Why you should flush clutch fluid once a year.

Cajun T-roy

Cajun T-roy

Joined
Apr 11, 2022
Messages
16
Age
54
Location
Lafayette, Louisiana
Bike
2005 ST1300
2005 ST1300 51,300 miles. I just purchased this bike used. This past weekend , with the help of IGOFAR over the phone I replaced clutch slave cylinder. I did it without pulling the motor. It was not an easy job for me but I did it. That's what you do when you have more time than money. Lol. I will definitely be flushing the brakes and clutch yearly. I definitely have to give a big shout out to Igofar. Thank you very much sir.20220501_131752.jpg20220501_131907.jpg20220501_131325.jpg20220501_131139.jpg20220501_131208.jpg20220501_152940.jpg20220501_170127.jpg20220501_131044.jpg
 
Nice write up.
Were you loosing clutch fluid ( drip,drip) or clutch function?
What made you look into replacing it in the first place?
thanks for sharing pics.
I heard the hardest part was putting the banjo joint and all the washers back together?
 
ST-Traveler said:
Nice write up.
Were you loosing clutch fluid ( drip,drip) or clutch function?
What made you look into replacing it in the first place?
thanks for sharing pics.
I heard the hardest part was putting the banjo joint and all the washers back together?
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Loss of clutch. After pumping clutch lever it started working. Enquired on this site with Igofar and he suggested the clutch slave cylinder. The hardest part for me was the internal oil seal. The old one didn't want to come out.
 
Great photo's,,, thanks for posting ?? I have done a similar swap out recently. It would be interesting to see what the cooked fluid looks like,,, that sits inside the cylinder cavity. All that salt looking crystal stuff in your pics is on the engine side. Must be dirt, oil, grease and leaking fluid. The trapped fluid that we can not really flush properly,,, starts to look like molasses. You might have to pop the csc piston out with a bit of compressed air,, as things look a bit sticky now, to get a look at it. I agree,,, it's a tough job/life for that fluid. cheers,, CAt'
ps: It's just like how Honda eliminated the fork fluid drain plugs. A bottom drain plug on the csc would make a proper flush possible.
 
I wouldn't overcompensate by flushing annually because the PO appears to have never flushed the fluid at all. Maybe flush in 6 months or a year to ensure you're gotten rid of all the old crap, but then going forward every second year should be fine.
 
ReSTored said:
I wouldn't overcompensate by flushing annually because the PO appears to have never flushed the fluid at all. Maybe flush in 6 months or a year to ensure you're gotten rid of all the old crap, but then going forward every second year should be fine.
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This is pretty much what I do, all fluids every other year (except the oil/filter).
 
Depending on what area you live in, I would suggest ignoring the service manual's every two year recommendation, and do it yearly instead.
Fluid is cheap, its a really quick/easy job taking less than 20 minutes (going slow) and if you live in a hot/humid climate, your already collecting that crap inside the housing etc.
I can't count how many bikes that I've opened up, after the owners said they followed the service manual and did it every two years, only to find/show them a slave cylinder that looked like the pictures posted above etc.
Its easier to flush it, than it is to replace it, pay me now, or pay me later :rofl1:
 
ST-Traveler said:
Nice write up.
Were you loosing clutch fluid ( drip,drip) or clutch function?
What made you look into replacing it in the first place?
thanks for sharing pics.
I heard the hardest part was putting the banjo joint and all the washers back together?
Click to expand...
An easy trick to replacing the crush washers, is to put the first on on the bolt, run the bolt through the banjo fitting, add the second crush washer, then go through the second banjo fitting, and leave them hanging like that etc. All you have to do then is gently lift the hoses up just a little and slip in one washer between the end of the bolt and the housing etc.
Forceps are your friend here.
If you stack everything before you try and put the housing in, you'll find you have plenty of room.
:WCP1:
 
Erdoc48 said:
This is pretty much what I do, all fluids every other year (except the oil/filter).
Click to expand...

As I did, except that I changed from doing coolant every 2 years to every 4 years. I was using Honda Type 2 coolant and label states that it was good for 5 years, so I concluded that doing it every 2 year was overkill.
 
ReSTored said:
As I did, except that I changed from doing coolant every 2 years to every 4 years. I was using Honda Type 2 coolant and label states that it was good for 5 years, so I concluded that doing it every 2 year was overkill.
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Its not always the coolant that goes bad, or is the problem, but the T-stat getting corrosion on the barrel and starting to scrape, and then finally stick in the open position.
A sure sign that your T-stat is starting to fail, is how long it takes to reach 3 bars on the dash, not that fact that it shows three bars etc.
You should have a bar within a minute or two, then by the time you put your gloves and helmet on, you should have reached 3 bars before you start riding off.
If you find you get three bars only after riding a few minutes or miles, your T-stat is probably toast.
The Blue Honda Type II coolant is just another attempt at advertising etc.
I've been using the O'Reilly brand of universal antifreeze and coolant 50/50 mix for several years now with good results.
It actually has a better rating than the Honda stuff, and its only about $10 dollars a gallon.
It states right on the back of the jug in big Red letters SILICATE & PHOSPHATE FREE FORMULA, and MEETS ASTM D3306 (Honda's requirement) as well as D4340.
Been using it in the Desert in my dual sport, and ST's and Wing's with great results.
No crystals or sludge found, T-stat body seems to stay clean longer than the Honda stuff, or the Honda type II stuff.
The only stuff I've seen that really mucks things up is when folks use ORANGE coolant, it seems to turn into Jello in these bikes.
2 years isn't overkill when your trusting your bike to make it home through places like Yuma or Death Valley.
 
Igofar said:
2 years isn't overkill when your trusting your bike to make it home through places like Yuma or Death Valley.
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Remember, not everyone rides in Death Valley or in other areas where temps are 100 F or some similar brutal number. My coolant and other fluids looked fine when changed at the intervals I indicated. If you ride in a furnace, they maybe you need to change them more often.
 
ReSTored said:
Remember, not everyone rides in Death Valley or in other areas where temps are 100 F or some similar brutal number. My coolant and other fluids looked fine when changed at the intervals I indicated. If you ride in a furnace, they maybe you need to change them more often.
Click to expand...

or in a swamp
 
I have to be honest- I only changed the original coolant in the 2000 many years ago (with the Honda blue maybe in 2012) and that was once (never on the 94 which I bought in 2014)- that is, until I changed the timing belts in both bikes in late 2017, so I used Prestone silicate free 50/50 mix and both bikes have been fine with that coolant (I didn’t feel like measuring and diluting- probably not as cost effective as getting a gallon of pure and making it 2, but I will normally take the easier way out if I can).
 
Catmandu2 said:
A bottom drain plug on the csc would make a proper flush possible.
Click to expand...
I wondered that too. I don't know if the clutch flush bypasses the slave cylinder but when I looked at the service manual (pg 9-3) (at the abbreviated clutch piping diagram) the bleeder screw portion comes from the upper banjo hose and the lower banjo comes from the clutch handle hose. So if one would flush through the clutch reservoir one would think it would go primarily into the slave cylinder and then up out through the bleeder hose screw. So the first fluid you see coming out of the system would be whatever was in the bleeder hose and then the CSC next, then the clutch reservoir.
Maybe someone can verify this but if that is the case I would think most of the primary fluid flush goes into the slave cylinder and then up through the bleeder screw??
 
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