Shifting "Lunk"

R

roel

New Member
Visit site
I live in the San Francisco bay area, and picked up my 2002 FZ1 in October 2010. I recently changed the oil, putting in partial synthetic 20W-50 and the shifting feels different, not as smooth. It has always "Lunked" into first, giving the bike a jerk forward, but it feels now like it is not going into the other gears as smoothly, lunking more then I remember.

My question is, Does your FZ1 Lunk into gear? All gears? How often? What effect does the type of oil, synthetic, partial synthetic, non synthetic, 10W vs. 20W, have on the shifting? Should I be worried?

Thanks!
 
Most FZ1's have the neutral to first clunk but then 2nd, 3rd, and so on are smoother. Most also smooth out after some miles are put on. I'd run the recommended weight oil of whatever brand of motorcycle oil you prefer. Some riders have had better luck with different brands. Giv it a chance to get propperly broken in, you'll be OK.
 
roel said:
I live in the San Francisco bay area, and picked up my 2002 FZ1 in October 2010. I recently changed the oil, putting in partial synthetic 20W-50 and the shifting feels different, not as smooth. It has always "Lunked" into first, giving the bike a jerk forward, but it feels now like it is not going into the other gears as smoothly, lunking more then I remember.

My question is, Does your FZ1 Lunk into gear? All gears? How often? What effect does the type of oil, synthetic, partial synthetic, non synthetic, 10W vs. 20W, have on the shifting? Should I be worried?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Don't know what the temperature is out there in San Fan right now, but I think part of what you're feeling is due to the 20W50 oil. The thicker oil is probably causing the clutch plates to stick together a bit more than usual. In other words it's taking more effort to break them "free" with the thicker oil and that's why the shifting feels different. I don't see a reason for you to use anything other than 10W40 in your region.
 
I bought my 01 FZ with 8,000 miles on it... it clunked going into first then... and now, with 38,000 miles on it... it clunks going into first... I think it's just the nature of the beast... I wouldn't worry about it....

On another note... and not to turn this into an oil thread... but, I saw that people on forums all over the place were swearing by Rotella (Diesel Oil) for their bikes... I changed the oil to Rotella, and the transmission was clunkier than ever... it became hard to shift after 200 miles.. and after 400 miles, I couldn't take it anymore and drained the oil out and went back to the full synthetic oil I'd been running in the past.... That's just my experience with it in my bike... others seem to love the stuff.
 
When I bought the oil and filter, I did not specify the type of oil, trusting rather to the mechanic. Now looking into the FZ1 owners manual, I see that for the range of 40 deg. - 110 deg. F, SAE 20W-40 is recommended. I think I am going to leave the oil in for a bit longer, see if it smooths out, if no, I will change over to the 20W-40.

Thanks all, any other thoughts about oil and shifting, I'd love to hear!

Roel.
 
Oil - smoil, VA is right. The clunk is normal for Yamaha bikes, my FJR clunks much harder (for 73,000 miles now)than my FZ1 or the FZ6 I had before.
Switching from 20-50 to 20-40 won't make any difference nor does Dino oil compared to synthetic.
I've run both types and blends in my FJR and have never found any change in oil helped make the clunk or shifting any smoother.
Just change it at 4k miles like the book says and be happy.
If you really want to feel the clunk ride a Beemer!
 
Clunk

Salesman at used bike store said all Yama's have a clunky gearbox. Not a problem, just their nature. Hear BMW's are tons worse if that's any comfort.
 
Agreed. Every Yamaha I've ridden/owned all have the same shifting feel. Norm hit it on the head.... when you shift into 1st? The FZ1 is "Locked and Loaded!" GO!!!!!!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top