My 13 doesn't downshift well? What could it be?

[lacofdfireman]

I've noticed more and more that my 2013 Tenere doesn't downshift very well. What I mean is when I shift from say 4th to 3rd when I pull in the clutch and shift down with my foot it never engages. The lever goes down but the tranny doesn't shift. So what I usually have to do is let out the clutch rev a little and try again. Sometimes it works sometimes I have to repeat a few times before it actually clicks down. Never an issue on an up shift just down shift only. Any idea what it could be?

 

[snakebitten]

No panic!
It's not your tranny.
Simply remove the "pivot bolt" that your shift lever pivots on. Clean it. Grease it. Reassemble it.

Presto! Perfect downshifting.

Happens to ALL of us. 5 minutes and fixed.

 

[Ironhand]

Didn't a few people also have issues with the shift return spring breaking? His symptoms sound familiar.

 

[pnelson]

This is EXACTLY what the bike does with a sticky shift pivot bolt. The problem is when you donwshift once, the shifter has to return up to the resting position before you can downshift again. With a sticky pivot bolt, the shifter downshifts once but doesn't come back up all the way and can't downshift again. If you manually, get your toe under there and pop it up a bit, you can continue to downshift.

The quick fix out on the road is to spray the pivot with WD-40 or PB Blaster and move the lever up and down to lube the pivot. The longer-term fix is to remove the shift lever and lube the shaft. I've added this to my list of stuff to do at ever oil change.

Here's a good photo (posted by Checkswreks) of the part in question. The bolt on my 2013 had no lube on the pivot bolt at all and started sticking at only 2000 miles after a long weekend of dirt riding down in Yosemite. A shot of PB Blaster made it feel like new and some grease added when I got home has kept it from happening again.

 

[TimLaw]

The post above from Paul is 100% correct. This happened on my new '14 with less than 500 miles on it. I did a quick fix with WD40 and it immediately fixed it until I pull the pin and lube it.

 

[Dmcleane]

This is EXACTLY what the bike does with a sticky shift pivot bolt. The problem is when you donwshift once, the shifter has to return up to the resting position before you can downshift again. With a sticky pivot bolt, the shifter downshifts once but doesn't come back up all the way and can't downshift again. If you manually, get your toe under there and pop it up a bit, you can continue to downshift.

The quick fix out on the road is to spray the pivot with WD-40 or PB Blaster and move the lever up and down to lube the pivot. The longer-term fix is to remove the shift lever and lube the shaft. I've added this to my list of stuff to do at ever oil change.

Here's a good photo (posted by Checkswreks) of the part in question. The bolt on my 2013 had no lube on the pivot bolt at all and started sticking at only 2000 miles after a long weekend of dirt riding down in Yosemite. A shot of PB Blaster made it feel like new and some grease added when I got home has kept it from happening again.

+1!!!! Exactly my experience.

 

[lacofdfireman]

Thanks so much. I'm all over this in the morning. I'm gonna remove and lube. Thanks for the quick replies. Love this forum.

 

[barkingllizard]

thank you to the above contributors,
this was helpful to me.....

 

[CentralCal]

Gotta love this forum. ::012::

 

[rbm]

Same problem, same fix. Thanks a bunch guys.

 

[lacofdfireman]

I do this every time I change my oil now. Never had an issue since. Worked perfect.

 

[Ramseybella]

I plan on installing a grease fitting soon.

 

[SuperJimbo]

Gotta love this forum. ::012::

::026::

 

[nsmaa]

I'm getting exactly the same sometimes when going up through the gears. Seems worse when I up shift under hard acceleration. Have now tried lubing so hopefully that will resolve the problem.

 

[Gpz750]

Wow. I just had this happen to me today while out riding.
Could not get it to downshift. Pushed down and it was like nothing there, no engagement at all.
A little paranoid because it's a 15 affected by the recall.
I'm gonna give this a shot. Have 2000 miles, no off road,or rain.
Worth a shot I guess...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[eddie98]

This just happen to me today after about 200 miles of blacktop riding. It started happening 6 miles from home. A couple of times I had to take off in 3rd gear cause it wouldn't down shift to 2nd. I started to freak out a little. I just got home and I will go out there and clean the "culprit" bolt.
I'm fairly new to the S10 so I'm glad this forum is here to help me.

 

[iPatrick]

For the record, it works on 2012 models as well.

Thanks for posting the solution for this.