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Guest phpbiker

10w 40 Too Heavy?

5 posts in this topic

Hi Everyone,

I have been doing some real investigation into my clunky gearbox.

I have come to the conclusion that its oil viscosity to clutch related. I got rid of a lot of it, by burning in the clutch slightly, and I mean slightly THEN setting up the clutch leaver.

When I run the engine up to temp, I pull in the clutch and I can hear the idler spin down, it takes a while. Then put it into first, no sound, no clunk. I can time the amount of time that I it takes for the idler to spin down.

Then if I slip the clutch a bit and try it again, it spins down MUCH faster And the gearbox is MUCH smoother when in use.

However, the clunky nature of the box returns after a period. I either have to pre-warm the clutch and gearbox OR.. have too much clutch travel engaged.

I may either replace the clutch, or try a lighter grade of oil.. Castrol recommend 10w30, I am currently using 10w40 Castrol... mmmm interesting.. perhaps they know something.

There is a definite reason for the clutch taking so long to spin down. Its highly annoying as I have a perfect motorcycle with a notchy noisey gearbox.

Any comments?

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Live with it! The rest of us do. But if you do cure it be sure to let us know how you did it. :)

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Well, the new OEM Sprocket makes A LOT of difference to the smoothness of the gearbox.

But I think whats happening is that the bikes are proan to condensation in that area, and it makes the clutch plates swell and drag...

I pretty sure I am going to convert to a Hydraulic setup and try a set of EBC plates, as they to tend to drag less.

Whatever setup James Cates has, is perfect.

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I run 18t renthal front sprocket, 20w50 fully synthetic oil, only get the clunk into first, rest of the time she is smooth but I have had her 7 years so we may have got to know each other by now.

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Reply From Castrol

"Thank you for your email

A couple of years ago now - Honda started recommending the 10W-30 viscosity for their latest 4 stroke engines as this offered enhanced performance and economy - I have the unenviable job of branding all the specifications, this means looking at each specification and deciding which of the oil we sell would be best suited for the application. When Honda started using the 10W-30 they did suggest that this grade was backwards compatible, but I had a rule of thumb that anything pre 2000 was probably better off with a 10W-40 due to possible mileage - that's not to say that they would not run a 10W-30.

I have looked at the code for the X-Eleven , API SF/SG 10W-40 and it appears that there was an exception made during the branding for the X-Eleven ( and the Blackbird which falls under the same code ) and these were indeed showing a 10W-30 grade rather than a 10W-40 which makes me think someone else has had a play with the branding at some point as the motorcycle product guide I produced in 2009 clearly states a 10W-40 for the X-Eleven

I have just changed this back to a 10W-40 on the branding as I understand that the X-Eleven does have issues with clunky gearbox, although my CBR 600 FT had similar ones, from neutral to first was horrendous at times !

You could of course try the 10W-30 to see if it improves things, but I wouldn't really expect it would be much help with the gear change issue as this appears to be a common fault - some people even suggest pull the clutch in and give the gears a second or two to slow down before changing into gear, and blipping the throttle on down changes.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention - as I said, Honda are quite happy for all bikes to use a 10W-30, but I have tried to approach this from a common sense point of view regarding bikes pre 2000 , so it will now recommend a 10W-40 grade for the X-Eleven.

Kind regards

Andy - Castrol"

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