Could using regular 10w30 motor oil on 91' Yamaha FZR cause clutch to slip?

 I recently got a bike and changed the oil. I used car oil 10w30. Also
I'm not sure, but now I know some bikes have a "wet clutch". Don't
know if mine has one. Does anyone know? The bike runs great now after
a bit of a tune up but noticed that it starts to slip when I really
hit the gas. It just started seemingly a month after changing oil. It
has nothing to do with the trans. I can hear the motor revving but no
accelleration, so I know it's the clutch slipping.

It's an old bike, did my oil change cause it or is it just breaking
down? Thanks.

  JoeDunc@gmail.com wrote:


It has a wet clutch.

How many miles on the bike? Is the clutch lever properly adjusted? That
is, does it have the right amount of free play?

There was recently (that is, more recently than 1991) a change in the
common formulation of engine oil that affected some wet clutches in
motorcycles. Maybe this is what you're experiencing. But maybe there are
a lot of miles on the bike, the clutch is badly adjusted, or a previous
owner abused the clutch.

But replacing the clutch is not traumatic. Most likely there's a cover
on one side that comes off to reveal the clutch basket. In there will be
about a dozen clutch plates, half of them splined on the outside to mate
with the basket and half on the inside to mate with the shaft. Unbolt
the pressure plate in a star pattern, replace all the clutch plates and
the pressure plate, bolt it all back with a new gasket. Put new oil in
it (but that where you buy the clutch kit and gasket), adjust the clutch
free play, and off you go.

That's a lot easier than replacing a dry clutch in a BMW.

--
Timberwoof <me at timberwoof dot com>
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 JoeDunc@gmail.com wrote:

Very possible.  Change the oil for the proper type, to be safe I'd
get Yamalube of the correct weight.  It may be too late to undo the
damage to the clutch plates, but an oil change is a quick and easy
thing to try.  As TW pointed out changing clutch plates isn't a big
job, on most bikes you don't even need to drain the oil (but *you*
do, because you definitely need to get that 10W-30 out of there).

--
'01 SV650S  '99 EX250-F13  '98 ZG1000-A13
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