Das MZ Forum für MZ Fahrer

Has anyone experienced the clutch dragging when driving in cold weather?
(oil is 80w gl4)
I pulled in the clutch to coast down a hill and I noticed that the RPMs stayed high. This did this several times when I tried to coast again.... which is not my normal behavior....

I have moved to the following complaint to the "Spark Plug Fouls" thread to keep this from becoming confused......



M.

Hi Michael,

think it would be best to clarify first, if it's really the clutch that drags and keeps the engine on higher revs, or if it is a carb problem.

At cold weather, the cold oil might stick a little bit more than at higher temperatures, but that should only affect the first minutes. After that time, a mechanically sound clutch will not drag in a way, that the engine revs stay high.
So, if the clutch really does not free completely, you would be able to find this effect by kicking the starter while clutch is operated, if the engine then still is turned by kicking, or at least the kickstarter has more resistance than it normally has with open clutch, there might be a clutch problem.

The problem you describe may also be a carb problem. If the idle system is a little bit too lean (cold weather > more oxygene > leaner mixture), it may have the effect, that the revs come down very slowly (had this problem with my Norton recently, its no fun when you close the throttle just before of a bend, but the revs stay high ). Also, lean mixture might be an effect of leak air, e.g. at the shaft seals or at the carb flange.

Andreas

Hello,
could it be a problem of an iced carb? Are twistgrip, cable and carb-slide working properly? Maybe they'll do when you come to a halt and there's no more cold air reaching the carb. So the engine-heat might free it again. From my memories (I don't ride in winter since decades) it's a bit tricky to detect.
Kind regards, Bambi
PS: didn't see you mentioned 8° Celsius. As you didn't add + or -: if it's + forget my advice

I thank you for your advise.
ahh the cold lean mixture .... I hadn't thought of that.(slaps forehead).

I appreciate the clutch test advise. I shall try it at the earliest opportunity.

M.