Clutch not working when hot

Hey guys,

This is my first post here, and english is not my first language, so bare with me on some terms heheh

I have a 2009 FE 450 which i love, however it's been weird lately. I live in a very hot tropical country (Brazil) and everytime, when im riding after 15-20 minutes in 90ºF temperature, my clutch gets weird and its a hassle to keep on riding.

It feels like half of the "clutch lever travel" (for lack of a better word) gets numb and loose (like if there was no oil) but the remaining clutch lever travel works, although very sensitive because there is only half of the clutch lever travel for the whole clutch to engage and disengage. - I dont know if im making myself clear.

I've been trying to figure out what is happening but i can't. I changed the clutch oil, checked the lines, o-rings and watnot and nothing, there is no oil spewing out from the reservoir, everything is clean, no sand grains to clog or anything. Im afraid it might be clutch discs, maybe?

There is no trigger to make this happen. It just suddently gets weird and it gradually gets worse. If i kill the bike, the clutch goes back to normal, but then i turn it back on, it gets weird again after a couple minutes.

Any guesses? Please help me out, this sucks.

Thank you all

keyowne said:

thats very strange, no idea tbh lol
Can the fluid boil? maybe neeeds bleeding and fluid replacing?
try not to use clutch too much ,change up without clutch

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It is weird.

I called my mechanic this morning and he said the same thing: "bleed the fluid". I'll do that and post the outcome here afterwards.

The fluid does not boil. Actually, nothing happens besides this.

There is no oil on the inside of my handguards, which its easily noticeable because of the little breathing hole on the left side of the clutch reservoir.

There is definitely something going on, because when it happened the first time, it was also hot as hell, but i was riding in too much dust and then mud. But yesterday i was commuting to work and happened.

I am, im changing gears without clutch, trying to hit the optimum RPM line so i dont damage anything and the gears snaps on smoothly.

Thanks for the reply keyowne, these hunches are what im looking for :thumbright:

Well, sorry for the delayed reply,

I did bleed the system but my mechanic told me this is happening due to overheating. Which i think its weird because im riding on the streets and i have wind flowing through the system most of the time (except when I stop on red lights), but then i turn the bike off. Besides, my Husa has that cooling fan, which turns on automatically when the bike is too hot. This is not happening, so the bike must not be overheating.

I rode yesterday and i THINK my clutch was starting to give when i was arriving home, so im not sure the problem persisted.

Im starting to think i have a more serious problem. Any more guesses?

PEI Mudder said:

Found this online....

"There is a very small pressure relief hole in the master cylinder, closer to the hose banjo than the lever. It’s there to let fluid pass back into the master cylinder when the lever is released. If it is clogged, pressure builds up as the slave cylinder heats up. When that happens your clutch will slip as the slave cylinder receives input"

Goes on to say flush the fluid and clean that relief hole and master cylinder,


i would be pulling the clutch cover and taking a look myself

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i think i know which hole is this. Im pretty sure its clean, but i'll double-check. What i did yesterday was adjust that screw on the lever that regulates the "clutch lever travel". I adjusted it in a way that it has the maximum travel as possible, and my clutch is working just fine. I havent rode for more than 15 minutes straight though, but im using the clutch quite a lot.

Thanks man!