Rough acceleration

Journey_SA

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Nov 7, 2019
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Cape Town, South Africa
Hi Guys,

I'm new to the S10 ( 2013 , Gen1 ) and would like some guidance re the engine.

I find that in mild acceleration the engine stays smooth, but a more spirited twist results in a rough "gravelly" feel.

Is this just the character of the engine, or is it fixable with changes to the clutch basket?

thanks!
 

staq50

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Oct 13, 2019
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Hawkes Bay, New Zealand
Ok, Firstly welcome .. this is not uncommon, firstly do a quick check on the rubber blanking cap on the vacume port right hand side throttle body (TB) the rubber perishes, a TB sinc is the next thing....this will help smooth things out a little...as far as the clutch is concerned, its going to add vibration, it'll make rattle noise and there's not much you can do about it except exchange it for a 2014 model, and from there, check your plugs, and coils......also you should consider cleaning the filters in your fuel pump, inside the tank....
, if you still have the original cam chain tensioner consider replacing it with a later unit.....the early ones did fail.. something that gets over looked is the injectors, run some injector cleaner through it...if suspect rip them out and have them tested, not hard... the ultimate will be to have the ECU flashed,
 
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Tenman

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I don't understand the gravelly feel. Is it knocking any. Bad gas can give you that. My clutch basket didn't really bother me. But I changed it anyway when my cam chain rattled at about 20k miles. Like Staq50 said get a reflash. Eventually you probably will and then kick yourself for not doin it sooner. How many miles do you have on it? There's lots of people with high mileage that never had a strainer clog.
 

scott123007

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Most likely it is your clutch basket. Some bikes were not, or were only slightly affected by it, but others really sucked, and during acceleration, or on slight up hill grades especially against the wind, vibrated worse than an old Harley.
A 2014 or newer clutch basket really smooths things out.
 

Boris

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Most likely it is your clutch basket. Some bikes were not, or were only slightly affected by it, but others really sucked, and during acceleration, or on slight up hill grades especially against the wind, vibrated worse than an old Harley.
A 2014 or newer clutch basket really smooths things out.
As he said.

The updated basket made a significant improvement on my 2013 bike.
 

EricV

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Nothing is wrong with the bike. You're just describing the character of the big parallel twin engine.

Gen 1 bikes will benefit from the Gen 2 clutch basket, but it's not very noticeable before 50k miles, IMHO. I changed mine at 83k miles on my '12 S10.

The clutch vibes are in the 3-4k rpm range under load.
 

HeliMark

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You may want to check with the previous owner to see if the clutch basket has already been changed. Chance it may have, and how many miles is on it. I changed mine (same year as yours) because of vibrations in the 3K RPM range. I don't recall the clutch basket giving the gravely feel, but it is a parallel twin, and it will feel like a tractor at times.

As a preemptive answer, yes the engine sounds like a bunch of tools being shaken in a metal tool box. That is what ear plugs are for.

Also, if you put your location in your profile, it will help everyone give better answers.
 

Sierra1

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I'm like Tenman….define "gravelly". I'm interpreting it as "rough", "hesitant", "missing". Back in the day, I would advise it likely be a fuel issue; dirty carbs or bad gas. But, nowadays....listening to everybody talking about the clutch basket, and vibes....I ride a '17....so I don't have anything to compare it to....but, I don't feel any abnormal vibes at any rpm. She's smooth as silk, and my Sena takes care of the noise.
 

Journey_SA

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Thank you all for the feedback - I'll update my location as requested - I'm in Cape Town, South Africa..

I'm going to start looking out for a used gen 2 clutch basket - I got a quote for a new one, ex Japan - expensive..

Sent from my CLT-L09 using Tapatalk
 

Boris

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My basket change was at around 13k miles. The difference was night and day. Made a huge positive difference.

Gravelly is not a term I would have used to describe the bike pre basket swap. I’d say very noisy, rattley, vibrated and I’ve heard it described as clutch chudder, which is a good description. The vibration and chudder could be felt through the whole bike, for me it was ruining the riding experience. That all went away with the upgraded part.

These are facts relating to the bike I have, might be different on other bikes.
 
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Boris

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