Hi, I was investigating my persistent and worsening clutch slip today. The plates are all ok and the barnet springs are brand new. The only thing I could find was that there was little, if any oil on the plates. In the past, when tackling the clutches on my bikes, they were always covered in oil.
Do you have to overfill the oil to compensate for the fact that the eninge isn't constantly being leaned over or is something not working right in my motor?
cheers
Dave

A lot depends on how long its been standing etc, but the plates won't necessarily be dripping in oil as it will mostly be squeezed out when the clutch engages.

I can't remember about the blade specifically but the clutch basket is not immersed in oil because that would make it slip. Its usually splash fed from oil coming down from the top of the engine flicking off the crank etc, and will sometimes have an oilway up the middle as well. Obviously baffle plates could adversely affect oil getting from the sump to the basket but its not generally an issue.

What may have happened though is if your clutch plates were put in dry, they might not have ever fully recovered from that and soaked up oil, although that seems unlikely given the amount of oil in the vicinity.

Hi Dave,

The only thing I can think of that you and Chris haven't mentioned is: make sure that the all the plates are put back in their positions exactly. Depending on the engine year I think the outer one (last one to go in) go different but if you put one too many in the "different" position that will result in clutch slip.

Good luck

Another thing if you're looking for reasons is are the plates the correct ones? Almost yearly from 92 - 99 Honda slightly changed the clutch on the blade engine, some with more plates than others, some with slightly thicker plates than others. If for example you had plates that were slightly too thin the clutch wouldnt be clamping as hard as it should do, leading to slip.

Absolutely! I never noticed the difference in thickness but the number of plates seems to be different for every dismantled engine clutch I've seen in the forums!

The clutch cover looked as if it had never been removed, all friction plates are @ 3.00mm, the service limit is shown as 2.6, there was some slight blueing on two metal plates but no serious scoring and the frictions looked unburnt. I replaced the standard springs with Barnett ones which are 1.00mm longer than standard but all bolts torqued up correctly. The plates were not removed during the spring swap, altohugh they have been now (so could prove intersting if orientation causes problems)

Orientation of the plates shouldn't make a difference, didn't cause trouble in my one..

Hi Chris,
They certainly weren't that long. They were an easy straight swap. Certainly something to look at
cheers
dave

I would agree with that. I didnt use Barnett springs when I changed/upgraded my Busa clutch. However the springs were much longer and stronger then the originals I took out. Had to apply considerable pressure to the bolt head to try and engage the threads before I could wind the bolt in.

You say that the clutch basket looks like its not been opened before, which would imply that the clutch is quite old.

Its quite possible that the friction plates have gone hard due to age / overheating even if they are well within thickness tolerence levels. Take one out and see if you can dig your nail into the friction material and make a significant mark, if you can't its a fairly good sign that they're past their best.

Also, I can't believe we've not asked yet but what oil are you using?