during my last ride my transmission would not shift up to 2nd until I rode around in first for a while. once it got warmed up it worked fine. when I asked about it possibly ready to breakdown, alot of guys said if I wasn't using yamalube to give that a try. I had been using yamalube but was low on oil and in a hurry so just got a regular quart of 30w to add. has anybody had similar experience, I am wondering if the yamalube works is it a cure or am I prolonging the inevitable '02' tranny upgrade into the summer when I would rather be riding.

 

i'd definitely try draining the oil and putting some good oil like yamalube, motul, or amsoil in it. Maybe the tranny is going out, but it's worth a try before you spend hundreds on a new one. If it started to act up right after you put the regular oil in it then that's likely to be the cause.

 

Of course I plan on changing the oil but I still think my problem has got to be more than cheap oil. Afterall, it is still the original '01' tranny and it grabs first but won't shift which makes me think it is a shift fork.

Would cold oil actually keep it from shifting or is that associated with the tranny possibly going?

I was thinking if the oil wasn't sufficient the clutch would not be grabbing any gear, no matter 1st or 2nd.

If the oil change does work I can't help but think it is hiding a problem that I would rather fix during the winter than the summer. I was also debating selling my raptor, but I don't want to give the buyer a lemon.

Should I really be concerned or am I making too much out of it.

 

It just seems strange though that the transmission started giving you trouble right after you put the wrong kind of oil in. Maybe the transmission was just hanging by a thread and the wrong oil was just enough to push it over the edge. I'm not sure what usually goes wrong with the 01 transmissions, but you should be able to find out by doing a search on this site.

 

Yeah it does coincide with running the other oil, but I just didn't figure I added that much. I heard from a local shop that alot of people were complaining of transmission problems on their brand new 450's and the techs would simply tell them to run yamalube. Hopefully it works for me because I really don't have much down time available to work on my quad right now, and the wife would kill me if she heard how much it would cost to fix. (approx. $500 in parts)

 

What kind of oil was it? Car oil that said energy conserving on the back? If so that will cause the transmission to slip and cause possible damage. Not sure if it relates to manual transmissions but I know it applied to automatics.

 

If I recall correctly it was regular pennzoil, I don't know what rating it would have, I never paid much attention to it other than the correct viscosity.

 

That could cause it. You should only use oil designed for atvs or motorcycles with wet clutches. The wrong oil could be causing the clutch to drag and cause the transmisson to miss gears.

 

If I were you I would drain out that oil. Refill with corect ATV oil..Run for a about 10 mins then drain again..and refill with correct stuff again. That should clear out that wrong oil. That stuff you used was probable made for cars and has MOLY in it which causes clutches to slip.

 

Wow! I never thought I could cause that much trouble by using cheap oil for a top off, then again I forgot all about having a wet clutch.

The rinse and drain is a good idea so I'll probably see if there is an additive (atv approved) I can throw in to help clean out the junk. Are there any oil additives you guys would recommend?