Squeeling/Sqeeking coming from clutch on takeoff..?

[b1k3rdude]

Following another rider on the way home (a BMW 1150G), he decided who was gonna try and have the Fazer...

Anyway long story short at the last two sets of lights before my village, we would pull away from the lights hard. And in an effort to keep the front end down I slipped the clutch, it was at this point where I could here a squeeling that would come and go as I feathered the clutch and then disappear half way through the rev range in 1st.

This is my forth FZS1000 and I have never had any of them make a squeeling/sqeeking noise from the clutch like I heard this evening. Has anyone ever had/heard of this before or is it possible I was actually partially spinning the rear wheel as I pulled away from the lights. The tyres on the bike atm are Conti motions, (I got em cheap (£130) and the the bike only gets ridden in the dry). When I got home I applied both brakes and taking the revs to 4k I tried to get the clutch to squeel, but not a sausage.

I will test the pull away for the rest of the week to try and see where its coming from, but any suggestions welcome.

[ghostbiker]

Sure the squeel wasn't the tyres spinning up? Often get that if I lean forward and feather the clutch in 1st LOL

[b1k3rdude]

Well it wasn't the tyre spinning up, which I never really thought it would be as the tyres has loads of tread and its warm and dry out.

On the way home it occured to me that it it is the clutch I should be able to get it to make the same noise slipping the clutch at low speed and in 6th gear, sure enough I could get it to make the noise and vibration at 6-8k. The sueeling sound was similar to a knackered bearing, but then I had ear plugs in under the crash helmet etc.

The upshot is after about 3 trys of this I appear to have blown the friction pates in the clutch, because on the 3rd attempt the the engine would just rev with the clutch fully engaged. I pulled the clutch lever in and it was now much stiffer than before so I pulled over.

I had to adjust the clutch free play adjuster all the way in to get the lever free-play close that of normal and while I was at it I undid the engine oil filler cap and a small amount of smoke appeared which is what lead me to believe the friction plates are toast.

The bike has only done 13k, so I have to believe the previous owner/s were a but heavy handed with the clutch. All previous fzs1000 where I have owned them long enough to do enough mileage the clutches have lasted till at least 45k even with a bit of summer traffic light starts.

Have other foccers had a similar happenstance with thier clutch..?

[b1k3rdude]

Had a new spare set of oem friction(which had already been soaked in oil) & clutch plates so decided to swap the old plates out this evening rather than the weekend...

Upon removing the clutch cover I saw lots of small friction material splattered on the inside the cover and after taking the plates off, on the fingers of the clutch basket also. Upon examining the friction & clutch plates the lowest friction plate (the one nearest the engine) had munched itself and the clutch plate was black. The next 3 plates had hardly any oil on them and would be considered dry. The remaining plates 50/50 dry and oily.

Looking at the clutch basket and hub its obvious the previous owner/s were very heavy on the clutch, there is wear on the basket fingers and hub that I have only ever seen at 50k

Bbefore removing the clutch cover I checked the oil level and that was on the hi mark in the sight class. The clutch hub had its blanking plug (Im sure I read on here somewhere that if that was missing that would cause dry plates etc). And there was oil on the clutch hub and basket, cover and engine casings.

So a couple of questions spring to mind -

• what would cause the plates to become so dry..? and why was the one nearest the engine the only one to properly munch itself?
  
• would starting the bike on the side stand over a prolonged period of time prematurely dry the plates out so that during the course of normal operation they would never become wet enough. This is my 4th Fazer 1000 and I cant remember having any issues with regard to which stand it was on over night, but conversely the previous 3 thou's were used every day.
  
• With the bike on the center stand the oil lever in the sight glass drops below the glass, I know this is normal but is it advisable to have the oil level at the top of the glass to make sure the clutch gets enough oil..? or am I barking up the wrong tree with that train of thought?
  
• And lastly as we are all aware the friction plates are in a certain order, a thin skinny plate at the bottom along with two anti-judder rings, then 3x thin plates and then 5 thick plates. My question is whats with the numbers on the tangs on the 5 outermost friction plates..? On the old ones I removed there were 2 numbers 12 and 383, yet the new ones I replaced them with has 11/383 on four and 12/383 on the last outermost one. Is it possible the old plates were wrong..?
  

Some pics of the plates -

[b1k3rdude]

Well replacing the clutch & friction plates didnt fix it, Im still get a small amount of the same squeal. So as I still have the almost new basket and hub the plates were in im gonna swap that over including the clutch bearings and spring plate. This will mean the entire clutch will have been replaced, then hopeully the noise will have been cured.

[dannymassive]

Hi,

I have had this problem before - not on my bike but on my car. It turned out to be the clutch release bearing that was worn - hence why it only makes the noise during the release of the clutch / when it is under strain. Changing the bearings should solve the problem for you.

Do report back as I am intrigued!

[b1k3rdude]

Changing the bearings should solve the problem for you.Do report back as I am intrigued!

As I have changed the only remaining items, namely the clutch basket and pressure plate (both of which have bearings in), I'll find out soon enough if it was a bearing in either that was causing it.

And on the subject of the wear to the basket and previous plates, thankfully I can refurb the basket to keep as a spare or sell.

[b1k3rdude]

Changing the bearings should solve the problem for you. Do report back as I am intrigued!

There are only 3 bearings in the clutch assy -  pressure plate bearing, main basket bearing & starter gear bearing. All of these were changed along with everyother part of the clutch assy due to have a complete spare clutch.

As Ive mentioned in another thread, Im leaning toward oil starvation of the clutch plates - but that then opens up a can or worms, because they are splash fed.

[Rexr]

Have u read this thread it might be this that's causing the noise from ur clutch pack

http://foc-u.co.uk/index.php/topic,13825.0.html