For anyone who thought about adding zinc to their oil

[NewHavenMike]

Havent ridden my bike in maybe almost a week. Went to start it and the clutch is competely stuck. I could not change gears. The oil was so thick, i could get rolling by letting off the clutch in neutral.

I ended up having to put the bike on a stand and force it through gears until it finally broke free..

Draining the oil ASAP.

I added about 8oz of redline zinc to my latest oil/filter change.. used valvoline 20w50 motorcycle oil.

Ive been having some trouble using the valvoline in the past, mainly hard gear changes after a 100 miles or so..

My bike seemes to like castrol better but my local auto place only ever has 1 quart of 20w50..

 

[xschris]

Have you looked at the clutch? I have used valvoline 20w-50 bike oil for wet clutches for the past few years ( yama-lube costs too mouch for five bikes on the road) and have never had a clutch freeze up. Even after a bike sits in storage for 10 months.

 

[NewHavenMike]

Ive used valvoline for more than a couple oil changes with my bike. Ive used castrol maybe twice and it just seemed to work better when it came to easy shifts..

To be fair, the week my bike wasnt ridden, it has been extrmemely humid and rained heavily most of the time..

The transmission was so bad it locked the rear wheel up, i thought something bad happened to the tranny but last time i rode it, it was fine.

Before i put the bike away this year, i may remove the clutch and inspect it all. The clutch only has 9000 miles on it, but it also sat for 35 years..

 

[xschris]

I would have pulled it apart before you started to ride the bike. I have seen low mile bikes that sat for only a few years with very rusty plates in them.. Make sure the oil you use is for wet clutches.

 

[NewHavenMike]

Yea i only buy motorcycle oil. Ive put about 5000 miles on my bike in the last year. It sat all Winter. Now i add that zinc stuff and it sits for a week and this happens?

Once its warmed up its fine i don’t understand. Its about 85 degrees here now, that should be warm enough. I was riding in 50 degrees and it was fine..

I may just get a new clutch set up and change it all out with new castrol oil.

The clutch does feel weird now. It slips and then it grabs when i take off.

 

[NewHavenMike]

Drained oil and removed clutch tonight. Oil looks clean still after 300 miles. Clutch seemed to look very good still. The metal plates had some discoloration, like stained rust color. I cant seem to find my caliper, so I cant measure it up. If im in neutral and I let out the clutch, it stays still like normal and then it starts to grab and stall the engine. How can it be a sticky clutch when its in neutral? I can turn the clutch housing with my hand, doesnt feel like anything binding.

 

[xschris]

If the clutch is still in spec and nothing is warped I would just soda blast everything and reuse them. You also need to check the springs for length.

 

[NewHavenMike]

I think Im just going to clean the clutch off and soak it in some oil, then just reinstall it with fresh Castrol or Valvoline and try again. I was reading in some other forum that sometimes the zinc additive paired with certain oil can have too much detergent and the clutch can be affected.