[Raharejr]

I am back again asking for some advise on my latest “Ghost shift”. I has happened again… 3rd time! It has not happened for a while so again it caught me off guard! The sound is REALLY hard to describe accurately…you really think your transmission is done! Since these past occurrences I've been trying to be very aware of good solid shifting …especially from 4-5th. Maybe I got slack this one time but just not sure. When you go for a ride you want to sit back enjoy the ride and not worry about shifting . This is when it happens!

A few days after this latest "event" I experienced NOT a hard ghost shift while moving up but a smooth quiet slip from 5th to what seemed to be back to 4th while just cruising along...Like I had down shifted but I didn’t. No clutch...just moving along in 5th. Afterwords all I did was pull in clutch and shifted to 5th and all was good until later in the ride it did it again. It was a really surprisingly smooth event. So now I back to being very conscious of all my shifting…not fun!

Here is my question…what would YOU do next? I've had the hard "miss' shifts"going up 3 times and now something different just cruising along and I’m concerned to the point that I'm not enjoying my riding now.

Can’t believe this would be an oil brand issue but I have been running Rotella T6 for 40,000 miles changing at 5,000 miles. The current oil has only 2,000 miles on it. OR has this 3rd event maybe caused permanent damage? If so is there any trouble shooting I can do myself? Is there any “inspecting” a good mechanic can do short of tearing down the transmission? Just FYI I ride with a motorcycle boot not tennis shoes.

Thank you in advance!
Allen
2008/82,000 miles

 

[michael2480]

If it was mine, and I was going to pay someone to fix it, I would be looking real hard at Greg at Just Wings. Especially since you're a lot closer to him than I am.

 

[GLblinded]

Choice 1- have Greg fix it and say oh well it’s only money. Relax and enjoy years of happiness afterwards.

Choice 2- sell it, either with full disclosure at a reduced amount or...

Choice 3- trade it in on a newer (DCT?) one. Or another older on if you want/need to.

Any way you look at it, you probably don’t want to travel very far with it as is(trust). So you are starting the process of needing to do something. Best of luck with your choice.

 

[jlbc212]

This is a situation where Honda knows of the problem but does nothing to help owners, their customers, to fix the problem. This won't sound nice, but Honda hasn't been too nice about it either, I'd be tempted to trade it in without disclosure at a Honda dealer for a newer model. When the dealer resells it and the new owner discovers the problem, maybe then Honda will be finally forced to fix it. ... but being a shade tree, diy mechanic, i'd probably tear into it.

 

[SteelTraveler]

If it were me, I would trade it in on a different motorcycle . Perhaps for another Goldwing or maybe for something else. Move on.

 

[networkguy3]

Ghost shifting

I don't think it is worth fixing. It will cost over $4K to fix it and if you add $6K to the $4K or so yo will get from trading it, you can probably get a newer bike with lower mileage. OTOH, if you have this bike setup just like you want it and there is really nothing else wrong with it, just fix it.

 

[ponton]

I've had three gl800's and they have all done it a few times. I have no doubt that it was my fault by not fully shifting into 5th. My present bike has 128,000 and has ghost shifted maybe 4 times in 10 years. I would make an effort to shift better and see if it keeps doing it. If it does I would replace the motor rather than fixing it. My friend recently bought a motor from a crashed wing with 20k miles for $1800 and had it installed for another $1000.

 

[weengers]

I had an '03 from new. It did it a few times, in the first 15k, (3-4? don't remember now), I have no doubt it was due to lazy shifting. Then I made it a point to ALWAYS do a double shift into fifth, just takes a second to do and if you have been banging it through the gears, racing someone or just having fun, your done by the point you shift into fifth so just give the shifter one last upward pull to be sure it is fully in.

Mine never did it again after that, in the 108k that I had it. I have a '10 that I bought with 9k on I, it now has 45k and it has never done it in the time I've had it, with this method.

Not saying yours is not damaged to the point of needing repair, the shift dogs may be rounded off to the point that they need replaced. And if you are unwilling to take the care to be sure you are FULLY into 5th, you might as well get it repaired or get rid of it.

5th gen wings have a notchy 5th gear, maybe because of the high dog/low dog design but I think you will find that there are many times that it will go further into 5th with that second pull on the shift lever.

Try it, not that big a deal.

You asked what I would do...that is what I did.

 

[Raharejr]

Thanks to everyone! ALL great answers and I will consider everyone carefully. I really do want to find it's my fault because its cheaper! At 70 I can still be re-trained! I'll try to get back with a report after a reasonable time period. It would be nice to find it is ME and pass that on to others having the same sort of problem.
Again, Thanks guys!
Allen

 

[networkguy3]

Ghost shifting

I had an '03 from new. It did it a few times, in the first 15k, (3-4? don't remember now), I have no doubt it was due to lazy shifting. Then I made it a point to ALWAYS do a double shift into fifth, just takes a second to do and if you have been banging it through the gears, racing someone or just having fun, your done by the point you shift into fifth so just give the shifter one last upward pull to be sure it is fully in.

Mine never did it again after that, in the 108k that I had it. I have a '10 that I bought with 9k on I, it now has 45k and it has never done it in the time I've had it, with this method.

Not saying yours is not damaged to the point of needing repair, the shift dogs may be rounded off to the point that they need replaced. And if you are unwilling to take the care to be sure you are FULLY into 5th, you might as well get it repaired or get rid of it.

5th gen wings have a notchy 5th gear, maybe because of the high dog/low dog design but I think you will find that there are many times that it will go further into 5th with that second pull on the shift lever.

Try it, not that big a deal.

You asked what I would do...that is what I did.

I had a high mileage '08 that had the issue. It never shifted out of gear just going down the highway, but it did slip out of 5th to a false neutral several times. I learned to shift deliberately into 5th with a firm pull on the lever. That prevented the problem from recurring. My lower mileage '09 has never had any problems with 5th. I'm using Rotella T6 with ZDDP+ in it and I have no complaints at all as to how the bike shifts, even though I frequently preload the shifter and just fan the clutch to get it to shift up.

 

[ALEXB]

...2008/82,000 miles...

When's the last time you serviced the Clutch Slave Cylinder?... it'll gunk up after ~2yrs, causing same shift problems as you describe.
Being a 2008, means that you should have flushed it about 5x so far... and probably dis-assembled it to Clean at least once.

 

[MaynardGKrebbs]

Does DCT = Doppleganger Controlled Transmission?

 

[Barney Biker 1]

Don't agree with the trade and pass the troubles on to some poor kid that more than likely won't get any warranty at all. Lots of dealers won't give you a guarantee out the door.



Barney

 

[Raharejr]

Maynard G. Krebbs...LOL Have not heard that name in a long long time! Welcome back!

 

[chrisashbrook]

If it's not the slave cylinder, it sounds like it's time for a visit to see Greg.

 

[Raharejr]

I have never done anything to the slaved cylinder in my past 5 years of owning this '08. Frankly, I never thought of it because I flush and change clutch fluid once a year. Having said this, would opening up of a clutch slaved cylinder still be a possible cause of the shifting issue? The clutch feels real good...not to soft nor hard.
Thought?

 

[gkarasik]

I am back again asking for some advise on my latest “Ghost shift”. I has happened again… 3rd time! It has not happened for a while so again it caught me off guard! The sound is REALLY hard to describe accurately…you really think your transmission is done! Since these past occurrences I've been trying to be very aware of good solid shifting …especially from 4-5th. Maybe I got slack this one time but just not sure. When you go for a ride you want to sit back enjoy the ride and not worry about shifting . This is when it happens!

A few days after this latest "event" I experienced NOT a hard ghost shift while moving up but a smooth quiet slip from 5th to what seemed to be back to 4th while just cruising along...Like I had down shifted but I didn’t. No clutch...just moving along in 5th. Afterwords all I did was pull in clutch and shifted to 5th and all was good until later in the ride it did it again. It was a really surprisingly smooth event. So now I back to being very conscious of all my shifting…not fun!

Here is my question…what would YOU do next? I've had the hard "miss' shifts"going up 3 times and now something different just cruising along and I’m concerned to the point that I'm not enjoying my riding now.

Can’t believe this would be an oil brand issue but I have been running Rotella T6 for 40,000 miles changing at 5,000 miles. The current oil has only 2,000 miles on it. OR has this 3rd event maybe caused permanent damage? If so is there any trouble shooting I can do myself? Is there any “inspecting” a good mechanic can do short of tearing down the transmission? Just FYI I ride with a motorcycle boot not tennis shoes.

Thank you in advance!
Allen
2008/82,000 miles

A couple of Out of the Box options: 1) a power-shifter, which will give a positive upshift; and 2) a heel-and-toe shifter, which will also allow a solid, heel-driven upshift.

 

[INTHEWIND]

I am back again asking for some advise on my latest “Ghost shift”. I has happened again… 3rd time! It has not happened for a while so again it caught me off guard! The sound is REALLY hard to describe accurately…you really think your transmission is done! Since these past occurrences I've been trying to be very aware of good solid shifting …especially from 4-5th. Maybe I got slack this one time but just not sure. When you go for a ride you want to sit back enjoy the ride and not worry about shifting . This is when it happens!

A few days after this latest "event" I experienced NOT a hard ghost shift while moving up but a smooth quiet slip from 5th to what seemed to be back to 4th while just cruising along...Like I had down shifted but I didn’t. No clutch...just moving along in 5th. Afterwords all I did was pull in clutch and shifted to 5th and all was good until later in the ride it did it again. It was a really surprisingly smooth event. So now I back to being very conscious of all my shifting…not fun!

Here is my question…what would YOU do next? I've had the hard "miss' shifts"going up 3 times and now something different just cruising along and I’m concerned to the point that I'm not enjoying my riding now.

Can’t believe this would be an oil brand issue but I have been running Rotella T6 for 40,000 miles changing at 5,000 miles. The current oil has only 2,000 miles on it. OR has this 3rd event maybe caused permanent damage? If so is there any trouble shooting I can do myself? Is there any “inspecting” a good mechanic can do short of tearing down the transmission? Just FYI I ride with a motorcycle boot not tennis shoes.

Thank you in advance!
Allen
2008/82,000 miles

Looks like there is a Gen 6 Wing in your future. DCT? :smile2:

 

[SteelTraveler]

Don't agree with the trade and pass the troubles on to some poor kid that more than likely won't get any warranty at all. Lots of dealers won't give you a guarantee out the door.



Barney

After driving a Nissan Frontier Crew Cab for 12 years, it developed transmission problems.

Since I didn't want to spend thousands of dollars to repair a 12 year old truck, I traded it in on a brand new truck.

I'm very comfortable with that decision and don't feel the least bit guilty.

 

[oldbikerbill]

Agree Steel, many of us do the same, I'm sure that dealers are quite aware. Maybe some dealers go over the trade in to ensure it isn't gonna dump right in the middle of the road. It's always the buyer's problem when purchasing a used vehicle. Surely the buyer is aware of the risk, and buys the vehicle at the price he can afford.