Problems with 2003 Shifting

[cycler53]

First I'd like to give some background which may or may not help with solving the issue I'm having.

I have a 2003 with 41K miles. I had the clutch fluid changed in early October and right away had problems with the bike acting like it was coming out of gear while riding at almost all speeds. Put another way the engine would rev up like I pulled in the clutch lever and the bike would drop all power but just for a second then take off again. The shop that did the fluid change changed the spider springs and it was still doing it. They then found the orifice in the box by the clutch lever plugged. I rode the bike some and yesterday had to have the bike taken in to have some of the fairing changed due to the shop spilling DOT 3 on it last year when they unplugged the orifice. When riding it home (about a 30 minute ride) it rode fine, stopping at several stop signs and lights, until I came to a stop light three blocks from home. The bike kept dying with the clutch in and would try to lurch forward when I would try to restart it with the clutch lever pulled all the way in. When I reached my drive, which is about a 5% grade, the bike wanted to crawl up the drive with the clutch in and in first gear. A few minutes later I took it out and wasn't able to get it neutral when backing out of the garage. Even with the clutch lever in it didn't want to roll back down the drive without some pushing backwards. I took off and had trouble shifting into second and then third. When I tried to shift back down into second and first at the next light it hard to get into second from third and then was stuck in second. I turned around and rode it home in second gear.

I haven't tried to take it out today, after it has cooled off, but I suspect, while no matter what there is a problem, the problem is exacerbated by the bike being hot as the problem didn't start until I had ridding for almost 30 minutes. I have a call in to the shop that did the work but they have not called back and frankly I don't have a great deal of confidence in them at this juncture.

Can one of you experts give me some pointers as to what may be causing this? Thanks in advance.

[cushman eagle]

My first thought is to try rebleeding the clutch fluid.It sounds as if there is enough air in the system that the clutch is not fully releasing.

[cycler53]

Thanks Cushman Eagle. That sounds plausible. I'll give it a try.

[doug of so fla]

My first thought is to try rebleeding the clutch fluid.It sounds as if there is enough air in the system that the clutch is not fully releasing.

Also check clutch lever bushing for to much play and the plunger in the clutch master cylinder in the reservoir, may have a leak letting air in but no fluid out. And also take off clutch slave cylinder down under the alternator and clean it out. Flush & Rebleed and get out ALL!!! the air. If that does not fix it the shop probably put the clutch together wrong...

[snowbound]

I could be wrong but I think all voyagers use dot 4 fluid.