode it regularly since, but before then my guess is the bike sat covered in a garage for far too long.

Is this an isolated issue, or have I bought into a whole lot of problems? Do I replace both the master and slave regardless of which has failed to prevent a second failure? Will the brakes go out next? I understand this is going to be a pretty costly repair with the bike getting torn down. Is there anything else I should consider doing while the bike is disassembled to save on labor costs and avoid future problems?

Now back home, but without bike, and needless to say none to happy about it--and worried about what I have gotten myself into.

Tom W.

[iowabeakster]

sorry to hear this,

Not really enough information to give a good guess on which part(s) are bad and what that might cost...

As the dealer said, it could be the master or the slave. Frankly, it could be a loose bajo bolt too. Just can't tell without looking it all over.

The best result would be a loose banjo, next would be a leaky line, followed by the master. The worst would be the slave.

Hopefully it is not the slave, 'cause if the slave leaks, the fluid can contaminate the clutch discs. Then, those will need to be replaced. If that happens, the dealer is going to split the bike in two. He'll be able to then tell you if some other preventitive maintenance looks to be in order. The bike is still pretty fresh at 11,000 miles.

GOOD LUCK

[tlwood28]

Thanks Iowa. I will post when I hear from the dealer and know more.

I am curious to know though why the bike would run fine for 300 miles, and then give it up over night while it was just sitting there. Maybe a slow leak of some kind?

I had no fluid leaking outside of the bike whatsoever.

[R1150Rclean]

With a leaking slave cylinder the fluid will not leak outside the bike, but the reservoir level will go down. When you replaced the clutch fluid did you use DOT3/4 oil? The mineral oil used in the newer RRs will ruin the clutch seals in the older RRs. The dealer sold me a bottle of the mineral oil by mistake, luckily I caught it before putting the oil in.

Was your clutch reservoir fluid level slowly going down the last 5k miles and in need of topping off regularly? If so, that would of been a clue.

If the master cylinder was good and the slave cylinder failed, you should still be able to pump fluid out of the reservoir (it would leak through the slave cylinder seals). If the master cylinder failed then you would get no pressure and the fluid level would not change.

[iowabeakster]

Agreed with Rclean...

It wouldn't take much leaked fluid (from the slave) to lower the fluid level, such that the holes in the bottom of the master were exposed. That might make it difficult tell if there was a slow leak. The slower the leak the more difficult it would be to notice the difference.

The collective history of us R riders is that slave has been the problem.

Cyclerob did a modification for identifying a problem slave, before the clutch discs get ruined. As he said, "some dissasembly required."

[tlwood28]

Well it looks like it was the slave cylinder. They are also going to replace the transmission (?) seal. Anything else that should be done while they are at it?

As to R1150Rclean's question, I can't say I paid enough attention to the fluid level to notice a difference. I wouldn't have thought anything if I had, other than to add fluid. Everything thus far has been by the dealer, so I assume they used the right stuff. As to CycleRob's mod, uh...er....

So this turned out well enough, but assuming my bike was neglected (i.e., rarely run, few if any fluid changes) during the first 8 years of its life, is the replacement of the slave cylinder likely the end or just the beginning of my problems? How about them brakes?

Anyone care to give me a warranty?

[Laserr Boy]

When the slave cylinder went on my Rockster there was no warning either. The fluid level was right were it always was although after I opened the master ,while trying to figure out what was going on I found a lot of very fine metal filings suspended in the fluid. If I pumped the lever a few times I was able to get home, nearly 300 miles! When I consulted a mechanic at the local dealer he assured me it was the slave and not the master so I purchased a new one and changed it myself.This happened with approx 9000 KM on the clock and the bike had been dealer maintained. I am the second owner and the bike was over three years old so no warranty. The parts guy swore he had never heard of a slave failure but the guys in the shop claimed they had done dozens. I flushed the system and replaced the slave and haven't had any clutch problems since. Changing the slave is not very hard to do and you do not need to remove all the parts the manual says have to come off. I figured the master would bypass due to all the metal floating around in it, but its been going strong for 15000 KM. I really wish I knew about Cycle Rob's mod at the time and I am considering yanking it apart to perform a little surgery. The slave design, with the spinning rod looks like it is just waiting to fail again. If it happens again, a few pumps will get you home, just remember to pump several times before the light turns red!!

[tlwood28]

Thanks Lazerr Boy, CycleRob's fix is way way way over my head, and since my bike is 4 hrs away I don't have anyway to work with them on that. If local, I would at least see what the mechanics had to say.

Anyway, thanks for letting me know that this is a problem that happens to "young" bikes too.

[tlwood28]

I finally got my bike out of service today and enjoyed a lovely 5 hour ride bringing it back from Austin. Good to have the old girl home.