08 FE 450, couldn't shift into 6th, metal on drain plug?!

TL;DR: bike wouldn't shift into 6th, lots of metal on the drain plug, next oil change looked great and 6th gear is fine now (was fine the next day, even before the oil change)... any idea wtf happened?

Long winded story below, including a few iceland riding pics!

Hey guys,

During a 4 day camping trip (van supported!) in the interior of Iceland, My 08 FE 450 wouldn't shifting into 6th gear.

I changed the oil/filter/air filter just prior to the trip and the bike had about 90 hours/3,500 km. maybe put 10-15 hours and about 5-600 km's on during the trip

Once we hit the tarmac on the way back, the lack of 6th gear was very noticeable and with a 150 km all paved route home, i took the easy way out, loaded the bike into the van, and rode a KLR 650 back (was already in the van due to a small crash earlier in the trip - rider had a bruised ankle but bike was fine to ride - damn thing almost put me to sleep it was so quiet/smooth!)

One note, the bike could shift into 6th gear the next day and seemed perfectly fine.

Several days after we made it home I changed the oil and noticed a fair bit of metal on the drain plug, I'd describe it as 1/4 to 1/2 inch long soft metal that turned to paste when cleaned off w/ a rag.

this scared the crap out of me, but I was hoping it was some what related to the 6th gear issue. I decided that I would see how the plug looked on the next oil change, and go from there if the engine would need to be torn down.

i rode roughly 10 more hours (and about 230 km), mostly commuting with some awesome snow day parking lot donut/drift sessions and changed the oil again.

Plug was just about perfect! (i've heard there is almost always 'some' stuff on there?).

Bike feels normal with no noticeable loss in power/etc...

Anyone have any idea what could of happened?

Thanks in advance!

and now for the pics and the last one is a video of a river crossing (and almost taking out the camera man! I've only been riding for a few months, so take it easy on me )

Re: 08 FE 450, couldn't shift into 6th, metal on drain plug?

Force, i tagged along with a UK group, so not exactly sure the real names of the places (and my spelling/Pronunciation are even worse)

We rode from Reykjavik to thingvelier and clouir route to camp first night, than cross through fludir into lanmannalaugar and camped there for 2 nights while doing day trips in the area.

attaching a gps track i took of the trip

Re: 08 FE 450, couldn't shift into 6th, metal on drain plug?

Taffy said:

where you from Jeff? i can't get a handle on where you're from?

I wouldn't panic about 6th - yet. 80% of woes are in the left cover. get this off and the clutch out of way before running through the gear selection procedure. if this fails, remove the kickstart assembly as well and see that the big spring still works OK?

bits of metal can simply jam these things up.

regards

Taffy

Click to expand...

Hey guys, i'm a Canadian living in Iceland Been here for almost 2 years now and come from a downhill mountain biking background. Had always wanted to get a 'real' bike so after a few months of complaining to my wife that there was no where to ride my DH bikes here, she finally caved and the 'berg was mine!!

Taffy, 6th is perfectly fine now, and was ok the next day, but you still think I should pull the cover and check things out? I've put about 10-12 hours on the bike since this issue.

I had read something about oil temps getting really high and maybe not enough oil for the gears or something?

thanks again for the help guys!