Troubles Shifting

[Herman]

When I come up to stop and down shift, I can only down shift one gear and then the shifter peg won't come up on its own and I have to fumble around (shifting up and down until I hopefully get into 1st) to get it to go down to first.  Sometimes I can't get into 1st and have to start in 2nd or even 3rd gear.  No problems down shifting on the go, only when I'm going slow, coming to a stop.  Also, occasionally, when I get on the throttle (like when I had to show a Porsche who's boss) it will jump out of second into neutral in mid throttle.

Any ideas?

[Greg Cothern]

Hmm have not heard of that one yet, I am very curious to hear of the cure.

[MagnaMan]

Herman, I believe you can relax. You're just experiencing one of those little glitchy things about the "not so perfect" Magna transmission.

Check out this thread started by yours truly:
http://www.magnaownersoftexas.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=314

Basically I've found that if I have to stop rather quickly and don't get a chance to down shift all the way before coming to a stop then all I have to do is double-clutch. That's where you let the clutch out just a little bit so it starts to grab again and then you can downshift to the next gear.  

See if that helps. I'm not the only one this happens to, so I believe it's just an eccentricity of the transmision.

[Herman]

Yea, I had that happening before (and still) when stopping quickly, but this is happening mostly (almost only) when I'm getting off the freeway, coming out of 5th, and double-clutching isn't working.  This is a new occurrence with in the last couple days.

It seems like it's not resetting its self to down shift again (even with double clutching to try to pop it in so I can downshift.  I can even drive a little ways before it will reset itself).  The funny thing is, if I try to get it to act up on a side street, it won't.  It just likes to do it when slow down from cruising in 5th.

Does the engine oil circulate in the transmition?  I'm wondering if I put some seafoam or some AFT to maybe clean it up.

My other thought is (according to the service manual) is a weak or broken gearshift spindle return spring or bent gear shift spindle (pg 10-1 for troubleshooting, pg. 10-4 for parts).

I think I might start tearing into my bike tonight (have to pull off the water pump to get into the transmition.  If you know whether the engine oil lubes the tranny let me know.  I'm assuming it does, but not sure.

[Curtis_Valk]

Engine oil lubes the tranny and clutch.

Curtis

[Herman]

That is what I figured.  I also found out (the hard and messy way) that you need to drain the oil BEFORE you pull out the water pump.  However I was smart enough to drain the coolant before taking the water pump off.

[MagnaMan]

Hi, Herman. I'm just curious if you'd found anything out yet.

[Herman]

Nothing to make me feel any better!

I pulled appart stuff for the gear shift linkage and didn't find anything that looked to be wrong.  The two springs that are in there looked good.  I ordered new springs, but they are on backorder.  I'm going to put things back together tonight and heading on about a 400 mile trip this weekend, so we'll see if just pulling things apart and putting it back together does anything .  There seems to be another spring or something further in the transmition, but I couldn't find anything in the manual.  When I get the new springs, I'll see if that makes a difference.  The old springs could just be weak.

I'll let you know how it goes on my trip when I get back.

[Herman]

Well, 500 miles later and no problems with shifting at all.  So I guess the answer to the problem is to take the gear shift linkage apart, let it sit for 3 days and put it together again.

[ThomasMagna]

Herman,

I have a friend in California that has an old reel to reel tape deck that stops working every so often. I watched him "fix" it once and he really didn't do anything to it. After putting it back together, the thing worked fine. I asked him what the deal was, you didn't do anything. His reply was, "No, I didn't do anything. Sometimes things just want attention."

If his theory is correct, you're probably right about take it apart and wait three days, or taking it apart may have relieved some tension in there. No matter at the moment since you are able to ride your bike.

On the news this morning there was a report about how many accidents happened last night due to black ice. My riding season isn't over yet, but is getting close.

As an aside, Happy Thanksgiving to all.

[BIGPOPPALUMP]

CHANGE THE ENGINE OIL!  IT HAPPENED TO ME ALSO.  I CHANGED THE OIL WITH SOME ROYAL PURPLE AND THE PROBLEM WENT AWAY.

[roboto65]

Ohhhh you know I have to chime in on this one Royal Purple to the rescue    

[BIGPOPPALUMP]

IT IS THE BOMB!

[Herman]

I think I'll do that with my next oil change.  It's slowly starting to act up again.  Where can I get some Royal purple?  I don't think I've seen it any where around here (in AZ).

[Greg Cothern]

Mobil 1 MX4T work GREAT!!!!  Wal-mart, Autozone, etc.