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General Category => Yamaha FJ1100 / FJ1200 Running Problems => Topic started by: vegetta58 on June 21, 2020, 10:08:08 AM

Title: 1990 clutch has no pressure
Post by: vegetta58 on June 21, 2020, 10:08:08 AM
Just moved and got my bike out of storage. About 50 miles into getting to my new house I noticed I was loosing pressure on the clutch handle. Check fluid, bleed system. Nothing. When I depress the the clutch I get a stream of fluid out of bleeder. Any ideas before I start tearing apart? Will be 1st time going into it. 28,000 miles if it matters. Thanks
Title: Re: 1990 clutch has no pressure
Post by: Pat Conlon on June 21, 2020, 10:41:32 AM
It is common for the clutch slave to leak out the brake fluid when the bike is stored. See if you have any paint damage or cowl damage directly below the slave.
Best case, you can bleed the air out of the slave and your seal recovers.
Worst case, spend $20 and install a seal kit from RPM, call it a day.
http://rpmracingca.com/proddetail.asp?prod=Clutch%3AS%2FK (http://rpmracingca.com/proddetail.asp?prod=Clutch%3AS%2FK)
Title: Re: 1990 clutch has no pressure
Post by: Waiex191 on June 21, 2020, 10:54:39 AM
Check out pages 4 and 5 of my thread where I took apart and cleaned out my clutch slave.
http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?topic=19343.45 (http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?topic=19343.45)
Title: Re: 1990 clutch has no pressure
Post by: vegetta58 on June 21, 2020, 10:58:55 AM
No, slave cylinder isn't leaking. No air in line up to the bleeder. Thanks though
Title: Re: 1990 clutch has no pressure
Post by: vegetta58 on June 21, 2020, 11:14:16 AM
So y'all think it's the slave cylinder not letting me get pressure at the lever?
Title: Re: 1990 clutch has no pressure
Post by: vegetta58 on June 21, 2020, 11:39:35 AM
Got the slave cylinder off the bike. What is holding the guts in. Or is it just seized up? If so any ideas on removal so I don't damage the housing? Thanks
Title: Re: 1990 clutch has no pressure
Post by: red on June 21, 2020, 11:41:32 AM
Quote from: vegetta58 on June 21, 2020, 10:08:08 AMJust moved and got my bike out of storage. About 50 miles into getting to my new house I noticed I was loosing pressure on the clutch handle. Check fluid, bleed system. Nothing. When I depress the the clutch I get a stream of fluid out of bleeder. Any ideas before I start tearing apart? Will be 1st time going into it. 28,000 miles if it matters. Thanks
vegetta58,

I believe it is fairly difficult (as in, against physics and gravity) to bleed a vertical hydraulic hose of any type.  Now you can get banjo bolts with bleeder fittings in them, making it much easier to do this tricky job.  Insall these bleeder banjo bolts at the master cylinder.  Then you can bleed the hydraulic line at the top of the hose, not from the bottom.  These bleeder banjo bolts typically cost US$15~$20 each, although you can pay FAR more for them, from the wrong sellers.  

As a general note, Speedbleeders.com can set you up with the one-way bleeders that make it easy to do the normal brake-bleeding job single-handed (literally).  You will probably want the bleeder banjo bolts, also.

From your description, I would suspect that the master cylinder has the problem, not the slave cylinder, but that strongly depends on whether or not there is air in the system.

Best,
Title: Re: 1990 clutch has no pressure
Post by: vegetta58 on June 21, 2020, 12:04:22 PM
Cylinder was seized up. Know about bleeding the MC. Your saying you can't bleed like a car?
Title: Re: 1990 clutch has no pressure
Post by: Waiex191 on June 21, 2020, 12:26:04 PM
I bled mine like a car.  I did use a vacuum bleeder to pull most of the fluid through first.  You can either pop it off using the clutch lever, which is not too exciting, or you can use compressed air which can get exciting if you are not careful.  I've done both. 

I found my MC was pretty clean.  The slave was not, if you saw the pictures.
Title: Re: 1990 clutch has no pressure
Post by: Millietant on June 21, 2020, 01:06:50 PM
I had the devils own job bleeding my clutch after I'd put new a master cylinder seal/piston kit in. No matter how much fluid I pushed through and out of the bleed valve, I still had no pressure, over about 3 hours of continual bleeding, taking the slave in and off, checking for leaks etc. In the end I got a little Laser brand hand pump (as per the link below)  filled the bottle with brake fluid, connected the pump output, with a bit of bleeder hose to the open bleed nipple and pumped fluid back up the line. Within seconds, air and bubbles started popping out of the  open master cylinder top and within a few more seconds I had a fully working clutch.

https://www.demon-tweeks.com/laser-tools-multi-purpose-mini-pump-t-clas4385/?istCompanyId=a2904180-3a7d-4e56-b876-cf81c9512180&istFeedId=6fbc4b04-fd28-4ce1-8513-835c8f118690&istItemId=wptrpqiam&istBid=t&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIpr-Gvr-T6gIVyO3tCh1BjAMSEAQYByABEgKkzfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds (https://www.demon-tweeks.com/laser-tools-multi-purpose-mini-pump-t-clas4385/?istCompanyId=a2904180-3a7d-4e56-b876-cf81c9512180&istFeedId=6fbc4b04-fd28-4ce1-8513-835c8f118690&istItemId=wptrpqiam&istBid=t&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIpr-Gvr-T6gIVyO3tCh1BjAMSEAQYByABEgKkzfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds)
Title: Re: 1990 clutch has no pressure
Post by: vegetta58 on June 21, 2020, 01:36:59 PM
Thanks. Just ordered a rebuild kit for the slave cylinder. You would think it would be a hard pull at the lever with the slave cylinder being seized up. Maybe seized up pushed out. We will see. Thanks again. I'll post when fixed what problem was. Oh yeah the slave cylinder fluid looked like clay mud
Title: Re: 1990 clutch has no pressure
Post by: red on June 21, 2020, 03:41:37 PM
Quote from: vegetta58 on June 21, 2020, 12:04:22 PMCylinder was seized up. Know about bleeding the MC. Your saying you can't bleed like a car?
vegetta58,

Yes, you can, but air bubbles rising in the line will work against you.  With SpeedBleeders and the bleeder banjo bolt, you should be able to do a perfect job with nothing extra needed except the fluid catch bag.

Car brakes have a lot of horizontal lines, and you pump  a lot more fluid (when bleeding) than our tiny MCs can manage.  My advice is to make it easy on yourself.   :yes:   
.
Title: Re: 1990 clutch has no pressure
Post by: krusty on June 21, 2020, 06:42:08 PM
Yes, you can bleed it like a car. I have never had a problem bleeding clutch or brakes on my, so far, 5 FJs. I recently had the no pressure problem with my clutch m/c, just fitted a new seal kit, bled like I've done with cars for last 40+ years, and it was good again. I admit that the bleeding devices can make the bleeding job easier for some who find bleeding a challenge.
Title: Re: 1990 clutch has no pressure
Post by: woodcreekpete on June 21, 2020, 07:40:53 PM
After pumping my clutch lever about 2,000 times with no success, I took a spare clutch master cover, drilled a 12mm hole in it and installed a tire valve stem. A couple of very light pumps with a bicycle pump, open bleeder, repeated once more and the job was done.
Title: Re: 1990 clutch has no pressure
Post by: vegetta58 on July 10, 2020, 12:49:02 PM
Thanks. Just ordered a rebuild kit for the slave cylinder. You would think it would be a hard pull at the lever with the slave cylinder being seized up. Maybe seized up pushed out. We will see. Thanks again. I'll post when fixed what problem was. Oh yeah the slave cylinder fluid looked like clay mud
Title: Re: 1990 clutch has no pressure
Post by: vegetta58 on July 10, 2020, 12:52:41 PM
Anybody have a diagram of the seals on the slave cylinder. I took one off 3 weeks ago and I want to make sure I put it back on right. It's the larger seal. Thanks
Title: Re: 1990 clutch has no pressure
Post by: Pat Conlon on July 10, 2020, 01:35:31 PM
Does this help?

(https://cdn.partzilla.com/MTE/d/e/MjE3NTU1NQ-e34bd203.png)
Title: Re: 1990 clutch has no pressure
Post by: Waiex191 on July 10, 2020, 03:29:37 PM
Here are a few pictures from my project.
(http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=19343.0;attach=15599)

(http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=19343.0;attach=15600)

(http://fjowners.com/gallery/11/6694_12_06_20_9_04_26_2.jpeg)

There is a seal that goes on the piston, and a dust cover that goes on the end of the piston and on the slave cylinder.  From my picture, the seal is flared out on the fluid side (opposite pushrod side) of the piston.
Title: Re: 1990 clutch has no pressure
Post by: FJ_Hooligan on July 10, 2020, 05:02:09 PM
I can NOT believe the insensitivity I'm reading in this entire thread.

PLEASE watch your language.

It's a RACIALLY OPPRESSED CYLINDER in need of reparations.

:-)
Title: Re: 1990 clutch has no pressure
Post by: big r on July 10, 2020, 05:20:22 PM
 :rofl2: :rofl2: :rofl2: :rofl2: :rofl2: :rofl2:
Title: Re: 1990 clutch has no pressure
Post by: fj1289 on July 10, 2020, 09:40:18 PM
 :Facepalm: