Quote Originally Posted by Gwolf View Post
Get the proper maintenance manual for the year and model. Not the Owner's Manual, the Shop Manual, which has the specific procedures for almost all mechanical, electrical, and other problems. The Shop Manual is expensive, but not compared to an hour at the dealership.

Find the trouble shooting section for your problem and go through all the potential problems that cause the malfunction. The manual has many pictures of the parts affected, and how to correct them.

You don't have to be a factory mechanic to work on anything. If you can read a manual and turn a wrench, you can fix just about anything there is.

A lot of working on machinery is just a matter of confidence in yourself. The more you do it, the more confidence you gain.

You will probably be better off doing the job yourself, because the dealerships often create as many problems as they solve.

I have been working on my own motorcycles all my life, and the Spyder for the last 4 years. Never ran into a problem on it so far that meant that BUDS was even needed. It is not required for most problems you will be fixing. A Multimeter and a 12-volt test light will usually be enough.
I've been twisting a wrench since I was a little bitty dude. I learned the basics of how an internal combustion engine works in Job Corps. Worked as an apprentice mechanic in a lumber yard before I joined the service. Working on cars became a hobby only after that. I purchased a shop manual Some if not all of the procedures for troubleshooting shifting problems require BUDS. I checked all the fuses first. They were all good. I removed the gear shifting rod from the gear shifting lever and got the transmission to shift. That showed me the problem was in the shifting system, not the transmission. I replaced the paddle shifter by tracing the wiring harness to where it plugs in, unplugging it and plugging a new one in. I didn't mention my LCD display doesn't display anything. I can't retrieve any codes that might point me in the right direction. The TCM controls the HCM. I was an electronics technician in the Navy but that was 40 years ago. The electronics on these bikes require someone with a lot more knowledge than me to troubleshoot.