I recently bought a 97 Cannondale CAAD3 and the right shifter wont move the chain to the larger chain wheels. It will shift to a higher gear (down numerically) but not up. I sprayed lube as most would suggest but still no go.

I can swing the large lever to the left but encounter no resistance, unlike when I swing the smaller lever I will get a small click.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

Your shifter needs to be replaced unfortunately.

WD-40? Not really a lube, but will flush gunked up lube in the shifter quite well, which is a common cause of Shimano shifter problems. So flush the heck out of it, with WD-40. Work the shifter some as you do it. Do it some more. If that doesn't work, spray it full and come back in the morning and try again. If that doesn't do it, then the shifter is done. And honestly, on a 14 year old STI shifter, there's a good chance the shifter is going to be nothing but trouble anyway if it's showing these kinds of problems.

Ok,
I'll give it another shot. I sprayed it real good until It was dripping with RemOil then worked it for a bit. It actually helped on the smaller lever a bit. I thought it was going to work on the largerer on too as it shifted a couple of times then went back to doing nothing.

Again, use WD-40. It's basically a solvent, and that's what makes it work for this.

As a bike shop owner for 12 years, I can tell you that coagulated/hardened grease in Shimano shifters is a common problem. It may not be necessary to replace it. Try this: Have paper towels handy; this is a messy job. Unflip the small lever on the brake caliper or detension the brake wire. Strap the brake lever so it is engaged. Pour 2" of oil in a shortened 2 1/2" tall paper cup. Motor oil is ok. Take the front wheel off and lean the bike on the fork. Submerge the portion of the shifter with the ratchet mechanism for a minute or so. Wipe the shifter and see if the levers work. You may have to shift through the gear range several times. Good luck.

I removed the tape, cable and the handle from the bars and gave it several soakings while shaking and ratcheting each lever. First 2 were very dark and full of dirt and particulate, the last was more of a rinse and was pretty clean. I sprayed some more lube after reattaching the cable then I was able to shift for a few tries but then the levers stopped ratcheting once again.

I am beginning to think it is broken.

Yep! Shoot it full of WD40, no need to take it apart.
Try replacing the cables and cable housings.

Or try brake cleaner, but remove the hoods. Brake cleaner is a strong solvent that can dissolve them.

Say all the postings about WD40 and solvents and really don`t suggesy you try that on the bike. The prime ingredient in WD40 is actually a light mineral oil and all oils and solvents can swell rubber so your brake hoods and anything else in the area need to be removed so why not just take off the shifter?

Tech socuments and a parts list are probably available from Shimano but that doesn`t mean parts are available.I`ve been waiting 6 months for some 2010 parts that were ordered from Shimano so it might be simpler to look around and see if you can find something second-hand and replace the whole unit.

I guess if you want to tinker and are mechanically inclined you could take this one apart. That would be the ideal way to service it anyway. Some of the stuff that might be in there won`t get washed out with a rince anyway. Its ridulous how many spiders think these things are personal condominiums1

Downtube or barends... When my brifters fail, that's where I'm going.. (only one of my bikes has brifters, one with barends and one vintage with downtube)

I know personally of dozens of cases of using WD-40 to flush out gunked up Shimano shifters with the result being the shifters worked just fine indefinitely thereafter. You can analzye all you want about what problems WD-40 might cause, but the reality is that old gunked up shifters can work for years after being flushed with WD-40. In the OP's case, he has 14 year old shifters that don't work. They're not really a serviceable item, at least in terms of most folks' idea of practical thinking. Shifters showing the symptoms the OP's shifters are showing can very often be brought back to life by a simple flushing with WD-40 that takes a few minutes of easy work, and if it does bring them back to life there are no negative affects afterwards, the shifters just work whereas before they did not.

I have a pair of 8-speed Ultegra shifters that hadn't been used in 10-years. They were extremely gunked up. Neither shifter worked. The hoods were also de-vulcanized and very sticky.

I took the shifters off the bars, took the hoods off, sprayed a liberal amount of WD-40 into each shifter and let them sit for an hour. Then I threaded a shift cable into each one and put my foot on the other end of the cable to put tension on it. I then shifted up and down on each shifter probably 30 times. They were both working well at this point so I sprayed more WD-40 in each and let them sit overnight. The next day they were working perfectly and still are a year and a few thousand miles later.

As for the hoods, I made a roughly 1 part simple green to 5 parts hot water solution and let the hoods sit in it for a few hours. I had to weigh them down so they were completely submerged. Then I scrubbed them with a wet towel and let them dry for a few hours. This got the sticky rubber layer off them.

I use WD40 myself. I just don`t agree with spraying or splashing large quantities of it near other parts that it might damage - like tires, brake hoods etc. So I suggested taking the shifter off the bike - which is what I would have done.

And I guess disposable is relative too and very much a personal decision. In a shop where labor costs average $60/hour - lots of perfectly recoverable parts become `disposible` just because its not cost effective to repair them. On the other hand - some people on here have obviously spent a riduculous number of hours polishing $15 aluminum parts because they were restorinh a bike.

I did tech support at the 2010UIC Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships at Mont Ste Anne last year so I`d like to think I`m at least reasonably competant and any advice I post on here is intended to help out and not intended to personally offend anyone.

So I really hope there`s room for more than one opinion on the board otherwise - I`ll simply go skiing instead!

I appreciate everyones effort to help; different points of view are always welcome. The thought of WD-40 ruining the rubber compounds never came to mind, so thanks Burton

Liquified, I will try your suggested idea about removing the cable and applying tension. I already had mine off, and I will be replacing the cables anyway regardless if they work or not. I decided to go with barends, but if I can get them to work they are going on my wife's bike.

Thanks everyone!

Two comments:

1. I've used OMS to soak and, usually, resurrect gunked-up STI brifters. I've always removed the shifters from the bars and detached the cables before soaking them. WD-40 is pretty much OMS with a small amount of synthetic oil added so it's just an expensive way to get the same solvent.

2. If there wasn't room for more than one opinion (often many more) on this forum the traffic here would be 1% of what it is. Your ideas and recommendations are always welcome. Just never expect universal agreement.

It can't be broken if it works, however intermittently. The lack of clicking is down to a stuck pawl.