1st. PROBLEM WITH MY RT!!!

[Mad Mac]

Well how do I start this? So after a weekend ride I decided to give "CASPER" a bath, when I was finished I took him for a ride to blow the water off and out. I manually hit the susp. toggle to lower the firmness since I rode it two-up with the wife and noticed that the indicator d/n change. Went back to the garage and put it in gear and applied the brake and hit the switch, nothing. So I went to the fuse box and found the appropriate fuse and changed it, nothing. OHM checked the relay and found it had only 12-15 ohms of resistance which I d/n feel was excessive. Soooo I called the dealer. Took said machine in for the issue and they put it on B.U.D.S and they told me I had 33 codes (28 active & 5 inactive). They were able to clear the inactive codes but could not clear the active ones. The fix was to replace the ECM and the VCM due to the fact they were not "communicating" with each other. Parts cost is $530. and $918.00 plus 7.5 hrs. of labor ($757.00). Now riddle me this batmen, I have almost 17,000 miles on this machine and have had 0 issues, no blinking lights, no weird sounds, no drivability issues (MPG has improved also), no "LIMP HOME" modes, "NANNY" kicks in when I get a little HOT in a corner or two, Machine runs great, lights work, no issues pulling trailer, all works as advertised. Wouldn't you think if I have 2 computers not able to "talk" to each other, the machine wouldn't even start! Much less go on a 5000 mile trip with not even a hiccup. Oh and when they brought the machine back out to me the ACS was working as advertised. And they did nothing more than hook it up to their laptop!!!!! I think CASPER (wife named it) has a real ghost located within. List of codes are as follows: c006c,c0061,c0062,u0100,u0122,u0128,u0259. That's my story and I guess I'll stick with it. Just was wondering if any of you have had this problem(s)? I guess I'll just ride it until it leaves us on the side of the road somewhere then I'll set it on fire to keep me and the wife warm if we spend the night in the desert some place, I guess once were warm I could also cook a rattler or two before the fire burns out!!! (P.S. B.E.S.T. warranty ran out on Jan 1st. of this year).

[DGoebel]

Darned electronics, I have a '13 with 12k miles, and had the right side kill switch go bad.. Hope yours is cured for good and will run as good if not better after the repairs.

[2loves]

Sorry to hear of your costly problem earlier this year. i had a very costly ignition problem with my 2014 rt limited last year. Though i bought my Spyder from dealer with 10k on it i have a five year warranty to cover those costly repair. Sounds like u had a short warranty period.

[JP58]

Where are these computers located that would take 7.5 hours to replace?

[ARtraveler]

Maybe get a second opinion if there are other dealers in the area. Most techs do not know diddly squat when it comes to dealing with computer problems. A bummer for sure.

[UtahPete]

What a rotten experience. I hope the rest of the time you have the bike it will serve you well and not break the bank.

[Roadster Renovations]

Definitely get a second opinion. Doesn't sound right with that many codes and no lights on at all. That just doesn't usually happen.
One thought though. Could be a loose connection going to the ECM. It would make sense that water would affect it.

[trikermutha]

Original OLD OP. 6/2017

ECM is easy to change VCM is more involved.

[Mad Mac]

Well it's been awhile and figured I would post my end of season results. Put another 3,000+ miles on the machine and have had absolutely no issues with it. I got a 2nd opinion from the dealer we bought it from and the tech. flashed the trans. and motor updates, checked for codes, which there were none, buttoned it back up and sent me on my way. Tech told me that the other dealer must have wanted me to buy a new ride because he could not find any issues with this one. So like I said in my original post, I'll just ride it!!

[2dogs]

My wife's Jeep's charging system quit charging. Took it to the dealer. They said bad ECM and replaced it to the tune of $3.500. Of course they had also charged up the battery. Almost got home and the headlights started to go dim. I charged the battery back up and took it to another repair shop. Problem was a disintegrated plastic wire connector on the back of the alternator. My wife, to say the very least, was HOTER THAN A PISTOL about the matter. She went back to the dealer and raised such WHOLLY HELL that they refunded her $3,000. I asked her where was the other $500? She said it was complicated and didn't want to stay there any longer to wrangle the rest out of manager. Yes, second opinions are well advised.

[Mad Mac]

My wife's Jeep's charging system quit charging. Took it to the dealer. They said bad ECM and replaced it to the tune of $3.500. Of course they had also charged up the battery. Almost got home and the headlights started to go dim. I charged the battery back up and took it to another repair shop. Problem was a disintegrated plastic wire connector on the back of the alternator. My wife, to say the very least, was HOTER THAN A PISTOL about the matter. She went back to the dealer and raised such WHOLLY HELL that they refunded her $3,000. I asked her where was the other $500? She said it was complicated and didn't want to stay there any longer to wrangle the rest out of manager. Yes, second opinions are well advised.

When I got home from the 1st. stealership and told my wife, I was glad she wasn't "pack'in" because she would have put a double-tap thru the heart of the darn thing! The only thing I could think of was that during the BUDS check, the 1st. tech. might of had some old codes stored in the memory. I was at a loss, but I did notice that their wasn't any customers in the showroom or not much going on in the service area so maybe that should have been my first clue. Mad Mac

[DGoebel]

Mad MAC, Thanks for the follow-up! Too often we only get the initial problem and never get the full story. Hope to see you out on the WI/MN roads someday!, Maybe Spyder Spin or Rendezvous!

[x1050er]

What dealers did you go to?? I'm in Wisconsin too and want to avoid the one you went to!! Thanks

[ChrisK]

My thought as I read the initial post went something like 'gosh I hope they got a second opinion'...

With any brand, there are snakes and there are honest, hard working people that are make their living with a service type business. As others have said, my red flag came up with 30 some odd codes and you, they owner never had seen any. If there is a next time I'm sure you will seek service elsewhere. My wife and I have a 'pair' of these beasts and no warrenty so we do tend to worry a bit about some of the problems that can show up with these machines.

One of my longer term solutions is to attach a winch to my 'Harley trailer' so that if we get into a 'it died' situation we can load offending Spyder and haul it ourselves. This should be accomplished before spring. It also gives us some flexibility in moving it from one dealer to another.

As a bit of explanation, our Harley is a '75 and shovel heads sometimes quit for no logical reason. The good news is that ours never has!

[youngers]

Where are these computers located that would take 7.5 hours to replace?

sounds like those computers were 8 hours away , from the actual cycle

[youngers]

took a quick read , and the sentence " The fix was to replace the ECM and the VCM due to the fact they were not "communicating" with each other. Parts cost is $530. and $918.00 plus 7.5 hrs. of labor ($757.00). Now riddle me this batmen, I have almost 17,000 miles on this machine and have had 0 issues, no blinking lights, no weird sounds, no drivability issues " was the big alarm going off in your brain . glad you did not let them have at your machine . a lot of " auto parts and auto repair people out in the world who have no clue what the deal is with codes . glad your machine is still humming along !

[bboley]

What dealers did you go to?? I'm in Wisconsin too and want to avoid the one you went to!! Thanks

Yes, please let us know what Stealership this was!

[Mad Mac]

What dealers did you go to?? I'm in Wisconsin too and want to avoid the one you went to!! Thanks

I went to Ecklunds in Appleton because I wanted to try to find a dealer closer than the one we bought it from in Menomenee Mi., but I ended up taking it back up to them because I did trust their tech. Very computer savvy and was a Master BRP Tech. and D/N have any issue with me hanging out in the shop while he did his work (I can be a real PITA when it comes to my vehicles). Mad Mac

[x1050er]

Thanks.... I'll stay out of that one!!!

[Mad Mac]

My thought as I read the initial post went something like 'gosh I hope they got a second opinion'...

With any brand, there are snakes and there are honest, hard working people that are make their living with a service type business. As others have said, my red flag came up with 30 some odd codes and you, they owner never had seen any. If there is a next time I'm sure you will seek service elsewhere. My wife and I have a 'pair' of these beasts and no warrenty so we do tend to worry a bit about some of the problems that can show up with these machines.

One of my longer term solutions is to attach a winch to my 'Harley trailer' so that if we get into a 'it died' situation we can load offending Spyder and haul it ourselves. This should be accomplished before spring. It also gives us some flexibility in moving it from one dealer to another.

As a bit of explanation, our Harley is a '75 and shovel heads sometimes quit for no logical reason. The good news is that ours never has!

Yes I did get that "2nd opinion" and glad I did. I tried to be a Harley Man back in '03. I really liked the twin cam when it came out in '99 and I tried to make a deal on an Ultra, but the dealer would not cut us any slack and $60.00 broke the deal. We were paying almost $30G for the bike and I wanted it delivered to our hose because it was March and the roads were still covered in salt and he wanted the $60.00 to haul it 35 miles to my house. Long story short, he wasn't making enough money off the sale of a fully loaded, all the bells and whistles bike!! So we bought our Wing from the same dealer we got our Spyder from, and that is how that works! Mad Mac

[Mad Mac]

sounds like those computers were 8 hours away , from the actual cycle

The 7.5 hour labor cost was due to the VCM was located in front of the motor and all the body work and frunk had to come off, that is what I was told anyway. The machine has been very reliable up to this point. We've been on a couple of 5,000 mile trips and all I've done is clean the bugs off the windshield and put gas in it. That my friend is how I like to do my trips and since I got that 2nd opinion, I got rid of that "monkey-on-my-back" and I can enjoy the ride. Mad Mac

[MRH]

Bad batteries and bad battery connections can cause all sorts of ghost issues, at least based on stories I've read here. Just a possibility.

[sylvester]

my brother had a problem with the lights, turned out fuse had gotten wet during rain storm caused fuse to blow this is a 17 model, so we used electric grease spray on all fuses and panels did the same to my 17, you may have to check yours and clean and spray

[Mad Mac]

my brother had a problem with the lights, turned out fuse had gotten wet during rain storm caused fuse to blow this is a 17 model, so we used electric grease spray on all fuses and panels did the same to my 17, you may have to check yours and clean and spray

I drilled a couple of small drain holes in the fuse box covers(2ea.) and have never found any moisture in them. Mad Mac

[Mad Mac]

Bad batteries and bad battery connections can cause all sorts of ghost issues, at least based on stories I've read here. Just a possibility.

Check battery connections when I remove the battery tender QD plug at the beginning of the riding season, so that issue has ever surfaced. Mad Mac