Any one done the clutch adjustment at the clutch on the 3LN 250? Cant for the life of me get the phillips head screw loose. Is there a locknut I am not aware of? Cheers
Are you talking about adjusting the slack on the clutch cable? I'm not aware of any philips head screw on the cable anywhere... there is an adjuster and locknut on the clutch lever end, and a threaded tube with locknuts on the engine side of the cable. If there's no slack on the cable, try adjusting it at the lever first. If you can't get any slack there, you have to loosen off the other end of the cable and re-do both adjustments.
I can get slack on the cable but the clutch still releases very late and seems to slip on quick gear changes. Apparently (according to other forum posts) this means the clutch is out of adjustment. Cheers for the quick reply
Full synth yammy 15w50, which may also be to blame but just the way it releases so damn late has me thinking its the adjustment.
If the lever is all the way out and is tight to pull, the slack is not set correctly. Basically on the engine end of the cable there is a spring which provides tension against the lever. I prefer to have my clutch adjusted so that it fully grabs halfway between the lever against the handlebar and all the way out. If you're having issues with it hitting false neutrals, try keeping the gear selector up with your foot until you fully release the clutch. Also, adjust the gear selector down slightly so less effort is required to kick it up. I've only ever had false neutrals when the gear selector is not in a good spot. Also as grey mentioned, when oil gets old it does funky things, including mess with your gear shifts. Since bikes share oil with the engine and gearbox it breaks down quickly, and should be changed religiously at 5,000KM or earlier... it should never come out black and watery, it means the oil has broken down and no longer lubricates. Dark oil is OK as long as its still oily, it means it's doing its job and suspending contaminants in the oil. With my Ninja 250R I found that Motul full synthetic was horrible for gearbox feel. It was so bad, I could roll to a stop in second gear with the clutch in, and it would drop into neutral or 1st on its own. Since using a full mineral oil (Caltex Delo 400 15w40) I never had the problem again. IMHO bikes without a turbocharger do not need a full synthetic oil... you need synthetic with a turbocharger because the high heat rapidly breaks down oil... 1000 degrees C is very hot for standard mineral oil. Synthetics resist heat better and don't break down. A lot of synthetics also don't have as much anti wear additives in them... Delo 400 is a fleet oil and has high zinc and high moly, as well as high levels of detergents, which moves old oil buildup.
I was a bit suss when the bloke at the yamaha shop recommended full synth haha. Yeah definitely got plenty of slack in the lever, I'll give it a good go over in the morning. Cheers
I currently run Motul 5100 in my Ninja 250 and have ran Silkolene Pro 4 on my FZR 250 with never a days drama. Oil always changed after every track day or every second race meet. never had an issue with finding false neutrals or gear hopping, however, keeping in mind my bike is near always at full noise and high in the revs i still have used Motul 5100 and Silkolene on road bikes and always happy with the product. Clutch adjustment is a funny thing as what suits one persons riding style may not suit another, find your comfort as to where you rather the clutch bite and set it to that. Make sure that it will select and engage all gears with ease on adjustment and don't forget to leave a little slack!
