Cleaned the mesh filters and upon inspection noticed a coating on the inside of the clutch cover. You can see it in the pic. I could literally wipe it off with my finger. I just want to know if anyone else had this thin coating of "ish" on their cover as well. (2011 630SM)
Wow, there is life out here!! Ok, this pic was taken at about 1200 miles. When I first changed it, I put motorcycle valvoline 10w40 dino oil. After about 300 miles of that I put in Lucas synthetic for motorcycles. Just changed it to Motul. What could the gunk be?
Also, I attempted to extract and clean the flywheel side mesh filter and it was EMPTY as in no filter there!!
Has the bike had any dealer service? Missing filter is troubling if it came from the factory like that!?
My clutch cover is clean inside after 9000 miles. I have also never found a single bit of debris in the right side oil screen. I'd replace it and it not worry about it. I use Rotella T6 Synthetic.
Ok, just OPINION here, i am NOT starting an oil thread. First, I found the screens on the left side (flywheel) to be a little difficult to extract the first time when i did not know what i was looking for. Stick your finger in there and wiggle around. Sounds funny, but it's the truth. After a while, the screens (one inside the other) came loose and i was able to pull them out. The right side (clutch side), just came right out. The purpose of the screens is to catch big debris (relatively speaking) not combustion by products. Second, and here it goes.....Valvovline is a great product. However, our bikes, call for a 10/50 Synthetic. There are certain by-products (parifins and dirt) in dyno oils the synthetics just don't have (or at least as much off). Most synthetics in the US are not really "synthetic" but rather ultra refined Group III dino (another talk show) but they are none the less ultra refined. Only Group IV and V, PAOs and Estrers are "real". The additive packages (viscosity improver, detergents, solid lubricants, etc.) are also much different from an automotive oil and MC oil. What i think you have is a varnish from the Valvoline burning off from heat OR it deposited the carbon and other combustion by products on the cooler surfaced of the clutch cover instead of holding those contaminants in suspension for the filter to catch or be drained off (most likely). Kinda like the valve covers in automotive power plants. I have torn down 100s of engines from MC, piston aircraft, cars, and large diesels. I could always tell if the power plant was maintained with synthetics or not, serviced regularly, or used hard. In the past, some power plants were not effected by these types of deposits as much as others, but this is becoming less and less so. With tolerances becoming so tight for economy and emissions issues the deposits will cause issues. Our bikes included! Third, My recommendation is......Recheck to see if the screens are really there. If not, stop everything and take the bike back with some attitude as this is TOTALLY unacceptable. If you find them tucked up in there, clean them and never use dino again. Use some solvent and clean the cover, reassemble, use the correct oil. Personnaly, I respect the OEM's recommendation for the type and specification of what oil to use (manual says "CASTROL POWER 1 RACING 10W-50" , all i can find in CA is Castrol, Power RS R4 Full Synthetic 10w50, both are JASO MA). If i can't find Castrol, then i make sure the oil is within spec (JASO MA, 10/50, synthetic). If you are real anal, use a PAO/Ester oil, Motul, etc....Read the bottles. Also, and most important, make sure you change it regularly! All oils use up the additive packages. Happy New year and Good luck!
Very good info, thank you. I kind of suspected that the dino oil was to blame. As far as difficulty in finding left side mesh filter, I shined the trusty miniature maglite in their and, nada, zip, zilch, nothing in there. . I did have the bike serviced at the Husky dealer to do the first valve adjustment. I'm guessing this would be covered under the warranty? Yessir. I used Rotella T6 in my track RC51. Really smoothe shifting.
Take is back! I bet those fools left it out or they only put the inner screen back in and it is dislodge somewhere!
Well yes they should have removed it to clean at 1000km first service when they did the oil change - strange that they can button it up without fitting it back??? Oh just to say I have always believed in running in bikes with dino oil and then switching to full synth - allows rings to seat well etc. Just changed to synth at 10 000km and she shifts SMOOTH ... even selecting that elusive Husky neutral nicely.
