[bugman94]

Out riding the mountains today & a strange thing happened. I was in 5th gear accelerating up a hill and the bike ( 2010 ) suddenly jumps into a false neutral and the into 4th gear. It happened so fast I didn't realize I was in 4th until I looked at the tach. I shifted into 5th and continued for the rest of the day with no further problems. And no, I didn't hit the shift lever by accident. The bike has appox 2500 miles. I have never really liked the way it shifts. When downshifting it sometimes kind of grinds. Upshifts are not bad. When I test drove a 2005 its shifting was overall much smoother than this one ( it had 4000 miles ). I was hoping mine would smooth out with time. Recomendations guys.

 

[Bucfan11]

It would make me nervous, hopefully it's nothing. Had you just shifted into 5th? I always try to shift "firmly" on my Wing and so far so good. I've got 25000 on my 08 and was just thinking that the shifting seems to have smoothed out a little. My 08 Nomad shifts like butter, almost night and day difference in the two bikes.

 

[fjr vfr]

Jumps Gear

If the bike is still under warranty bring it in to the the dealer and have them check it out. Even if they don't find anything at least the problem will be documented. If it gets worst later they won't be able to view it as something new.

 

[the wva cardinal]

If your lucky, you probably have about 25,000 miles before you need a new transmission, Honda will deny ever hearing of such a thing until it brakes!!! I know...

Get it documented with whom ever you bought it off of, providing it was a Honda store...

I think you said it is a 10 model, If not and you still warranty still get it documented every time it jumps out of gear... Record date, time where abouts any pertinent information you can think of to show it really happened, if for some reason you have to go to court this will help...

Don't think you'll end up in court but, better be safe than sorry...

 

[GoldWingrGreg]

That is called Ghost Shifting. Usually, it starts before the 10,000 mile mark and gets progressivly worst. If Honda can verify it, they will split the case and fix it and put it back to how it left the factory .... a Ghost Shifter. You can read more information on this by doing a search under my screen name or Ghost Shifting. The is another post going on right now called http://gl1800riders.com/forums/showthread.php?t=286360 where you can read some about it.

Sorry to hear you are one of the unlucky few. I have owned 3 GL1800s and all 3 Ghost Shifted. I correct these by undercutting the gear dogs.

 

[Rocky]

If the bike is still under warranty bring it in to the the dealer and have them check it out. Even if they don't find anything at least the problem will be documented. If it gets worst later they won't be able to view it as something new.

I agree with him.
Once you have the dealer look at the bike don't stop there!.
Take it a step further and call Honda Customer service to report the issue to them.
http://powersports.honda.com/questions/customer.aspx

Times have changed and Honda is aware of these issues,in fact they now have a direct line for "Goldwing" when you call them!.(Some don't know this)

What they do these days in log your complaint to your VIN,so no matter what happens down the line,Your report is right in your file.


I'm getting a new engine installed right now because I had filed complaints with Honda after I left the dealer the first of three different times asking them to ride the bike.
Honda knew the issue (because of my thinking to call them to log the complaint) but the wrench says "It doesn't do it for me",and Honda said "we will fix it under warranty,but not until the mechanic can find it or it breaks!.

Well low and behold the transmission blew up big time a couple months later,and now I'm getting a new engine because of what the dealer said to Honda.

Honda is standing behind the warranty by doing the right thing.
To bad they didn't fix the bike when it was a little problem,instead of now needing a new engine because of the damage the tranny gears caused to the cases when it blew up big time.

 

[2Wheeler]

I think it's just a bike thing. I've had it happen on most of the bikes I ever had. Until it becomes a frequent problem, I wouldn't worry about it much

 

[marker4x4]

I always try to shift "firmly"

:agree::agree::agree:, a "lame" shift ino 5th gear causes nasty things. This may sound stupid, but wearing proper bike boots matters too. The ones with thick front section do interfere with the shifter and make proper and fast shifting difficult. just my .02

 

[Pigeon Roost]

I don't think one episode of "ghost shifting" is anything to panic over. Greg and Cardinal may be right and there possibly could be impending doom ahead, so do report it adn make sure it is logged to your VIN. But, from what I experienced, it happened a time or two when my '02 was fairly new and I am pretty sure it was my own lack luster shifitng that flubbed. It can be quite a violent thing and it evidently made a lasting impression upon me becasue I have since shifted reliably and without further troubles. Soon will have 100,000 miles on the "clock". And it did happen when I was wearing those tall toed engineer''s boots like Herman Munster.

prs

 

[k hinkel]

mine did that too Honda of Shawnee just got finished rebuildind the tranny 45,000 miles and don't worry it will get a lot worse!4:

 

[GA-Charlie]

:agree::agree::agree:, a "lame" shift ino 5th gear causes nasty things. This may sound stupid, but wearing proper bike boots matters too. The ones with thick front section do interfere with the shifter and make proper and fast shifting difficult. just my .02

I absolutely agree that a lazy shift can result in a ghost shift. When I make good positive shift's I never have a problem.

 

[Fluke189]

It's happened to me on every bike I've ever owned too, and I've owned a good 40 of them. Never good for the transmission though and goldwings "seem to" have a weak transmission, but most failures man made by bad shifting by the rider in my opinion.

 

[ChgoD]

As others have said, a singular or even a few rare instances of "ghost shifting" really must be documented with the dealer and Honda. Date, time, load, speed, etc should be provided for each occurrence. Because if isn't written down, it didn't happen.

May seem like a PITA overkill, but if it does develop into a major problem down the road, it would be a major assistance in bolstering your efforts to get Honda to pay for the repairs. State laws vary, but many have it that if a probably appears in the warranty period and is not resolved, the warranty period can be extended.

Really not good to hear that this is happening on latest bikes. Evidently Honda has not solved the issues.

 

[swamp rider]

gohst shifting

Listen to goldwing Greg!

 

[GoldWingrGreg]

I absolutely agree that a lazy shift can result in a ghost shift. When I make good positive shift's I never have a problem.

Really ... then it is show and tell time. You got any pix to support what you say can even happen by design. The only way for a "lazy shift" is after damage has started to occur from ghost shifting. But then again, maybe your GL1800 has a different style tranny then the ones I open up. If so, please post the pix for us all to see.

 

[finleypj]

Listen to goldwing Greg!

:agree: or you can ignore him and just pay about three grand when your bike is out of warranty and needs a rebuild...I KNOW...Mine started ghost shifting and about 28000 miles later it became a very large paper weight. Also you can listen to someone talk about "firm shifting" or "lazy shifting" whatever you choose to believe. I think it is all BS and voodoo, a bike shifted into gear should stay there, yes I too have been riding for 39 years and owned numerous bikes. NOT ONE OTHER ONE EVER HAD A TRANSMISSION GO OUT. Does under cutting work I will let you know this much, the one I rode that had the gears cut rode the way my other bikes do. Firm solid shift, the bike felt in gear at all times. My current FJR shifts like that so I used that as a benchmark. If Greg can get a gold wing to shift like that then more power to him. It is only a very small percentage of GL's that ultimately will have tranny failures. If your bike is one of the those however it is a pain in the [email protected]@ to get Honda to fix it under warranty and very costly if it is out of warranty. Good luck, keep your documentation, have anyone who looks at the bike sign off and keep that in case you need to get Mother Honda's attention.

 

[Fluke189]

Really ... then it is show and tell time. You got any pix to support what you say can even happen by design. The only way for a "lazy shift" is after damage has started to occur from ghost shifting. But then again, maybe your GL1800 has a different style tranny then the ones I open up. If so, please post the pix for us all to see.

I think it's the opposite. Starts out by the rider not shifting completely into the next gear, the bike jumps out of gear, down a gear, into false neutral. It happens on every motorcycle. Not good for the transmission and eventually the transmission gear dogs are rounded off, shift forks bent ect, ect, then ghost shifting happens from there. I can't imagine reporting to a dealer every time my motorcycle has popped out of 5th into 4th or jumped into a false neutral at 70mph. I'm not talking GL1800 specifically, it happens on all my motorcycles occasionally if I don't happen to do a great shift every time but I will say the goldwing is probably the most clunky transmission and care must be taken to make good shifts much more than any motorcycle I've owned in recent memory.

 

[finleypj]

I think it's the opposite. Starts out by the rider not shifting completely into the next gear, the bike jumps out of gear, down a gear, into false neutral. It happens on every motorcycle. Not good for the transmission and eventually the transmission gear dogs are rounded off, shift forks bent ect, ect, then ghost shifting happens from there. I can't imagine reporting to a dealer every time my motorcycle has popped out of 5th into 4th or jumped into a false neutral at 70mph. I'm not talking GL1800 specifically, it happens on all my motorcycles occasionally if I don't happen to do a great shift every time but I will say the goldwing is probably the most clunky transmission and care must be taken to make good shifts much more than any motorcycle I've owned in recent memory.[/QUOTE

A twenty grand bike and you have to worry about how to shift it properly. REALLY! I guess all the bikes I have owned just shifted themselves because none ever had a tranny go bad. I never remember missing a shift or having the wing ever grinding at a shift. At 58000 miles the bike would go into 5th gear and slip out as I brought the rpms up. This got worse till the transmission just let go. lucky for me it was not in a turn or some other critical time.

 

[CaptainChaos]

I have an '05 that I bought used a few months ago. It did the very same thing this past weekend. Scared the crap out of the wife but I KNOW what I did to cause it, a soft shift. We were cruising along in the hills of Missouri, watching the trees go by and leasurely shifted into 5th, all seemed ok til...lots of noise, dropped down, or so it seemed then into 5th it went. As soon as it happened I knew what I had done. No more soft shifting for me!!! I don't think I broke anything, it shifted just fine the rest of the trip, at least I hope so....

 

[Bvanor]

I find myself having the same problem. Shortly after shifting into 5th gear, the bike seems to jump into neutral. I purchased my new GoldWing in Dec 2010, and only have 6500 miles on it now. I bought my first New bike (a Kawasaki) back in the mid 70's and was instructed to ensure a complete shift to avoid problems down the road. With the new GoldWing I have done that, but have experienced this 'ghost shifting' twice recently.
The advice to document and let the dealer and Honda know is forth coming. Very good information ... Thanks!
Bob
Zephyrhills, Fl