Edit Update October 2014 If you have to come out of your own pocket make them replace the clutch master cylinder. The problem is with the cylinder and the way it is tooled. To compensate for that they beefed up the O rings which bought them some time to come up with a real solution. The new O rings are made of a tougher material but they are still being chewed up by the cylinder. So... when the O rings fail; and let hydrolic fluid pass by, has to do with how many times you operate the clutch... I do eighty miles round trip a day across Houston's often Stop and Go traffic... So I operate the clutch more than your average bear... And thus mine failed after the plunger O ring fix. Which is exactly the problem you have. The new Master Cylinder is a retooled one so it doesn't eat the O rings. I predicted that Harley would do a second reacall... Which they did this September. The reason for the second reacall is to inspect your O rings and see where you are and either replace them or replace the master cylinder depending on the type and amount of riding you do. Your average weekend warrior and or pleasure rider won't press the clutch enough times to wear out the O rings before the bike get's out of the two year warranty period at which point the problem will be the responsibility of the Owner and not MOCO saving them billions of dollars and costing you the price of a master cylinder R&R... At this point MOCO really has no Idea which bikes have the old Master Cylinder and which one's have the new one. That is why they recalled all the 14's. They want to take a gander at how the new retooled Master Cylinder is holding up... and check each and every bike to see how the plunger O ring fix is doing and whether they should replace your Clutch Master Cylinder or not ........... ......................... ................ ... .. .................................................. .................................................. ....... .........................................Edit Update July 2014 I originally put this tread up in February 2014... A lot has happened since then, but that's another story... Harley has retooled the Hyd. Master Cylinder... If your Bike was manufactured prior to January more than likely you are running the Master Cylinder that was repaired with a plunger & O ring kit... Mine got the recall plunger fix and failed at 5K miles...at which point they replaced the Master Cylinder with a retooled one... In my opinion they should recall the recall and give everybody a the new Clutch Master Cylinder... The following is my original post from Feb. 2014 .......................... ................................. ....................................... ....................... .... .................................. . . . . . . ................................... ...........Aw Crap... this clutch thing is gonna kill somebody... I was in slowmoving freeway traffic... I grabbed the clutch to down shift and surprise!!! No clutch... It felt funny and I tapped to down shift... got no shift an the bike died at about 35 mph with traffic of all different speeds crawling up my bum... I found neutral, started it then tried to thump it into gear... It lurched like a porpoise and died... I found 1st gear then dragged it with the starter til it took off, an limped off the freeway... This is bullcrap!... WTF? I bought my bike after the recall and they assured me the issue had been taken care of... Is there a link to a how to bleed the clutch line somewhere so I can get this thing up to the dealer? I just turned 5k on my Bike... I have a feeling Harleys with Hydroclutches are gonna be stranded all over the place... This is a brand spankin new thirty thousand dollar bike mind you... ........................ ................................ ........................... .................. .................................................. ........ ............................... ................................. .... Edit Update September 2014 .... New Recall on Clutch Master Cylinder... Did I call it or what??? http://www.hdforums.com/forum/new-ru...-9-8-14-a.html... Vindication... September 2014 This link to a fella who paid a price fer this fiasco... http://www.hdforums.com/forum/new-ru...ail-crash.html

 

The dealer probably just thought it was taken care of from the factory?
Lets hope your dealer is a lazass as to why you had a problem.
Sounds like a pretty scary situation you had there, glad it turned out that no one or the bike got damaged.

 

Have the dealer come and take it away. No sense taking any chances

 

Crap... this clutch thing is gonna kill somebody?



This is first I seen problem posted since recall. Im not jumping to conclusions but not to minimize your experience.

Please take the time and follow up in forum so we can know what was wrong.

 

Evidently there are multiple issues with this Hydro Clutch... Here we go round the Mulberry bush... The Service Dude told me my bike was at the factory when the recall went down and that they took care of the problem at the factory... I kept pressing him for info as to exactly what they did at the factory to rectify the problem... He said they replaced the inappropriate part... The Service Manager did not know exactly what part it was... but they replaced it he assures me... It had the sticker on it that it was done... My suspicion at this point is that the Harley Brains took the master cylinder for the cabled bikes...and made modifications to make it work on the Hydraulic system... That never works... I remember when General Motors took a 350 block and modified it to run diesel... What a leakin, stinking, non operational POS disaster that was... Brave Rushmore... Can you tell I'm a little rattled by this whole thing??? My bike left the factory November 12... The Recall came out October 16th... The Dealer tech found the problem to be a leaky master cylinder and called the factory rep... The factory rep said to replace the master cylinder... They don't have one at the dealer and won't be able to procure one til next tuesday... Today is thursday... WTF... They got a known problem... and they don't keep that part in stock??? I told the Service writer I wanted the written documentation for the work they did at the factory.... He called me back about 30 minutes later to tell me, "A" they did not have a loaner for me and "B" they would not be able to get documentation on the work done on the master cylinder... He assured me though that this bike had the sticker they put on 'em to let the dealer know that the recall work had been performed??? I'm smellin a rat & I'm ticked... He also fed me a line that the wrong part was installed only on the CVO's so this was a different issue... Seriously??? Then why did they recall bikes with a No Ride Warning that were not CVO's...What's goin on here batman??? Either they just put a sticker on it & pushed it out the door...or they screwed up the repair... or they still got a problem with this thing and they ain't tellin us??? I almost did a face plant on I-10 when it failed... They put me on the road on a time bomb... If you are gonna buy one of these pigs manufactured in 2013... require they give you documentation that the master cylinder has been rebuilt???? Actually I'd make 'em put a new one on knowing what I know now... The more I think about it the angrier I get. The out of place part is an actuating rod meant for a cabled bike... 91500065 They tell us it was a rebuild... The truth is they have to take the thing apart to see if it's put together wrong... Some are, some arn't... an they need a rebuild kit to put it back together... then they have to bleed it... So if you had no problem, they took it apart, inspected, put it back together... & bled the system... The Rushmore Project is self described as a program to move a product from table to rider faster... using rider input... Let me translate... They made test riders out of the Harley Owners group... and contrary to paying them... the make us pay for the privilege of being test riders... ...................... ................................. ............................ ..................... ................ .................................................. ...................... ... . . Update 21 Feb Star Date 2014... Went an had a conversation with the Service manager at the Dealer... Pumping him for information about this Hydroclutch thing... He showed me the part in question on the schematic... It is a little plunger looking shaft/push rod with a bunch of O rings that goes inbetween the Clutch lever & the master cylinder... He sez he has no knowledge of what part is the wrong part or bad one... all he know is that they have had him rebuilding the master cylinders with the new & improved rebuild kit... Which includes the plunger/actuating rod or what ever you want to call it... Supposedly the new fangled rod has 3 pin holes in the back of it that you can see when you pop the clutch lever off and shine a light into the back of the master cylinder which he showed me... "See... It has the pin holes... It's the new part!"??? I'm still not convinced... I'd wager to say I am in a very exclusive club at this point being one of the few who has already logged five thousand miles on a wet head... He countered that he has had a bunch of five thousand miles services already... "But how many have logged five thousand miles on the recalled & rebuilt master cylinders???? That he could not tell me... I got no satisfaction from the Service Manager so I moved up the line and talked to his boss... He had been briefed on me and my situation... I went in like I had no knowledge and asked if whats up with my bike and if had knowledge of what was going on the the recall etc... He was playing dumb and giving me vague platitudes... I played along that the was ignorant of the specifics... Then I said OK... let me educate you then... After I finished he said, "Thats way technical an a little over my head the Mo Co doesn't share that kind of info with us... and if they do we are not allowed to share it with customers."... "So what I just heard you say is you know exactly what is going on here but you are not allowed to discuss it with me?" "No... That is NOT what I said!" he replied... "Then what did you mean by what you said?"... At that point he just started juking and jiving saying something about legalities etc.??? WTF!????? I extracted the 800 numbers for the Factory Reps from him an said "Ok... I guess I'm on to Milwaukee since you really don't have anything to say..." He spouted some politaties... but his body language said, "Don't let the Door hit you in the ****!!!" Pinchie de me... So... near as I can tell... If you got a Rushmore touring bike between your legs... Yer playin a game of Roulette... Good luck with that Boys n Girls...In the mean time you might wanna go practice operating yer bike without a clutch so's when it happens to you it won't be yer first Rodeo... I'll keep ya posted when I get my bike back next week... hopefully... If'n I ain't rattled their cage so much they start defecating in my Cheerios... Pic of the Rebuild Kit... This rod is between the clutch lever and the master cylinder. Evidently air is getting in the system here.

 

On the transmission cover on the right side of the bike.

 

I think your subject line is a little over dramatic since this is the first time this problem has come forward. It is winter though.

 

Call the dealer, have them pick it up as SPF62 said, find out when your bike was built, and PLEASE come back here and let us know what you found out.

Glad you are ok though.

 

It's not a new thing. They recalled Twenty Thousand Bikes over this... I don't know what they did but there is a problem... They called the owners and told em not to ride the bikes... I asked about this when I bought mine and the assured me it was taken care of... There is a thread in the Touring section about this. The fix seems to be bleeding the system... Giving you the bike and then replacing the master cylinder and some other parts when it comes back in again... If the bike has a problem like this they should not be selling it... The way it manifests itself suddenly is gonna cause some wrecks... You're bugging down the road trying to brake and down shift... and you got no clutch... the wheel locks up and the bike dies... depending how fast you were going you go down... or not... That's not mellow dramatic... That's down right dangerous Mr. Harley................. .............................. ............................ . . ................ .. .................................................. .................................. ress release

Condition affects hydraulic clutch systems MILWAUKEE, Oct. 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG [FREE Stock Trend Analysis]) is acting quickly to address potential safety issues by voluntarily recalling certain 2014 Touring motorcycles equipped with a hydraulic clutch system that may pose a safety issue for riders and/or passengers. The recalls include a Do Not Ride notice to owners and a Do Not Deliver notice to Harley-Davidson dealers until the motorcycle is fixed.
"The safety of our customers is our highest priority," said Tony Wilcox, Harley-Davidson General Manager of Motorcycle New Product Delivery. "We have identified potential safety issues and are moving quickly to notify our customers and dealers. The inspection and repair of these motorcycles is extremely important, so it's critical that our customers with affected vehicles contact their dealers immediately. We apologize for this circumstance. The company is committed to correcting the issues and providing customers with the quality experience and service they expect."
The recalls affect 25,185 Touring motorcycles, models FLHTCU, FLHTK, FLHTP, FLHX, FLHXS, FLHTKSE and FLHRSE, and 3,861 SoftailŽ CVOs and Trikes, models FLHTCUTG, FXSBSE and FLSTNSE, built between May 3, 2013, and Oct. 14, 2013.
Some of these motorcycles may exhibit a condition in which the hydraulic clutch system may lose the ability to generate enough lift to disengage the clutch. If the clutch does not disengage as intended, the rider may have difficulty slowing or stopping the motorcycle, which could result in an accident. Harley-Davidson has initiated these recalls to correct the affected motorcycles.
The company is taking the additional measure of issuing a Do Not Ride notice to riders given the potential safety issues. The company wants owners of affected motorcycles to contact an authorized Harley-Davidson dealer immediately to arrange for an inspection. The dealer will pick up, inspect and make the necessary repairs at no cost to the owner. The repairs have been identified and should take less than one hour.
Although the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration is closed as a result of the partial government shutdown, Harley-Davidson is proceeding with these voluntary recalls consistent with NHTSA's process.

 

Had a similar issue when I purchased mine in early October,bike had little over 700mi, just before the recall.My dealer came and picked the bike up called me the next day regarding the recall and said it would take a few days to get the fix.Long story short gave me a loaner and had mine for 4 days,when I got it back never had a problem since.Got around 2200mi now and been in the garage since Nov,16th. I can say the clutch always felt strange before the fix like it wasn't completely disengaging.