Phantom/False Neutral

jthiessen

XS400 Addict
Messages
419
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
British Columbia, Canada
Not sure if this is covered elsewhere, but a search didn't yield any results...

Sometimes when I'm driving on the highway accelerating and gearing up, my bike will go into a neutral stage between 4 and 5 causing my RPM to rocket. The fix is simple, shift up one more time - but it is startling and potentially a little dangerous.

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced or heard this before. Maybe some potential fixes.
 
Mine does this some times between 4th and 5th; I don't think anything less than tearing the transmission apart will fix it. Funny enough, it has not happened to me in quite some time. I have not changed anything, just the oil and filter.
 
Oil, what do you use? Whenever I raced without ATF in my YZ250 or YZ450f, I was getting false neutrals in the holeshot or long stretches. Now I run Royal Purple or ATF type f in everything. much less false neutral than when I ran "Cheaper conventional oils. Lots of people swear by 15-30w rotella, nothing wrong with good old dinosaur oil.

Just in case you're thinking I am crazy. Think about the fact MX bikes 4 or 2-strokes work 10x harder than these twin cylinders could ever. As well as twin cylinder Yamaha Banshee's. All with wet clutches, head on over to Thumpertalk's street section, lots of information to be had with false neutral, wet clutch woes and oil talk.
 
Oil, what do you use? Whenever I raced without ATF in my YZ250 or YZ450f, I was getting false neutrals in the holeshot or long stretches. Now I run Royal Purple or ATF type f in everything. much less false neutral than when I ran "Cheaper conventional oils. Lots of people swear by 15-30w rotella, nothing wrong with good old dinosaur oil.

Just in case you're thinking I am crazy. Think about the fact MX bikes 4 or 2-strokes work 10x harder than these twin cylinders could ever. As well as twin cylinder Yamaha Banshee's. All with wet clutches, head on over to Thumpertalk's street section, lots of information to be had with false neutral, wet clutch woes and oil talk.

I have used 15-30 Rotella Triple T.
What weight of Royal Purple or ATF do you use? I assume they are all good for wet clutches.
My riding weather ranges from 10C in the early season to close to 40C in summer (50F to 110F ish).
 
Careful! Our transmissions share the engine oil, so one can ONLY use engine oil that is safe for wet clutches. JASO MA rated oils are recommended. I have found that Rotella T6 5W40 works great in my DOHC engine and provides smooth clutch and transmission operation.
 
I got this problem on all of my XS-engines. I got the third one running at the moment. And that one was open last winter, there were no signs of wear or something else suspicious on the sprockets or shift forks.

I think the trick is to shift up more carefully.
 
Last edited:
I notice on all of my bikes that if you don't use a little "force" or a good pull up with my foot it will go into a false neutral. Just when you shift up do it like you mean. :) You will feel it (with your foot) click in when it goes.
 
I think I have to agree with Drewpy. It used to happen a lot when I had less seat time on the xs400; now I must have simply compensated because I don't have a problem anymore.
 
Back
Top