Clutch went soft

[Mike Qube]

Over the weekend, I was in stop and go traffic, 95 degree heat. This lasted for about 45 mins after about a 3 hour highway ride. At one point in the stop and go, the clutch went soft, I couldn't get it out of gear or into neutral. I hit the kill switch pumped it clutch lever for a bit and it seemed to help it. for the next mile or so it came and went and now it seems ok. What could have caused this? Is this a symptom of the clutch going on it? The bike is a 97 M750.

[Mike Qube]

Some will say water in your fluid turned to steam but Im not a believer.  Start with replacing the fluid and a bleed for peace of mind.

It was probably hot enough to turn water to steam, never heard of that happening though.

You wouldn't by any chance know how to bleed it on a 97 M750, that doesn't have the clutch slave cylinder on the left side of the bike.

[Slide Panda]

Some will say water in your fluid turned to steam but Im not a believer.  Start with replacing the fluid and a bleed for peace of mind.

Why not? If there's the fluid is wet it's boiling temp can drop dramatically. Hot day, hot bike without much cooling could reach that boiling temp. Steam is a very compressible gas and it doesn't take much volume of it to have a pretty dramatic result on a small volume hydraulic system.

Either way, the best thing to do is to flush the fluid, especially if it's not been done in a while. Now how to? You got me. I'm not sure about the monsters with the internals slaves.

[Speeddog]

The brake fluid isn't holding a soluble gas in this situation, it's holding water.
And that water turns to steam when it gets above 212 degF.

To the OP, flush your system.

There should be at least one post describing how to do it here on the DMF... try a search.

[Mike Qube]

Where would I get the plastic tube to do a bleed? Auto parts store?

[Slide Panda]

Any decent auto parts store should have a 'bleeding kit' 

Sears will also have what you need. You can get a Vac bleeder there for 30+ bucks.

[tbyte]

...or Home Depot.  I bought 20' of Watts tubing (5/16x3/16) there for $4.5 including tax.  I felt the money I spent on the Mityvac was wasted.  I never knew if the bubbles were from the clutch or the Mittyvac's lack of a good seal.

[Artful]

...or Home Depot.  I bought 20' of Watts tubing (5/16x3/16) there for $4.5 including tax.  I felt the money I spent on the Mityvac was wasted.  I never knew if the bubbles were from the clutch or the Mittyvac's lack of a good seal.

This. All of this.

I have a vacuum bleeder. I used it once and then tossed it on the shelf. Even with petroleum jelly I couldn't get a good enough seal, and when I did it would pull air from around the bleeders. Buy your tubing at HD, the bleeding kit is usually worthless save for the tubing, and the price is stupid high for just using the tube. Find yourself a bottle and get to bleeding.

[Mike Qube]

I bled it tonight, there was some air bubbles, got them all out. The clutch has a nice tight pull now. The one thing I noticed (maybe I'm being paranoid) is that when it's on the rear stand and I have the clutch pulled in and it's in first gear, the rear wheel spins a bit. I can stop it easily with my foot and it stays stopped. It doesn't do it in any other gear, goes into neutral fine and doesn't pull or anything when the bike is off the stand. Is a bit of wheel spin like that normal?

[Mike Qube]

I think I found the answer to my spinning wheel question with a search and found this thread;
http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=45243.0
Seems to be whats happening and the bike hasn't been run since the weekend. Thanks for the help and tips on the bleed!

[Howie]

I bled it tonight, there was some air bubbles, got them all out. The clutch has a nice tight pull now. The one thing I noticed (maybe I'm being paranoid) is that when it's on the rear stand and I have the clutch pulled in and it's in first gear, the rear wheel spins a bit. I can stop it easily with my foot and it stays stopped. It doesn't do it in any other gear, goes into neutral fine and doesn't pull or anything when the bike is off the stand. Is a bit of wheel spin like that normal?

Yes.

[take risks]

please...

http://www.afcoracing.com/tech_pages/fluid.shtml

and thank you.

[take risks]

Yes that article explains things so much better than I could have.

I just changed my brake & clutch fluid. After doing the research phase I came to the conclusion that you want to use DOT 3 or 5, but never 4. I do not recall the source, but I put it in my brake/clutch fluid notes, "Never use DOT 4." There was something significant that made DOT 4 a bad idea in my opinion. Just threw this in since you mentioned DOT 4.

Have fun.

[Artful]

Are you sure you aren't thinking use 3,4, or 5.1 but never 5? I've used DOT4 for years will fantastic results and have never heard an argument against it. 5 on the other hand is bad juju for street bikes that aren't frequently flushed.

If you can find the information on why to avoid 4 I'd be very interested to read it based on my experience.

[bikepilot]

^  DOT 3, 4 and 5.1 are totally interchangeable.  Its DOT 5 that's totally different.