Surging and Gear Slippage - plus recommended maintenance

[thumper17]

Hello GSers - Long(ish)time reader, always been able to find answers without posting, but now i'm looking for some specific advice.

Had my 2001 e for about 18 months now and she has been wonderful. Among doing the regular oil changes and chain maintenance, I've started experiencing surging and slippage when taking off, as well as slipping out of gears at speed when I push hard (say to overtake on the freeway). I can always rectify the problem by closing the throttle slightly and reopening, but it's definitely getting worse.

At first I thought it was sprockets and chain, so I replaced those with high quality replacements. Problem is still there.

The worst part is when taking off in first, as I'm letting out the clutch, feels like the gears slip quickly, then catch, kind of surging a bit.

Can happen in any gear if I'm pushing it hard, but most noticeably in first.

Anyway I have some cash right now and my other intended upgrades are replacing all gaskets, (been getting a very slow oil drip recently) possibly having the carbs jets and valves done, and also swapping out fork oil (and maybe upgrading the springs). I'd like to have to open it up as few times as possible, so would like to get this issue resolved assuming its not too major.

Thanks for months worth of reading material prior to this.

Clay

[thumper17]

Bike has about 17k miles on her - i purchased at 10k and have done all standard maintenance since then.

[Atesz792]

I'd suggest you start with a 3 point clutch adjustment and an oil & filter change.

[J_Walker]

are you putting motorcycle 4 stroke oil in the bike? or something like off the shelf motor oil, or diesel oil?


recently the oil I was using for my bikes that had no friction modifiers in it, they started putting the modifiers in it... it was for "Cars" idk what changed. but the government passes bills all the time to make things more eco-friendly.

[MeeLee]

I read you can't put eco oil in there for better mpg (5W30 or lower),
The bike takes 10W40, but 15W50 should temporarily solve your problem

[thumper17]

Thank you for the replies everyone. I think a 3 point adjustment is my next move. I use Mobil Motorcycle specific oil with no modifiers in it.  I was originally worries it was something more internal i guess?

To phrase it differently, I'm not slipping into other gears, but more or less losing power. When I rev it hard, it feels like it is slipping off of the gear, and then if I close the throttle and re-open it will catch again, but it is not slipping into other gears etc.

Thanks

[Atesz792]

Definitely clutch slippage. Had this exact same issue after I bought mine. Adjustment takes approx. 5 minutes with the right tools.

[UCFjeff]

are you putting motorcycle 4 stroke oil in the bike? or something like off the shelf motor oil, or diesel oil?


recently the oil I was using for my bikes that had no friction modifiers in it, they started putting the modifiers in it... it was for "Cars" idk what changed. but the government passes bills all the time to make things more eco-friendly.

Is diesel oil okay to use?

[Big Rich]

Look on any bottle of oil for some type of label that says "JASO MA approved". If it says that, than it won't make the clutch slip. Rotella oil is a diesel oil that is usually recommended for wet clutches.

[Atesz792]

Yep, Rotella 15w-40 (also the 5w-40 variety, but I'd only use that when it's REAL cold) is JASO MA2 rated, that's what many use.
I'm currently running Mobil Delvac MX, so far so good