Engine stall with SE5

[dguisinger]

My week old RS-S SE5 stalled yesterday when taking it from reverse to first when I applied throttle it sputtered and died. No messages or indication of anything wrong on the display. Has anyone else seen this? I have noticed at times while changing gears the throttle seemed to get a sputtering response momentarily, though I haven't figured out if it was my grip or the bike

I did wash the spyder a few hours before i went to ride it, and it was less than 30 seconds into the engine run that it killed. Could the wash have caused it?

[Fire Joe]

My week old RS-S SE5 stalled yesterday when taking it from reverse to first when I applied throttle it sputtered and died. No messages or indication of anything wrong on the display. Has anyone else seen this? I have noticed at times while changing gears the throttle seemed to get a sputtering response momentarily, though I haven't figured out if it was my grip or the bike

I did wash the spyder a few hours before i went to ride it, and it was less than 30 seconds into the engine run that it killed. Could the wash have caused it?

Not saying this is the case but my 08 GS does sputter a bit when changing gears only if it's still cold (engine temp). I usually try to wait for at least 1 bar on the temp gauge before I take off to ride.

Did forget to mention though that mine is an SM5. I am not familiar or knowledgeable enough about the SE5s.

[SpyderAndy]

I have had an RS SE5 for about a month. I have not had any issue with reverse to first but I have had the hesitation with shifting. You are most likely shifting too soon. The SE5 will let you shift around 3000 RPM but its right on the edge of the clutch and you will get a hesitation. You will find that it will shift much smother if you hold off shifting until you get to 4000 RPMs or better.

[dguisinger]

I have had an RS SE5 for about a month. I have not had any issue with reverse to first but I have had the hesitation with shifting. You are most likely shifting too soon. The SE5 will let you shift around 3000 RPM but its right on the edge of the clutch and you will get a hesitation. You will find that it will shift much smother if you hold off shifting until you get to 4000 RPMs or better.

Thats good to know, so maybe the hesitations I get are separate from this stall?
The engine shouldn't kill from shifting the semi-automatic, correct?

[daveinva]

Not saying this is the case but my 08 GS does sputter a bit when changing gears only if it's still cold (engine temp). I usually try to wait for at least 1 bar on the temp gauge before I take off to ride.

:agree:

The SE5 needs to warm up a bit to work best. If I don't have at least 1 bar on the temp, the engine will knock and stutter. Just a little bit, but enough to know it needs to warm up a bit more.

That may not have caused your stall, but it's good advice to follow regardless. I start my bike *before* I do my walk-around check, helmet, gloves, etc. Plenty of time for it to warm up.

[skeetshooter]

When my sm sits out in sun for a few hr's it will run on 1 cylinder for about 50 ft then it starts running 2.It will stall if if i'm not careful.

[DiverChix]

:agree:

The SE5 needs to warm up a bit to work best. If I don't have at least 1 bar on the temp, the engine will knock and stutter. Just a little bit, but enough to know it needs to warm up a bit more.

That may not have caused your stall, but it's good advice to follow regardless. I start mybike *before* I do my walk-around check, helmet, gloves, etc. Plenty of time for it to warm up.
:agree: I have had my SE5 for 3 weeks, and she has stalled one time. I didn't warm her up in the morning. It stalled pulling out of my court. I let her warm up for about 30 more seconds and I have not had this happen again (2,700 miles).

[SporterSpider]

I have 2010 RS SE5 with 6000 miles on it. It always stalls 2-4 times when I am warming it up. I let it get to 2 bars on the temp gauge after that the Spyder runs fine.

[Questions]

I have a 2009 RS SE5 and mine does the same stall every now and then. It only does it once, and only before it warms up.

Sent from my SCH-I800 using Tapatalk 2

[dguisinger]

Okay, sounds fairly common then... next question.... being new to riding anything, is this a common motorcycle problem where you need to let the engine warm up, or did BRP screw up?

[tobor9]

Strange!! We have two:spyder2:'s both are 2011,a RT-S and a RS and we never wait to let them warm up! They are both kept in a garage and we live in the south,but we just start them and ryde,only time we ever had her RT stall was when we first got them and was learning to ryde.Maybe we are just lucky:yes:

[Y-me]

I wouldn't worry about it during break in.
I'd mention it to the dealer though.

Y

[dguisinger]

I wouldn't worry about it during break in.
I'd mention it to the dealer though.

Y

Speaking of break-in. How critical is the 600mi timing for the warranty?
I'll be hitting 600mi tomorrow after only 10 days... I need to wait until mid june to afford the stupid tune-up

[Big Iron]

I had been riding my 09 SM5, I stopped for a few minutes,, started it right back up went about 1/4 mile, went to give it more throttle it started sputtering, the oil light came on and woundn't go any faster. I pulled over cut it off, and then re-started it,,, no problem. Later that day same thing happened again. I had just had my oil changed a couple of days before!!

[NancysToy]

I had been riding my 09 SM5, I stopped for a few minutes,, started it right back up went about 1/4 mile, went to give it more throttle it started sputtering, the oil light came on and woundn't go any faster. I pulled over cut it off, and then re-started it,,, no problem. Later that day same thing happened again. I had just had my oil changed a couple of days before!!
That one sounds more like bad gas. I'd try some Marine Stabil or Seafoam. Could have been something damaged during the service, though, if you think so, see the dealer and have him make things right.

[dguisinger]

I asked a tech at my dealer about the stall. I know less about the sensor names and what not, so I'm paraphrasing.

Essentially it came down to this:
There is a sensor that watches the automatic transmission gear speeds.
As you hit 2000RPM and the transmission does a downshift, it electronically kicks in about 300 extra RPM to make a smooth shift by adjusting the throttle behind the scenes.

During the first minute or so while the on-board computer is initializing things and double checking different systems on the bike, it is not yet ready to adjust the throttle during a shift.

So it has something to do with the state of the computer, the sensor in the gear box, and the computer control of the throttle.

He didn't say whether the engine physically stalls, or whether the computer just shuts it off. But he said he can pretty much duplicate it on demand with any SE5 spyder.

[docdoru]

I asked a tech at my dealer about the stall. I know less about the sensor names and what not, so I'm paraphrasing.

Essentially it came down to this:
There is a sensor that watches the automatic transmission gear speeds.
As you hit 2000RPM and the transmission does a downshift, it electronically kicks in about 300 extra RPM to make a smooth shift by adjusting the throttle behind the scenes.

During the first minute or so while the on-board computer is initializing things and double checking different systems on the bike, it is not yet ready to adjust the throttle during a shift.

So it has something to do with the state of the computer, the sensor in the gear box, and the computer control of the throttle.

He didn't say whether the engine physically stalls, or whether the computer just shuts it off. But he said he can pretty much duplicate it on demand with any SE5 spyder.

Interesting explanation :doorag:

[gelaw]

That explanation doesn't sound quite right. Although the computer is slow, it's not that slow. IF the problem is related to the electronics, it is more likely a sensor that is on the edge.
This doesn't happen to me and I would suggest it s not " normal" or we would all be experiencing this.
Bad gas is still more likely.

[NancysToy]

I'm confused! Are we talking a stall or a hesitation? A stall is when the engine quits completely and needs to be restarted. A hesitation can be a lag, misfire, or even the nanny kicking in. Cranking up the throttle suddenly on a cold engine can produce a lag (lack of response), but seldom will kill the engine. The dealer sounds like he is describing a bobble or hesitation, not the engine quitting completely. I can buy that explanation for a hesitation, but not for a complete stall. If your engine quits completely, it needs to be looked into. The dealer's explanation will not cut it for that circumstance. "They all do it" wasn't a satisfactory explanation for your mother, and it should not be for you.

[dguisinger]

That explanation doesn't sound quite right. Although the computer is slow, it's not that slow. IF the problem is related to the electronics, it is more likely a sensor that is on the edge.
This doesn't happen to me and I would suggest it s not " normal" or we would all be experiencing this.
Bad gas is still more likely.

I'm not saying the computer is too slow, maybe the computer is waiting on a particular sensor to read something before it enables the throttle control during shifting. The tech said he knew how to reproduce the issue in the shop almost on demand.

[dguisinger]

I'm confused! Are we talking a stall or a hesitation? A stall is when the engine quits completely and needs to be restarted. A hesitation can be a lag, misfire, or even the nanny kicking in. Cranking up the throttle suddenly on a cold engine can produce a lag (lack of response), but seldom will kill the engine. The dealer sounds like he is describing a bobble or hesitation, not the engine quitting completely. I can buy that explanation for a hesitation, but not for a complete stall. If your engine quits completely, it needs to be looked into. The dealer's explanation will not cut it for that circumstance. "They all do it" wasn't a satisfactory explanation for your mother, and it should not be for you.


We are talking about a complete kill of the engine less than 30 seconds after starting after shifting from R to N to 1 as soon as i touched the throttle. no engine lights, it didn't record it in the computer, the computer actually stayed on. I just had to restart the engine and things worked fine.

[NancysToy]

We are talking about a complete kill of the engine less than 30 seconds after starting after shifting from R to N to 1 as soon as i touched the throttle. no engine lights, it didn't record it in the computer, the computer actually stayed on. I just had to restart the engine and things worked fine.
That is a stall, and I don't buy the tech's explanation. If waiting a few seconds for the Spyder to warm up is a good work-around, that's fine. If it happens at other times, it is a little scary. Either way, it really needs to be addressed either by the tech or by BRP.