Not Your Average Oil Thread - New oil, clutch 'Chirping' at idle?!

We've had an interesting few weeks here at the shop. Here's how it has gone:

1. Customer goes to dealer for oil change;
2. Customer picks up Spyder and notices clutch 'Chirping' at idle;
3. Customer is told by dealer 'This is normal, they all do it';
4. Customer rides 4 miles to our shop because they are not satisfied with dealership explanation saying, 'It didn't chirp when I took it in. It shouldn't chirp when I pick it up';
5. We check everything and find no problems. We suggest an oil change as a last resort;
6. Change to Amsoil 10-40 MCF. Chirping goes away instantly.

We sent the latest 4-mile-old oil to Blackstone out of curiosity. It came back with 3 times the normal amount of iron. Everything else was normal.

But here is the kicker. The viscosity analysis came back as consistent with a 0-40 weight oil. With only 4 miles on the oil change, this should be a very accurate reading.

Is this a mistake at the dealership? An inaccurate analysis by Blackstone? A change in the Castrol Oil that BRP uses? I don't know. But the 0-40 would seem to be a plausible explanation for chirping at idle, going away when the high pressure oil delivery to the clutch kicks in when revved up.

Our speculation about the high iron is that if it is an under lubricated clutch pack problem, this could create excessive wear on the metal clutch disks and there is metal in the friction disks as well. Blackstone speculates that a lack of filter change could also create a high iron count.

We are going to do a few more oil analysis on Spyders that have this issue to see if we can find a consistent factor. Because at this point, all we can do is throw guesses at it.

This was a 2023 RT.

The point of this tread isn't so much the Amsoil aspect, as the cure going from what Blackstone says is a 0-40 to the 10-40 that we put in. It would be interesting to have opportunity to try other 10-40 oils, but not practical. Especially since we stock the Amsoil. I was hoping others might have experienced this chirping situation and chime in as to their fix.

We aren't even sure that the local dealership is using XPS BRP oil. Though I would be surprised if they are not.

rsgreene12 said:

I also have the chirping on a 23 RTL and was happening before on XPS Oil and now on Amsoil 10-40 so not sure what to attribute it too?!

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How long did it chirp before you changed the oil? We are wondering if it isn't caught soon enough, it could cause enough wear that the clutch pack might need to be shimmed to get back into spec. Or if shimming will even cure the problem.

It's a quandary that we'd like to solve if possible. Right now there are just too many variables. Like the oil change has fixed at least 3 customer's chirping issues at the shop. So far as we know, the chirping has not returned. But each of them brought it to us right away.

Does the ridiculously high iron content have anything to do with it? And why was it so high to start with? Questions we don't have answers for.

Did the chirping ever go away for you? Like right after the oil change?