Clutch Issue - Slave Cylinder?

Slave cylinders do go on the ST its not common but it does happen. I know of another member here who had a problem and he did need a new slave cyclinder. If you trust your guy and not your self let him do the job you will have peace of mind.

Here's the old clutch slave cylinder. Mechanic didn't mind saving it. He even held it up for me so I could take a pic. He didn't have to pull the motor, but he had a hard time with one of the bolts. Guess I'm one of the unlucky few that have had to replace this part.

Rick,
I feel your doing the right thing this time. The shop is going to replace the faulty part that is leaking and your going to have a better feeling riding 3000 miles away from home. There will be warranty attached to this and that also helps ridding off the what ifs if you did it yourself with limited or no experience.
Next time, you probably post your symptom on here before calling the hook to tow it to Mother Honda. Hoping there is a close forum member to come over to you and guide you through your next symptom.
I agree that bleeding would of got you up and going, but for the leak around your slave cylinder, not sure what would cause that other than a failed seal. Is there a weep hole / tell tale hole down there on the ST1300.

From the looks of the stuff growing on it....that unit died from neglect from not flushing the fluid out often enough. .02

Sounds as though there is a load of experience of the ST1300 clutch out there.
I have a 2002 machine with 60,000 miles and the clutch has just started to be problematic, whereby the back pressure felt at the clutch lever fades away over about 20 minutes riding until the clutch lever presents no resistance at all and the clutch will not disengage until the bike has been allowed to cool down. Then everything is okay again for another 15 minutes riding. I am not losing any fluid, none at all.
Are there any braided hoses in the pressure line between the master and the slave cylinders? I don't think so but if there was, is it possible that the braiding has failed and the unsupported hose is left to expand under pressure when heated.
Any advice other than flush, replace fluid and bleed?
Regards, Ross

BluesRider said:

Here's the old clutch slave cylinder. Mechanic didn't mind saving it. He even held it up for me so I could take a pic. He didn't have to pull the motor, but he had a hard time with one of the bolts. Guess I'm one of the unlucky few that have had to replace this part.

Click to expand...

Interesting Kawasaki slave cylinder......just joking, just because he removed it and showed it to you (so they can bill honda) does not mean that a simple bleed would have fixed it.
I have seen shops remove perfectly good parts to charge the manufacture for service work. Not saying this is what happened, just saying this is how much I don't trust most shops anymore.

Hey Rick - how is it working now?

Pete

Not all mechanics are shysters and not all ST owners are mechanics and diagnosis form miles away can sometimes work but not always this was a trusted mechanic that was recommended and no the OP's bike is fixed . Had the OP still had the bike at home a bleed would have been the way to start but as it was already at the dealers it appears it would have been bad advice to pick it up and bring it home to bleed.

Sorry about the timing for you on this issue, but you gotta get it fixed..... The ST1300 clutch NEEDS to be flushed at least once a year. I skipped a year back when I had an ST and had almost the same thing happen to mine. Actually, mine looked worse. The slave was corroded inside causing the seal to fail.

Lever failed to disengage the clutch one morning. I pushed it off the center stand in gear and rode to the nearest dealer. Ever try to ride 20 miles through a town and not be able to stop? They flushed the system, It worked for about a week, then started leaking at the slave. Nursed it home and had the dealer replace the slave, they were nice about it and partially covered the cost. Even though it was my neglect that really caused the problem.

Bleed often. Cheap insurance.

Hi, sounds like you did the right thing I've had an issue with my 2003 unit with 68,000miles on it. Had the fluid leak out and the leaver get a spungy feel so returned home and re filled the master cylinder, lasted approx 3 months and refilled again, no sight of leaks around the bike anywhere so thought it may be going into the engine! Looked around sites on forums and found quite a number of listings saying that the slave cylinder was the culprit the nose seal allows small leaks into the engine. So trust you mechanic especially as he didn't do the Honda manual method of engine removal and charge in the thousands, it's an awkward job to say the least but needs to be done. (not just a bleed of system)
Mike S.