[CheeseHeadNinja]

I think my transmission may be going on my 2007 Z1000. Bike has ~29,000 miles on it, always run full synthetic oil, changed at least once a year. I ride it hard/fast but don't abuse it (no wheelies or burnouts or stuff like that). I know how to shift and blip/downshift too so I don't consider myself rough on the tranny either.

I've had a couple instances in the past few months when I'm getting on the throttle and it drops out of gear and into a false neutral, maybe between 4th-5th or 5th-6th. Both times it happened it ended up catching after a few seconds once the revs dropped and everything seemed OK.

Today coming home I was entering a corner and downshifted normally, went thru the corner, and accelerated out. When I shifted from 3rd to 4th it dropped out of 4th / hit a false neutral. I can't remember if it grabbed 4th for a second or not before it went into false neutral. Once the revs dropped and I was coasting waiting for it to catch, I heard this awful sound. Like a grinding/rattling in my tranny, like there was a chunk of something bouncing around in there. Kinda like the sound the garbage disposal makes when accidentally put a little bone chunk down there. I probably coasted a good 5 seconds or so before it caught 4th.

The rest of the way home (like 3 minutes) it seemed OK. It downshifted fine and I didn't hear any abnormal sounds, but I was driving very gently because I was expecting the motor to explode at any moment

Should I go drain my oil and see if I see a chunks of metal spill out? What should I do?

Here's my baby

 

[Vic.Thing]

Oh geez, most likely you've got some fairly serious issues going on. I'd guess you have gear dog issues and probably bent shift forks. Once it starts popping out of gear, you keep riding it'll start working it's way through you're entire transmission. Not sure but you probably have a cassette transmission which means you can inspect and do repairs without splitting the crankcase (hopefully).

Just my thoughts as someone whos been there.

 

[RS117]

When I shifted from 3rd to 4th it dropped out of 4th / hit a false neutral. I can't remember if it grabbed 4th for a second or not before it went into false neutral.

I would go over the basics before thinking / worrying trans issues. Has your shifting gotten lazy.. the few Kawi's I have owned like a good firm shift. Has the chain stretched and in need of adj ? Cable stretched ? Change of foot wear ??

 

[CheeseHeadNinja]

Would I be able to see anything in the oil? Like metal shavings?

 

[Vic.Thing]

Would I be able to see anything in the oil? Like metal shavings?

Maybe but probably not. Most likely any shavings are going to end up in the filter.

 

[RS117]

Maybe but probably not. Most likely any shavings are going to end up in the filter.

in which he could do a fresh oil / filter change and cut open the old filter to verify.

 

[Vic.Thing]

in which he could do a fresh oil / filter change and cut open the old filter to verify.

Well yes and no. There's always going to be some metal shavings in the filter, even when the engine is normal. So unless he has that baseline of kind of knowing how much is just normal operating shavings then he's got nothing to compare it too. Guarantee you open a filter from your bike with 20k, 40k, 100k miles you're going to find shavings.

 

[RS117]

yes that is correct and if he really is having transmission issues ( having a couple missed shifts does not automatically point to bad gears or fork to me ) there should / would be tell tail signs of something going wrong.
I personally would go back to the basics before I got too excited...... yes, not my ride so that is easy to say lol

 

[Vic.Thing]

yes that is correct and if he really is having transmission issues ( having a couple missed shifts does not automatically point to bad gears or fork to me ) there should / would be tell tail signs of something going wrong.
I personally would go back to the basics before I got too excited...... yes, not my ride so that is easy to say lol

I agree with starting with the simple things. But here's the thing, at this point the bike should only be ridden to specifically test those things. The longer it's ridden, potentially the more damage is going to occur if it ends up being a mechanical issue. So indeed, perform every simple diagnostic, try making sure to shift positively and all that, but if it's not one of those things stop riding the bike and get that transmission fixed!

 

[CheeseHeadNinja]

Good ideas. I'm going to double check the chain tension and look at the shift lever position. Maybe I shouldn't jump to the worst conclusion, but that grinding sound I heard made me sick!

 

[RS117]

Maybe I shouldn't jump to the worst conclusion, but that grinding sound I heard made me sick!

been there and done that and know it just isn't us two lol ...... Kawi in my experience really like a firm deliberate shift ... with chain adj and even footwear make a difference.

 

[CheeseHeadNinja]

Drove it today, making sure I really shifted very firmly, and it seemed fine. I think possibly my chain was a bit tight, so I loosened it a hair. We'll see!

 

[Shmoodad]

The marble noise is the gear trying to catch, most likely. My buddy was a bit lazy on his downshifts, I actually have a video of him hitting false neutral, I'll try to find it to see if it's what you were hearing.