1996 K1100RS transmission fluid

[moondog]

Just changed the transmission fluid after having the trany out for a shift shaft fix. When I drained the oil the first time there was this:


I just put a couple hundred miles on it after the fix and to be sure I wasn't making the above I drained the trany fluid again and caught it in a clear jar. I held the jar up to the sun so light is reflecting off the fluid and I see "shiny particles". Very small but a lot of them. I talking smaller than a pin tip not the head.
The magnetic plug just had a black muck on it, no particles like the above. With my shifting issue I did grind a few gears and I am thinking that's where the initial particles came from.
I'm wondering if I am getting residual particles from before. I am going to put some more miles on it and change it again to see if it is staying put, getting worse or getting better. In other words its cleaning itself out. AND is there any commercial service to test the fluid for content, i.e., what metal it is etc.?

[deilenberger]

Blackstone Labs will do transmission fluid and should be able to tell you what the metal is..

Generally - sparkly oil is not considered a good thing and indicates something like a bearing is breaking down.

[42906]

Notchy or difficult shifting can be due to worn and/or poorly lubricated clutch splines. That much fuzz on the drain plus does not look good. An oil analyis is a good idea. Since aluminum particles won't stick to a magnetic drain plug (meaning shift drum wear particles won't show up on the drain plug), I woud be suspicious of a bearing going south. Do you hear any noises when the bike is running, in neutral with the clutch out, say at a traffic light?
My bike's gear box is out of the bike right now after an identical discovery and we found a couple of rough bearings and dodgy splines on the input shaft and clutch disc, both forgivable after 287,000 miles. The clutch pressure plates, however, are still original and show no obvous wear. Mine had a bit of a rattling noise when stopped at a traffic light and the clutch was released. Pulling the clutch in stopped the noise. I suspected the input shaft but it turned out the bearings on the intermediate shaft were rough.

[moondog]

Notchy or difficult shifting can be due to worn and/or poorly lubricated clutch splines. That much fuzz on the drain plus does not look good. An oil analyis is a good idea. Since aluminum particles won't stick to a magnetic drain plug (meaning shift drum wear particles won't show up on the drain plug), I woud be suspicious of a bearing going south. Do you hear any noises when the bike is running, in neutral with the clutch out, say at a traffic light?
My bike's gear box is out of the bike right now after an identical discovery and we found a couple of rough bearings and dodgy splines on the input shaft and clutch disc, both forgivable after 287,000 miles. The clutch pressure plates, however, are still original and show no obvous wear. Mine had a bit of a rattling noise when stopped at a traffic light and the clutch was released. Pulling the clutch in stopped the noise. I sus set screw waspected the input shaft but it turned out the bearings on the intermediate shaft were rough.

The shifting issue was due to the shift lever shaft set screw being loose. Thats concrete. I don't hear much due to wearing ear plugs. I suppose for ****s and giggles I should leave them out and take a listen. I did some serious shifting misses so I can attribute some of it to that. It actually is running smoother now then before and less vibration. My plan is to run it awhile and check it again in a couple hundred miles and have the oil analyzed