Big Red wont go

[Duckman]

Had my 2011 Big Red serviced a few months ago. I have noticed when I start it up it acts like it is slipping, but when it warms up everything seems fine. Any help would be appreciated on what might be the trouble.

[sfrankland]

Hows your oil level? The transmission runs on the same oil as the motor and if your low it will not move.

[WNYPAT]

Not sure what it is actually doing but it won't shift right until it warms up. The oil has to be flowing freely for the tranny to really loosen up to the RPMs will be higher before it engages when cold. Best thing to do is let it warm up for a couple minutes. It is like that on the Rincon too.

[Dr_Al]

When I changed the oil on my BR I put the amount of oil the manual said to use. It wouldn't move at all. So I added some more and was at the top of the level on the dip stick and it would run fine until it tried to shift into 3rd, then it would just rev up (slip). I added a little more oil and now it's fine.

I used Golden Spectra Synthetic oil because that's what the dealer recommended. I wouldn't use it again. With the original Honda the gears would make noise once you shifted into gear but it never slipped when cold. With the spectra it acts just like yours. I put synthetic in it to try and reduce that clunky gear noise when you shift. The stuff was very expensive so I'm leaving it in there until the next change but once I do the next change I'm going with a different brand of oil, maybe the original Honda oil.

[Duckman]

Yea it was the oil level. They didnt tighten up the oil filter when they serviced it.Thanks

[Duckman]

Well its clear it leaked oil out from the time the dealership changed it, but for the life of me can I even find the oil filter or oil drain plug. I took the little plastic plate off the skid plate with all the holes in it and wow. The engineers really did a number when they designed this. The book says get to the oil filter from removing the seat and cover. Yea right!!

[sfrankland]

You read right. You need to remove the passenger side seat and the plastic cover and then find someone with small flexible hands/arm to reach in a tighten it up.

[LB54]

Its really not all that bad. Just take your time and you can slide your hand in there and get at the filter housing and tighten it up.

[Claybank01]

Yeah, I did mine from underneath just reach up in there and take you time.

[jmiraval]

a couple other folks took a cut off wheel and opened it up a little larger from the underside. assembling that oil filter beforehand would be nice. its a real pain trying to get it all to stay in place while putting it all together. ugh!

the drainplug has about 25X the size hole needed to do the job, while the oil filter hole is the complete opposite. go figure.

[Dr_Al]

Having a lift to get underneath the BR makes it much easier. I think that most Honda dealers never thought they would need a car lift. I think the Honda dealers that don't sell the BR don't want to invest in something that will only be needed for occasional work.