Help...I need to be on the road again!

[ckdontes]

I've had my 98 max for about three months now and its been parked for about a month due to a problem with it. The bike only has 9k miles on .
My problem is it will start fine in neautral but dies when put in gear
If I am able to drive it then it stalls everytime I stop.
There is too much play in the clutch and its harder to shift gears.
I'm a novice when it comes to working on bikes so any help would
Be greatly appreciated.

 

[PATMAX]

First off, buy a shop manual. Second, you could look up micro fiche files located on this site and a few others. Third, you have a bad kick stand switch. It may have been contaminated with oil or something else. Look at the area where your kick stand mounts to the frame and you will see the switch and wiring. Clean it all up with some electrical contact cleaner from the auto parts store and let it dry out. Remember to raise your kickstand all the way and give it a try starting to check your progress. It could be a bad connection upline of the switch but 99 times out or 100 it is at the switch area. You should be able to start your bike with the clutch pulled and in gear as long as the kick stand is up and the switch is working. Let us know how you make out please. PATMAX:clapping:

 

[ckdontes]

Thanks patmax. Just curious though why would the clutch have so much play all of a sudden?

 

[gamorg02]

how much fluid in the reservoir? could also be a clutch or N switch too eh patmax?

 

[naughtyG]

it's possible that you may be low in fluid (it's a hydraulic line like the brakes), or your fluid may be old (it absorbs water/humidity over time), or you could have air in the system.

What you need to do is renew the hydraulic fluid in the clutch line (with standard DOT 3/4 car brake fluid) and bleed the line to remove any air. The clutch actually needs to be reverse-bled, which you do using either a big syringe (pushing fluid through the bleed valve until all air is out, you'll see bubbles in the master cylinder reservoir).

Whenever playing with brake fluid, MAKE SURE TO COVER PAINTWORK and be very careful with spills, as that stuff is great at paint stripping..

 

[82ndCowboy]

You might want to also take your battery out and make sure the center cells have the correct fluid levels in them. You can only see the end cells while the battery is in the Bike. So remove it and make sure all your cells are good.
I found that looking through the holes in the top do not allow you to tell if there is enough fluid in the cells. It's deceiving looking through those little holes.
A weak or low battery will cause issues with your bike just staling out. Trust me I know. Been there... I put a dry cell in and haven't had a lick of staling problems since.

 

[Rollie]

it's possible that you may be low in fluid (it's a hydraulic line like the brakes), or your fluid may be old (it absorbs water/humidity over time), or you could have air in the system.

What you need to do is renew the hydraulic fluid in the clutch line (with standard DOT 3/4 car brake fluid) and bleed the line to remove any air. The clutch actually needs to be reverse-bled, which you do using either a big syringe (pushing fluid through the bleed valve until all air is out, you'll see bubbles in the master cylinder reservoir).

Whenever playing with brake fluid, MAKE SURE TO COVER PAINTWORK and be very careful with spills, as that stuff is great at paint stripping..

Agree with G on the hyd fluid , clutch line , also check out the slave cylinder as it gets a lot of road grime abuse , being low on the left side of the bike. They can be re-built by most anybody with a few tips. Any update on your problem ?