MZ Clutch stuck

[Martonhaver]

Hello there lovely people! Heartwarming to see that we still exists, and so does these bikes!


I live in the UK now and my father is a cool guy so he hired a van and sent it to me from Hungary. Its a fully restored - near to perfect MZ ETZ 250.


Last Thursday:
1st test drive - everything was going fine, and then I pulled the gas lever hard to see how fast it could go. It was great, but when I stopped at a red light, it wouldn't let me out of netural. Nothing worked, after kicking it and trying to get to gears it did, but there was no resistance! Gear 1-2-3 as if it was neutral. After pushing it a bit, it finally caught 3rd gear, and everything worked fine. Asked my father about this - "Thats just old its fine" - OK

Saturday:
Test drive 2
I was driving on the motorway, again testing its performance was in gear 5 when suddenly the engine choked, I slipped a bit but I could correct it. Lovely police woman escorts me from the motorway me pushing it. Eventually after kicking and pushing it, I get into 1st gear properly and then it goes, shift ot gear 2, lost it.

Turns out my father took it for a test drive which was going around the house 2 times, so well.. Jokes on me

I managed to pull over safely. Sometimes it wouldn't come out of neutral or if it does but there is no resistance. Sometimes it would catch 1st gear but quickly release it. I managed to drive about half a kilometer in 1st gear once, but when I stopped at a red light, it released again.

Things I tried:
Shifted up and down, which eventually made the gear changes smoother. Usually, after that, it caught 1st gear.
Swore at it (hoping it would work, but unfortunately it didn't)
Adjusted the clutch lever to maximum and minimum.
Pulled the clutch cable with hand.
Long pushes (1-200 meters) in 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 gear - didn't help.

On monday I changed the oil and I found out, that THERE WAS ABOUT 0.1 LITER OF GEAR OIL IN THERE it bloody dripped away over half a year.

Quickly bought some, put in in there but no luck. Bought tools - I will take it apart tomorrow, maybe after, but first I am trying this: https://youtu.be/zM_oYxlTRHk?t=376
I also ordered extra clutch plates in case they are busted.

What are my chances? Any other ideas?

Here is the "cookie" for you troubles and reading this (its an old picture):

[DAVID THOMPSON]

be aware that this can stretch the clutch cable or break it in some cases
letting a bike set is abuse the longer it sets the worse it becomes
dave

[Blurredman]

This is interesting, and also sounds like a difficult thing to diagnose without at least opening the engine.

However, I would start with taking the clutch cover off, removing the clutch and looking at those clutch plates.


I've only had a few encounters of similar situations, but they have not been whilst on the move. I can sometimes re-create a similar symptom as you where I have no resistence in the clutch in neutral or any gear, if I shut my engine off in gear with the clutch lever still pulled. I have learnt to release the clutch before the engine fully stalls these days.

The only way I can rectify this when it has happened to me, is to take the clutch cable outter sheeth (do not remove from lever or adjust the cable taughtness) out of the adjuster when it becomes slack and somehow tension the cable in order to pull on the clutch lever again- best way for me to do this is to balance the end of the cable sheeth on the edge of the adjuster. The pulling on the lever somehow returns the tension to the cable again. Sorry I couldn't think of a better way to exaplain the above process.


PS: Nice picture

[dave47]

It could be a gear selector problem rather than a clutch problem.
If you remove the left cover, clutch and large gear, there is a circular metal washer held on by a large screw. if this works loose it can cause the selector wheel to slip between the washer and the cam, causing difficulty getting out of neutral etc. Put loctite on the threads. Yes, cool picture!