Clutch went to nothing

[Calldavid]

Beautiful day in North GA today, geared up and loaded up for a nice ride to follow the Occoee river, lunch in McCaysville and enjoy the ride. Get to GA 52 up 515 and pull in the clutch for a traffic light and the bike kind of stalls and comes to a hard stop. Get it in Neutral, start her up go to put her in gear, and the clutch wont engage. I sit and let her cool down and same thing, sometimes a struggle to get into Neutral, but clutch wont engage. Call AAA and after 2 hours and so many kind people stopping to ensure that we are ok, I get it loaded on the flat bed and we take it to the local dealer in Canton, only to be told, you should have called first, we dont work on anything older than 06. WTF, I explain that they always have serviced my bike. Guy goes back to the manager and says, well we will try but it will take 4-5 weeks to get to it. At this point, I am between a rock and a hard place as the tow driver is stating I got to go.
Is there anyone on the forum here local to Canton that works on these? I would welcome a hook up, as apparently the "older" insert "experienced" mechanics are no longer there. I am looking for an experienced mechanic that can help with this.
This is a 1500 FI 03, and I keep it in the garage when not ridding. Had it out a month ago and ran like a champ.
Still runs great, if the clutch would work.
I am open to thoughts, but I am not the one to take it apart anymore.
Thank you for your help in advance.

[Jllm02199]

Originally Posted by Calldavid

Beautiful day in North GA today, geared up and loaded up for a nice ride to follow the Occoee river, lunch in McCaysville and enjoy the ride. Get to GA 52 up 515 and pull in the clutch for a traffic light and the bike kind of stalls and comes to a hard stop. Get it in Neutral, start her up go to put her in gear, and the clutch wont engage. I sit and let her cool down and same thing, sometimes a struggle to get into Neutral, but clutch wont engage. Call AAA and after 2 hours and so many kind people stopping to ensure that we are ok, I get it loaded on the flat bed and we take it to the local dealer in Canton, only to be told, you should have called first, we dont work on anything older than 06. WTF, I explain that they always have serviced my bike. Guy goes back to the manager and says, well we will try but it will take 4-5 weeks to get to it. At this point, I am between a rock and a hard place as the tow driver is stating I got to go.
Is there anyone on the forum here local to Canton that works on these? I would welcome a hook up, as apparently the "older" insert "experienced" mechanics are no longer there. I am looking for an experienced mechanic that can help with this.
This is a 1500 FI 03, and I keep it in the garage when not ridding. Had it out a month ago and ran like a champ.
Still runs great, if the clutch would work.
I am open to thoughts, but I am not the one to take it apart anymore.
Thank you for your help in advance.

Sounds like you have lost the fluid somehow. if you don't see it at the clutch master cylinder the pull the left side cover. Look for fluid coming out of the clutch slave. Is there brake fluid in the clutch reservoir?
if so see if it will pump up. 2 possibilities bad pump at the clutch lever or bad slave cylinder. Worse comes to worse buy both kits.

[Sabre-t]

You could have trash clogging the MC.

[mick56]

Probably been low on fluid for some time. Where it's sat in the garage on the side stand, with handlebars turned left, the reservoir has been at an angle. That might have allowed air into the system. I reckon it just needs bleeding. That clutch, is no different than one on a 2006, so why the garage wont fix it is beyond me.

If it's a Nomad, lay it over on the right side crash bars, to make it easier to get at the gear lever & foot board off, and access the bolts on the left hand engine casing. The bleed nipple is just above the gear lever shaft. An hours work all in.

[Brydgy]

Sounds like a rebuild to me. I backed my bike (03 1500FI Nomad) out onto the street one morning and no pressure at the clutch. When I pulled in the day before there was no issue. Tried cleaning and bleeding to no avail. I ended up doing a rebuild of the master cylinder.

[mick56]

Originally Posted by Brydgy

Sounds like a rebuild to me. I backed my bike (03 1500FI Nomad) out onto the street one morning and no pressure at the clutch. When I pulled in the day before there was no issue. Tried cleaning and bleeding to no avail. I ended up doing a rebuild of the master cylinder.

That rebuild, May, or may not, have been required. The best way of bleeding all things on bikes/ cars ect, is to pump from the bottom up. I have used the traditional method, then suction pumps, Both are inferior. Get an old triggered oil can, out of your dad's shed. Put a transparent hose on the end, and shove it on the bleed nipple. Pump all the air out of the hose before you stick it on the nipple though. Take the lid off the reservoir, and get all the old fluid out, and clean it first. Either using a syringe, or a bit of old rag to soak it up. Before you start pumping, cover the reservoir with a rag. If you don't, fluid will squirt out all over your bike, and fuck the paintwork.

This kind of thing. https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_f...acat=0&_sop=15

[Calldavid]

Thank you for the feedback, not sure what I am going to do. Original plumbing, and maybe a bad or broken line or all the above. Not sure if I want to put the energy into it. Weighing my options. Really concerned that the dealership doesn’t want to work on it.

[Peg]

Originally Posted by redjay

....QUOTE=Calldavid;724989 Thank you for the feedback, not sure what I am going to do. Original plumbing, and maybe a bad or broken line or all the above. Not sure if I want to put the energy into it. Weighing my options. Really concerned that the dealership doesn

Redjay... Messed that post up buddy

[Brydgy]

Originally Posted by mick56

That rebuild, May, or may not, have been required. The best way of bleeding all things on bikes/ cars ect, is to pump from the bottom up. I have used the traditional method, then suction pumps, Both are inferior. Get an old triggered oil can, out of your dad's shed. Put a transparent hose on the end, and shove it on the bleed nipple. Pump all the air out of the hose before you stick it on the nipple though. Take the lid off the reservoir, and get all the old fluid out, and clean it first. Either using a syringe, or a bit of old rag to soak it up. Before you start pumping, cover the reservoir with a rag. If you don't, fluid will squirt out all over your bike, and fuck the paintwork.

This kind of thing. https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_f...acat=0&_sop=15

Thanks for the info mick!

[Jllm02199]

[QUOTE=Calldavid;724989]Thank you for the feedback, not sure what I am going to do. Original plumbing, and maybe a bad or broken line or all the above. Not sure if I want to put the energy into it. Weighing my options. Really concerned that the dealership doesn

[Jllm02199]

[QUOTE=Jllm02199;725118]

Originally Posted by Calldavid

Thank

[Calldavid]

So the dealership became a challenge. Not worth going into, but will never go back. Ended up selling as is. Bought a 2012 R1200RT to replace.
The Nomad is a great bike, put 30k miles on with my wife and enjoyed. In calling around to other dealers, they won’t work on bikes over 10 years old now. I checked and verified with the local BMW dealer, and they are happy to work on older as evidenced by what I saw in their service area.
This is a great forum that is always willing to help.
Be safe and enjoy your ride.

[ldhthept]

Prob less than $150 worth of parts if you had rebuilt the MC and got a stainless braided clutch hose and about an hours worth of work... Sounds to me that someone wanted a new bike! Not knocking you, been there. Enjoy new ride!

[OmahaShadow]

Did a "field repair" yesterday when then clutch faded and failed. Had my long time riding pal to help with the project in a Casey's parking lot in Blair, NE. Used my iPhone for reference, Googled 2006 Vulcan Nomad, clutch, and YouTube had a 34 minute how to "bleed" the hydraulic clutch. Had the tools needed for the work with me. Bill went to a nearby NAPA for DOT4 brake fluid. I opened up the reservoir on the top left handlebar and saw that it was nearly empty. Cleaned that out w/ paper towels, loosened the floor board and removed the gear levers & removed the left hand engine casing. With Bill's help pumping the clutch lever, got the air out of the line and the clutch working again. Topped off the reservoir put everything back together and back on the road home. So far no sign of leaking. Took awhile to get it done and not as easy as in my driveway with all my tools. Everything above is good info. Don't get the brake fluid on your paint and cover the reservoir to contain the mess and keep and eye on the fluid level as you're pumping it through the line.

[andyvh1959]

Its a shame that many dealerships will no longer work on bikes over ten years old. Really bull chit in my opinion. But then again, too many bikes with years on them haven't been stored properly, maintained properly, ridden enough to keep everything active (like fuel systems, fuel pumps, etc), so technicians end up spending too much time on rusted fasteners, corroded/dead electrics, gummed up carbs/fuel tanks, to even be able to make rate on repairs. I wonder too if the dealerships no longer don't give factory support on repair rates on bikes over a certain age. Too many bikes out there that require a good amount of labor versus actual parts costs (like cleaning up a gummed up fuel system) to make any money even at $125 an hour. Plus too many bike owners will not pay $1250 for a ten hour labor job on a bike that is only worth $2000 on the market. Sure, you're bike may be near perfect for its age, but in reality the glut of Japanes bikes with low resale value means most riders won't spend the money on them anyway. That's one positive about Harleys, they've been making a basically similar bike for over 50 years. Whereas the Japanese bikes change drastically every three to five years.

I'd bet the issue with the clutch is the lost fluid in the master cylinder. But that asks the question, where did the fluid go? Could be a steady leak at the slave cylinder that gets burned off by the hot engine cases when riding, but not dripping fluid when parked. Good thing to regularly check the fluid level in the master cylinder weekly.