ST-6800 (Ultegra 11) failure

[TimD]

At the end of this morning's ride I find my FD (R8000) is stuck on the big ring. The Ultegra 11 release lever has no engagement.

After a few minutes of removal, partial disassembly, and examination I further find the cable end completely intact, the cable free to move, and the FD free to move. After removing the access plate, I see that the pawl which engages the release cam will not engage that cam, though I can make it do so by pushing on it with my finger, or a small tool. See photo.

This shifter was purchased new in October 2015 and has fewer than 4000 miles on it. Since installation the bike was ridden (and not in winter storage) for 16 months. I've never had the 'frayed cable' problem on this lever, the bike isn't ridden in the rain, it hasn't been crashed, blah blah.

The seller tells me it is outside Shimano's 2-year warranty.

Anyone else have this or a similar issue with a 5800, 6800, or 900X shifter? If so, how was it remedied?

Thanks.
Tim

[dddd]

I diagnosed a failure of the ratchet tooth/lever to lift clear far enough off of the ratchet wheel on an older STI lever, and my fix was to force a circlip onto the lever's pivot shaft to act as a shim, which gave the ratchet tooth's integral lever more boost from the cam (because of it now being held more parallel to the worn shaft by the circlip). So in effect I just tightened up the pivoting of the tooth/lever. I quite surprised myself by getting this one working after first realizing what the problem was, since the circlip had to be pretty thin to squeeze into the axial gap at the end of the tooth/lever pivot barrel.

The 10s lever I was working on had 35,000+ miles on it and is now working perfectly once more.

In your case, it sounds like there may be a spring-loaded pivot that is binding because of thickened grease or is failing to engage because of a broken spring? Was the bike stored in a very hot garage?
Sudden onset of such symptoms would seem to rule out the hardened grease scenario unless the temperature perhaps dropped suddenly, so I am leaning toward a broken piece of that catch or it's actuating mechanism. I have found tiny broken bits like that and broken springs as well that led to a sudden STI failure-to-respond issue.

I would keep studying the actuation so as to determine what isn't happening that should be happening in more detail.

I know a local shop mechainiac from Mexico who did rescue one left lever by using a chunk or band of rubber held against a pawl which had a broken spring, and it did get the lever back into functioning service. For how long I don't know, but I was impressed.

[cmbicycles]

You can try to drip some lube on that pawl pivot and work it back and forth a few times. I've seen that bring back shifters on many occasions. If the spring is still intact (hard to see in the picture) it could just be some dirt or grit preventing the pawl from moving smoothly.

[TimD]

Well, it appears that a spring lurking behind the release lever arm, on which the release pawl is mounted, has failed in a way which has caused it to loosen, or unwind. This increased the spring's radius, causing it to contact the pin on the release pawl, forcing it outwards and preventing it from pivoting far enough inwards to engage on the cam.

The only part of this which can be seen in the photo is the back of the pin on the release pawl, immediately below the point of the screwdriver. It passes through a hole in the release lever arm, where it contacts the spring.

From what I can tell the lever is toast. What Shimano call the "Left Hand Bracket", part number Y00F98040, presumably includes all the innards of this lever. It is available for $80, or slightly less than the street price of an entire lever ($100).

Pretty poor service life, IMO.

Thanks to all who responded, BTW, it encouraged me to look further into the problem while maintaining a sense of hope it could be fixed. I know, if I want rebuildable, I should be riding Campy :)

[dddd]

It doesn't sound like there would be any access to the damaged end of the spring here.
I did rescue one of the mtb Rapidfire-plus levers by bending a new right angle at the end of a broken-off return spring, but in that case I had complete access to the spring as I was able to remove it first.

At least with a replacement lever you're back to brand new with the entire shift mechainism, though you're having to pay for more stuff than you actually need.

[skouri1]

sometimes stuff happens. for every failure, there must be many units going for 10s of thousands of miles. bad luck, but if you buy another I bet it'll be fine.
the good thing is ultegra is not dura ace prices, so when something like this happens, it doesnt hurt has bad.
though if it were dura ace, it would also have another year of warranty...

[Gummee]

If you think you can rebuild it, (and it's a right side lever) I've got a 6800 lever with a broken brake lever you can have for shipping

I got it free, so you can have it for free

M

[rustychisel]

If you think you can rebuild it, (and it's a right side lever)

Nice offer, but the OP stipulated "stuck in big ring" which rather suggests a left hander.

[oldpotatoe]

Well, it appears that a spring lurking behind the release lever arm, on which the release pawl is mounted, has failed in a way which has caused it to loosen, or unwind. This increased the spring's radius, causing it to contact the pin on the release pawl, forcing it outwards and preventing it from pivoting far enough inwards to engage on the cam.

The only part of this which can be seen in the photo is the back of the pin on the release pawl, immediately below the point of the screwdriver. It passes through a hole in the release lever arm, where it contacts the spring.

From what I can tell the lever is toast. What Shimano call the "Left Hand Bracket", part number Y00F98040, presumably includes all the innards of this lever. It is available for $80, or slightly less than the street price of an entire lever ($100).

Pretty poor service life, IMO.

Thanks to all who responded, BTW, it encouraged me to look further into the problem while maintaining a sense of hope it could be fixed. I know, if I want rebuildable, I should be riding Campy :)

Just a thought, you might have a shimano friendly LBS give Shimano, USA a call and see what they say..I have had some stuff 'warrantied', replaced out of warranty from a 'compassionate' rep..shimano, USA has pallets of stuff there.

[Gummee]

Nice offer, but the OP stipulated "stuck in big ring" which rather suggests a left hander.

I don't have any extra left levers, but the offer holds if anyone needs this right shifter

M