Phantom Shifts

[53driver]

Just wanted to revive this thread and see if there were any updates. I recently had my oil changed at 16,000 miles and rode about 300 miles today. I had two times during the ride when the bike popped from 5th to 4th gear. I'm very concerned something may break if this happens again as there was a somewhat violent clunk when it happened. It is a major pain to take it to the dealer as it's an hour drive. Any suggestions?

A "5th to 4th" uncommanded shifting experience? Damn. That will get your attention.

And only because some of the guys reported their "size 12" was doing things uncommanded, I reckon you'll state that your toes were nowhere near the shift lever at the time of the downshift?

If it were me? There's no place in my garage for a transmission from "iRobot."
I'd be back at my dealer spouting superfluous safety speak and publicly pontificating warranty work.
Best of luck.
Steve

[Jimmytee]

I had it happen once on a trip down to Deals Gap a couple weeks ago or so. I honestly don't know for sure if it could have been from an incomplete shift. Had been riding some pretty twisty roads in and out of several gears. It caused me thought of concern as we traveled down the road, eventually I thought less and less of it. That's the only time I can recall ever experiencing this. I have about 24 k on the bike.

[toy_collector]

With about 17,000 miles on my bike, yesterday was the first time I've experienced this and it happened twice. I had the oil changed at the dealer a couple weeks ago and I'm wondering if that had something to do with it. It just sucks 'cause I have to take a vacation day just to get the bike to the dealer.

[Az Wingrider]

Uncommanded downshifts have been a problem with GL1800 Goldwings since day one. For a long time Honda refused to admit there was a problem. In 2013 Honda said the have started treating 4th and 5th gears with a special coating that has solved the problem. I interpret this to mean that the have now solved the problem that they have never admitted to having. I know several people that have had this problem on older Wings. When I took my 2007 Wing down to trade in on the f6b the first question the salesman asked was "any 5th gear problems". This is something that is pretty well known in the Goldwing community.

I am very careful with my 4th to 5th gear shifts. I always make sure to fully engage 5th gear. It is just something to keep in mind

[toy_collector]

Assuming I just didn't get it tightly enough into 5th gear did it hurt it? I don't like that it said "OD" on the dash and I drove 100's of feet before it popped out. Seems like a defect to me. My main concern is I don't want my transmission to grenade once warranty is up.

[Az Wingrider]

I doubt very seriously that two uncommanded downshifts have done any significant damage. I also doubt that the recent service contributed to the problem. As I said in the previous post I always try to be very firm in my 4th to 5th gear shifts. As I understand it the shift fork is the first thing to be damaged from this. If you get significant damage the repairs are very expensive. The engine and transmission have to be removed from the bike, then the transmission can be separated from the engine and finally the transmission is disassembled and rebuilt. I have a friend that owns an independent Honda shop and he usually quotes between $3500 and $4000 for the repair. There are very few bikes that get to that point, just be careful with your shifts and it seems to be a minor irritant.

I know this all sounds very scary but if you are aware of the possibilities you shouldn't have a problem. I have been around the Goldwing community for quite a few years and I only know of two bikes that became unrideable because of this problem. Both had well over 100,000 miles on them. One owner decided to buy an engine and transmission from a low mileage wrecked Goldwing and have that installed in his bike. He claimed the cost was about the same as having his transmission rebuilt and he ended up with a complete low mileage power train. The other owner parked his in the garage and bought a new Goldwing. He claims he is going to take the bike apart himself and have the trans rebuilt. The pertinent fact is both these bikes were well over 100.000 miles. The one that is still parked in the garage was about 180,000.

This kind of a long post but I still bought a f6b and I have know about this problem for a long time. It is only a problem on a very few bikes and something you can usually live with if you are aware of it.

[Dirtstiff's F6B]

Never, 15,000 miles with Mobil 1 synthetic. Yes. I do.
J

[Jimmytee]

I doubt very seriously that two uncommanded downshifts have done any significant damage. I also doubt that the recent service contributed to the problem. As I said in the previous post I always try to be very firm in my 4th to 5th gear shifts. As I understand it the shift fork is the first thing to be damaged from this. If you get significant damage the repairs are very expensive. The engine and transmission have to be removed from the bike, then the transmission can be separated from the engine and finally the transmission is disassembled and rebuilt. I have a friend that owns an independent Honda shop and he usually quotes between $3500 and $4000 for the repair. There are very few bikes that get to that point, just be careful with your shifts and it seems to be a minor irritant.

I know this all sounds very scary but if you are aware of the possibilities you shouldn't have a problem. I have been around the Goldwing community for quite a few years and I only know of two bikes that became unrideable because of this problem. Both had well over 100,000 miles on them. One owner decided to buy an engine and transmission from a low mileage wrecked Goldwing and have that installed in his bike. He claimed the cost was about the same as having his transmission rebuilt and he ended up with a complete low mileage power train. The other owner parked his in the garage and bought a new Goldwing. He claims he is going to take the bike apart himself and have the trans rebuilt. The pertinent fact is both these bikes were well over 100.000 miles. The one that is still parked in the garage was about 180,000.

This kind of a long post but I still bought a f6b and I have know about this problem for a long time. It is only a problem on a very few bikes and something you can usually live with if you are aware of it.

I think that the pertinent question would be at what point should a person possibly look into having it looked at "BEFORE" someone has to fork over $3500-$4500? Like before the warranty has expired. That would be the dilemma most would have on their minds. Do you take it in after one experience, or wait until it's past the warranty period? I've experienced it once in 24,000 miles. Have 2 years left of warranty. If I were to experience it one or more times again, I'm going to be thinking.

[seadog]

No shifting problems and am running Honda full synthetic in the bike. Never had it do anything I thought was out of the ordinary. Just over 9 grand on the clock.