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well, about a week ago I noticed that the clutch was begining to drag a little bit, but by the time I reached my destination, I had no clutch at all. so I took the cover off and checked the plates/piston/bearing, and all seemed well. so I decided to try and bleed the clutch and sure enough there was a good bit of air in the line. after that the clutch worked fine for about a day. and then it began dragging again. same problem. all the crush washers are there and everything seems in order. now the question is how do I isolate such a slight leak? should I just say the heck with it and rebuild from master to slave? any help would be most appreciated!

............pikey

Is there any external leakage or is it all internal?

Regards
Klaus
PASO 750, 1990

does the fluid disappear as well or does it just suck in air it sounds like the o-ring in the clutch slave bearing is shot you may have to replace this or the whole bearing itself .

Rodney

There is a section on rebuilding the clutch slave in the Paso FAQ. Second subject, posted by Gerhard.

there doesnt appear to be any fluid loss. It seems to just be sucking in air. as a side note the bleeder was pretty rounded off by the previous owner. It seems that it closes all the way but the wrench does begin to slip as the bleeder reaches its tightest position. perhaps it is not closing all the way. I am going to bleed it again this time using vice grips to be sure it tightens all the way. also where can I order this bleeder? thanks for all your help guys!

.........pikey

be very careful that you dont strip the thread in the casing . it may be better to get a new bleeder bolt than over tighten and strip the thread as the casing is fairly soft when it comes to the threads. good luck

Rodney

pikey wrote:also where can I order this bleeder? .........pikey

http://www.yoyodyneti.com/default.aspx

FYI, I'm having the same problem with my clutch. I almost pushed my bike off a cliff today in desperation. I honestly have never had such a problem bleeding a hydraulic line until I met this bike. Hope you have better luck that I am having. :funny:

its just a standard thread bleeder nipple, best way to bleed it is gavity to start with and make sure the housing is a couple of mills loose then bleed and when finished retighten casing up

rodney

well I dont think it is the bleeder anymore. I am going to replace said part and I am going to replace the O-ring. A friend suggested using a quadring. any recomendations? OH! and thanks for all the help guys!

pikey

I need to ask you guys if you have done any work on the system recently that may have created the problems, as I have in the past?
1- Use only DOT3 fluid, and don't use the synthetic DOT5, especially if you had DOT3 in there before. It will swell the seals and they'll stick. If the piston in your master cylinder swells too much, it won't allow fluid to get past it to refill the line, and you will start to create a vacuum. Then you will pull air in from the piston in the slave.
2. Have you adjusted the lever screw lately? Similar to above, if the piston isn't allowed to return far enough, the pump starts to work in the opposite.
3. If you had any of the piston parts out of their housing, did you wash them with anything other than brake fluid? Any other petroleum product will cause them to swell and behave badly.

If all else fails, take it all apart, clean it carefully, re-assemble, and use a good vacuum pump, and a fresh can of DOT 3. Filling the system from the bottom up to the master cyclinder using a brake bleeding pump (same as the vacuum pump, but in reverse).

Cheers,

I have the identical problem with the clutch on my '88 Paso 750... it starts out strong but fades while I ride. This now has happened three times to me and is none-to-great... especially when I've got my wife on the back of the bike! Each time I bring the bike home, bleed the clutch, seemingly fix it, and the problem happens again.

I live in Bergen County, NJ and would love to know if anyone can refer me to a mechanic or store that can fix this problem once and for all. I love the bike, but this clutch issue is putting me at my wits end.

Any help from the forum would be greatly appreciated.

Bellapaso, if I find a resolution I will most certainly let you know!

pikey

Pikey, I feel your pain. This past weekend, I have spent countless hours trying to get the air out of my clutch line without success.

Now I have taken the gloves off and it's me and the clutch. I took my clutch cover off, put two clear lines: one on the inlet goint to a can of brake fluid and one bleed hole. I ran the bleed hole tube through my vacuum pump. Still sucking gobs of air out. I even siliconed the piston area to see if it was leaking there. This is really blowing my mind. I can't seem to get the air out. So far, it's kicking my butt but the fight isn't over.

Is there anyone else out there that has conquered this problem?

I have no problems bleeding the clutch, but then again I have never started with the line empty. I'm never really getting much air. the problem seems solved after I bleed the line, but within 20 miles it begins dragging again. I'm getting murderously frustrated with it. I am about to just friggin rebuild the whole damn thing, from top to bottom!

pikey