Well, I had all the classic symptoms of a slave Cylinder failure; slow clutch engagement when in gear causing bike to creep forward. When I engage the clutch lever and hold it when in gear the clutch lost its engagement and caused the bike to lurch forward. The people here on this site and others who have experienced the same failure examined the bike and the consensus was...bad Clutch Slave. I bought and installed the upgraded slave: (Old part) 21527675101 OUTPUT CYLINDER CLUTCH - D=24 0.24 1 $145.75 (21527675101 was superseded by 21527724542) (New Part) 21527724542 OUTPUT CYLINDER CLUTCH - D=24 0.25 1 $151.51 And just installed it tonight. We bled the system of the temporary Mineral Oil and replaced it with the BMW blend. You guessed it it did not change a thing...same problem. I can hear the clutch slave engaging when I pull in on the clutch, the reservoir is full, I tested the clutch master and it seems to hold all the pressure when the slave was off ( I was told that this is a simple but accurate check), everything is tight, no bubbles are rising through the line...I'm at a loss. Ideas? I have a trip planned into S/E Oregon and there will be no help and no cell service in the isolated areas we will be riding. Bill in OR
It sounds like you have a bad master cylinder. A slow leak past the seal will act just like you report. Does not look like there is a repair kit from BMW. There may a 13mm repair kit available from Magura.
Of course I lust spent $160 on the slave... The master Cly test seemed to hold. Are there any other test I can perform before I start tearing it apart? I'd love to isolate it before getting a new one? Bill in OR
I had the same failure on my 2008 GSA with 12,500 miles, a month ago. It was a crap-shoot to me as to which (or both) was the culprit. Fluid could have been leaking past the seals in the master cylinder and showing correct fluid level. There was nothing visible , as far as a leak, from the slave cylinder. The tech at my dealer told me that once there's any contamination,which they found, they replace both master and slave cylinder. Took care of the problem. Yo! Warranty!
Does anyone know of a master Cly re-build kit? When I took mine apart it looked like a solid unit inside that may not be able to be rebuilt?? I'll re-bleed the system today, maybe tear down and look at the slave to insure it is in correctly. It seems odd that the fluid level will stay the same and that the system will bleed with good pressure if it is the Master?? I'm not seeing any more bubbles coming into the reservoir. Here is a question: How often do the braided lines go bad? The plastic coating on mine is flaking off, could that be a source of my frustrations? Any more ideas that I can try before trucking this thing 200 miles to the Beemer shop? Bill in OR
FYI, I posted a while back that when Big Sky BMW (Montana) fixed my slave cylinder they also let me know that they changed out the master because of possible contamination. You may have suffered the same.
Had the same problem on a recent trip on my '08 GS. Dealer in Grand Junction, Co advised there was a maint bulletin out on it, but not on my particular bike.. Claimed improper venting of the system was the problem. They flushed and refilled the system and rerouted the line. So far no problem. You may have a different problem, or not.
Bill Obviously your bike is out of warranty; I'm not using my extended warranty on my GSA, do you want to use it for a while ? BTW, heading back in October "for good." But I said that before. Mike
Hell yeah, I'd love to use it. Had enough have you? It will be good to have you in the land of the free for a while! Come on home and on up...I'll show ya some wonderful roads in OR...if I get my back a runnin'. October is not that far off! Bill in OR
After wasting a lot of time and $ flushing the system with $5-7 for 2 oz mineral oil and still not finding any change I re-read Flash2's post and started thinking about a possible buildup of gunk in the line. I purged the system 5-6x's with denatured alcohol and you would not believe the crap I got out of the line. I let it set for 8 hours, bled it from bottom up and, and...I now can use my clutch. I'll be testing it today around town before starting me trip on Thursday. Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions. Bill in OR