Ultegra lever wont upshift

[newts]

My right Ultegra 8020 lever wouldn't upshift mid ride. On the way home i could drop 1 cog then go up 2, then eventulally only down shift.
When i got home i sprayed pentrating oil in to free up & blew it trhough with an airline to no avial. I upturned the bar for a better look & the shifter worked intermittedently whilst upside down. I've flushed it through a couple of times with no significnt improvement is it fubar?

 

[si_c]

Chances are the cable has frayed and is sticking - it's a common end of life scenario for Shimano road shifters.

First though slacken the cable at the derailleur end - if it continues to exhibit the problems then remove the cable entirely and see if the problem occurs whilst the cable is out. It's very likely that the problem will go away once the cable has been removed. If that's the case then you only need to put a new cable in.

 

[Cycleops]

........and don’t forget to apply some grease when putting it in.

Does it click shift through all the gears without the cable? If it does it’s fine, if not it may be toast. How old and how many miles has it done?

 

[newts]

I slackened the cable & pulled part way out & the issue persists. Cable appears clean & slides smoothly. It' s internal so apprehensive of removing completely. The up lever appears to be jammed unless it's upside down & then it only double clicks when it feels like it.

 

[boydj]

Have you looked inside the shifter? Cables are prone to fray in there.

 

[newts]

It's just over a year old/2k miles use. I had the cable & bottom cover off, appears clean & tickety boo.

 

[si_c]

Check the head of the cable - if you pull the hoods back and look on the outside there will be the cable access port - if you've not done this before then you may need to shift the levers until the cable is in the right position or jiggle it until it comes out.

Once the cable head is out and you can see the cable if it's frayed it needs replacing - if not try shifting the levers with the cable head out and see if the problem has gone away.

 

[Cycleops]

Certainly shouldn’t fail at that mileage but after trying all of the above it may be the only conclusion. Not cheap to replace too which makes it all the more galling.

 

[newts]

So far i've had praxis bottom bracket, rear drive side wheel bearing & bottom headset bearing failure.
It's kept very clean & well lubed, i'm beginning to think i'm not destined to enjoy this bike.

 

[faster]

I'm not sure what you mean by pulling the cable out, but if you've pulled it out and can see the first few inches near the nipple and it all looks intact, it may well be that the shifter is knackered.

I had a Sora one do something similar, which failed after about 6,000 miles. It did the same working better when upside down thing and was caused by a broken spring in the mechanism. Moving the shifter around allowed gravity to do what the spring was previously doing, but not very well.

I fixed it with a generic torsion spring off e-bay (couldn't get any proper parts), but I've not tried it on the bike yet, so no idea if the repair will last.

If the same thing happened again, I wouldn't bother trying to fix it. Easily the most fiddly and frustrating thing I've ever taken to pieces.

 

[newts]

I got the lbs inspect the shifter & it's fubar.
They've contacted shimano to organise a warranty replacement.
Unfortunately it could be a long wait due to stock issues.

 

[newts]

Almost 9 months later the bike has been returned with a replacement shifter installed. Very relieved to get it back.

 

[ianrauk]

Almost 9 months later the bike has been returned with a replacement shifter installed. Very relieved to get it back.

Good news.
Its usually the left hand shifters that go first.

 

[newts]

Good news.
Its usually the left hand shifters that go first.

Fingers crossed the left one holds up. Shimano really need to pull their finger out of their arse & get the supply chain moving again!

 

[Arrowfoot]

Almost 9 months later the bike has been returned with a replacement shifter installed. Very relieved to get it back.

Thats crazy long for a company like Shimano. Good to hear that you got it done.