Peculiar Oil Change

[JP50515]

So...after a heated oil debate with a gentleman the other day who works at a dealership...car vs motorcycle...New bikes vs old...yada yada, I remembered that I indeed needed to chain the oil on my xs.

So tonight I decided to change it up from my usual. The p.o. wrote "massive clutch failure with anything other than yamalube" next to the oil info in the owners manual. When I bought it I was experiencing clutch failure WITH the yamalube he had in it. Clutch chatter at low rpms and slipping at high. So i switched to amzoil 20w-50...worked for a while. Put in a new clutch that helped a ton however recently I have been experiencing the slipping again.

So today I bought some regular old Valvoline 20w-50 motorcycle oil...dinosaur style. Threw it in, warmed it, and just went for a spin. The bike pulls harder than it's ever pulled since i've owned it. So hard in fact at the beginning i almost fell off the back of my seat Anyway went for a 15 minute ride through the country and when I pulled into the garage the thing didn't seem to want to shift.

Is it possible the old oil was allowing for so much slippage that now with the new oil my clutch needs to be readjusted?

Anyone ever experience hard shifts after an oil change before?


Oh also I think I experienced a once in a lifetime thing while on that ride. Big old half moon in the sky, coming down a hill into fog when a shooting star runs almost the full length of the sky right in front of me. Bright! I mean the thing was green!

So awesome I literally started fist pumping, laughing and whooping haha

 

[xjwmx]

Bright! I mean the thing was green!

There was a meteor shower they were hyping the dickens out of about ten years ago so I went way out in the boonies to see it, away from lights. I noticed meteor shower parties on the way out there. It didn't disappoint! It was like a big GREEN meteor at least two or three per minute; sometimes two at once. They were all green.

Regarding oil...oops, phone's ringing.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

Wow, JP, these clutch issues pop up a lot here. Jumping into the wayback machine, I recall similar clutch problems, just not so numerous. There were three types of clutches, factory, budget, performance.

We found funny things with some of the budget plates, like a softer compound (easily indented with a fingernail), and swelling (after coating with oil before assembly, some plates would thicken a couple thou). Barnett used to market their product by explaining their superior plate material, and it worked best. I've got Barnett plates in my other engine, didn't have slippage and binding issues.

We used to get clutch issues on some of the early dry sump CB-750s, solved by increasing the shaft oil orifice size and hub holes to get more oil to the plates. But the XS is wet sump.

The early XS's had o-rings interspersed between the plate fingers, not to contain oil, but to help spread the plates during disengagement. I remember those early thicker plates feeling soft/spongy. Maybe Yamaha changed to a better supplier or clutch composition (on the thinner plates), allowing the removal of those o-rings.

There's more stories, but the bottom line is that I'm thinking that the budget market is awash with substandard clutch material, producing the slippage/stickage issues posted here...

 

[JP50515]

Yeah I've heard similar stories. Thing is, these are barnett plate in it If my memory doesn't fail me. That and I bumped spring pressure up 13%, and machined my own hex head shoulder set to replace those horrid "phillips" screws that were in there for the pressure plate.

I am going to back off the adjusters some and see what happens

 

[itrguy]

I use Rotella diesel oil.... no problems here! Glad you figured it out!

 

[JP50515]

Well I think adjusting the cable helped, however gonna do some more diagnosing today

 

[jetmechmarty]

I addition to the XS650 bikes, I have an XS1100. It uses the same plates as the 650. All have stock clutches, including springs. My last few oil changes were with Yamalube. No problems. I've also been using Valvoline 20W50 motorcycle oil. I've used a bunch of Rotella, Mobil 1, Amsoil, and whatever 20W50 is on the shelf at a convenience store. I have never noted oil related clutch slippage. The XS11 puts it to the test, with all that extra HP and TQ. I have a couple gallons of Yamalube right here waiting for upcoming oil changes.