sticking shift lever

[dave]

I looked through the posts but couldn't fine my particular dilemma. Has anyone had the shifter stick in the down select position in first gear only? This is intermittent and I can force it back up (thus far). It seems to be happening more frequently. The warranty work was done (right I hope). The lever and linkage are moving freely and it has fresh Lucas gear oil.

 

Is this a simple issue of putting in the exact amount of Redline Goo, rubbling its tummy and using coxing words? Or does experience show that surgery is likely required?

 

Thanks again to all who have tread this path before!

~Dave

[moto fugazzi]

I looked through the posts but couldn't fine my particular dilemma. Has anyone had the shifter stick in the down select position in first gear only? This is intermittent and I can force it back up (thus far). It seems to be happening more frequently. The warranty work was done (right I hope). The lever and linkage are moving freely and it has fresh Lucas gear oil.

 

Is this a simple issue of putting in the exact amount of Redline Goo, rubbling its tummy and using coxing words? Or does experience show that surgery is likely required?

 

Thanks again to all who have tread this path before!

~Dave

I just had a similar problem with my V11. Turns out all of the pivot points in the linkage needed to be cleaned and lubed. It took a whole lot of WD40 to get things moving properly.

Hopefully, your solution is this simple.

Ken

[docc]

What Ken said: first place to start is removing, cleaning and lubing all the pivot points on the foot lever. Because it rides in the spray, I've found BelRay waterproof grease to be a lasting lubricant. On reassembly, realize the pivot bolt threads into the frame tab and sets the lash for the movement. Too tight and it will bind the return. The lock nut then insured the bolt will retain its setting.

 

Otherwise, you have the pawl spring issue.

[gstallons]

I looked through the posts but couldn't fine my particular dilemma. Has anyone had the shifter stick in the down select position in first gear only? This is intermittent and I can force it back up (thus far). It seems to be happening more frequently. The warranty work was done (right I hope). The lever and linkage are moving freely and it has fresh Lucas gear oil.

 

Is this a simple issue of putting in the exact amount of Redline Goo, rubbling its tummy and using coxing words? Or does experience show that surgery is likely required?

 

Thanks again to all who have tread this path before!

~Dave

 

 

Loosen the pivot bolt jam nut (on the inside of the frame) one turn. Loosen the pivot bolt one turn. Tighten the pivot bolt one turn. If the shifter follows the r.h. rotation of the bolt, the pivot bolt and shift lever have rusted together. Remove the bolt and shift lever to clean and lubricate WELL before reassembly.

[dave]

Thanks for help. The pivot bolt is lubed stainless and fastened with a nyloc nut with free movement, so no problem there. Is it normal for when the spring fails for it to be an intermittent issue? or is this possibly something else.

 

Thanks Again,

~Dave

[belfastguzzi]

Hi Dave, this problem could be the same one as was discussed a number of times maybe 5 or 6 years ago, but unfortunately no reason or solution was ever found. From time to time I and some others had severe problems with the shift lever sticking in low gear and not budging. It was horrendous on a trip down through Ireland where I couldn't get out of second gear. So bad that I stopped on motorway and opened transmission to check if the shift spring had broken. It had not. This problem is not to do with badly adjusted linkage or dirty oil. Both those things were and always had been regularly checked and kept 'perfect' by me and others who experienced the problem.

 

The best that we could come up with at the time was that it might have been connected to heat. That's very tenuous. When this happened to you was there any unusual circumstance, such as being stuck in slow traffic for a long time?

 

There are a lot of small variations in the V11 gearboxes over the years. I can't quite remember now, but I thing that on the forum here we have seen something like 5 different versions in small details. I think that there has clearly been something not quite right with these boxes and Guzzi tried various small mods to make it better. But dear knows what they were up to. Mine is from the infamous 2002 year when just about everything that could be wrong, was wrong.

 

Please report back if you discover what is wrong. Maybe it is just a simple thing that you have overlooked. Hopefully it's something that can be diagnosed and fixed.

 

David

[dave]

Hi Dave, this problem could be the same one as was discussed a number of times maybe 5 or 6 years ago, but unfortunately no reason or solution was ever found. From time to time I and some others had severe problems with the shift lever sticking in low gear and not budging. It was horrendous on a trip down through Ireland where I couldn't get out of second gear. So bad that I stopped on motorway and opened transmission to check if the shift spring had broken. It had not. This problem is not to do with badly adjusted linkage or dirty oil. Both those things were and always had been regularly checked and kept 'perfect' by me and others who experienced the problem.

 

The best that we could come up with at the time was that it might have been connected to heat. That's very tenuous. When this happened to you was there any unusual circumstance, such as being stuck in slow traffic for a long time?

 

There are a lot of small variations in the V11 gearboxes over the years. I can't quite remember now, but I thing that on the forum here we have seen something like 5 different versions in small details. I think that there has clearly been something not quite right with these boxes and Guzzi tried various small mods to make it better. But dear knows what they were up to. Mine is from the infamous 2002 year when just about everything that could be wrong, was wrong.

 

Please report back if you discover what is wrong. Maybe it is just a simple thing that you have overlooked. Hopefully it's something that can be diagnosed and fixed.

 

David

 

Thanks for the help. It is nice to hear that others have had the same mysterious problem. It does happen on hot days in the summer only, but with no relation to how the bike has been used. If i come up with anything I will chime out.

 

~Dave

 

 

[Bjor]

Last summer in Italy, we had 33 degrees, slow moving traffic, and the same happened to me. I could move the lever, but it the gear was stuck and didn't shift.

I immediately suspected the shift spring, which I always carry an extra of in my tool-pack.

 

The simple reason this time was however, that the heat had melted the grease away from the pivot bolt of the shifter lever, which consequently was completely dry.

My bike has a grease nipple mounted on the lever, and adding new grease to the pivot bolt solved the problem instantly.

I see that you write that the pivot bolt is lubed, but could it still be that you loose the grease on extra hot days, or that the lube gets too thin too work properly?

 

Just a thought, Dave, if nothing else comes up...

[AndyH]

Last summer in Italy, we had 33 degrees, slow moving traffic, and the same happened to me.

If we were talking British bike getting all grumpy and crotchety in hot weather I could kind of understand: we don't get really hot weather for very long here. But we're talking Guzzis for Pete's sake! Italian bikes, it gets hot there in Summer...???

 

Someone's going to tell me that Dnepr's don't like the cold next...

 

AndyH

[belfastguzzi]

Last summer in Italy, we had 33 degrees, slow moving traffic, and the same happened to me. I could move the lever, but it the gear was stuck and didn't shift.

I immediately suspected the shift spring, which I always carry an extra of in my tool-pack.

 

Yep, that was the same with me. The air temperature would not have been so high but was after a very long stretch, many miles, of unusually slow and packed traffic. There wasn't airflow to cool the bike. It might not be relevant, but I said, it's the only common factor that we could pinpoint at the time.

[Bjor]

Last summer in Italy, we had 33 degrees, slow moving traffic, and the same happened to me.

If we were talking British bike getting all grumpy and crotchety in hot weather I could kind of understand: we don't get really hot weather for very long here. But we're talking Guzzis for Pete's sake! Italian bikes, it gets hot there in Summer...???

 

Someone's going to tell me that Dnepr's don't like the cold next...

 

AndyH

 

Yeah, -but the grease was not Italian...

[AndyH]

Yeah, -but the grease was not Italian...

Agip or nothing, fussy eh?