Check Engine Light

[dltang]

Okay, here's a topic that can have many answers I am sure. Saturday morning my check engine light came on. We checked the manual and it suggested taking the key out and putting it back in and restarting. So that is what we did and it worked. Today, (Monday) on my way to work the light came on again. This time for just a brief second the ABS light flashed on too, I was not braking at the time. I pulled into a parking lot and turned off my spyder and waited and then restarted it. In just a short distance, the check engine light came back on again. I did not go into limp mode, I could not feel anything strange or hear anything strange. It seemed to be running very well. I called the dealership and I will be taking it up there in the AM. Service manager said it should be okay to get home tonight and to the dealership in the morning. The strange thing is that he said he thought it may be the steering is off just by a few degrees and it is the computers way of telling the spyder to stop the constant turning. He said it has happened to one other spyder that came in. No noise or rough running and it comes on when you are running smooth on a straight away. That is exactly what happened to the other one he said. Anyway, I will take it in and he will hook it up to the computer to see what is going on.

My question is this, has anyone else had their check engine light come on and if so, what were the various problems that caused it.

By the way, the oil is fine.

[ld271]

Mine came on to tell me my power steering was out i got fixed but a few weeks later it came on again back to the dealer so this time he showed me how to do a self check to see what was going with my spyder without taking it to the dealer by pushing the switches on the bike i was able to see what the problems with it if was important to call the dealer or drive it there

[czdaryle]

can you tell us what the dealer told you...the sequence of "switches"

[dltang]

can you tell us what the dealer told you...the sequence of "switches"

I won't be going up to the dealer until Wed. morning now. That way, if they need to keep it for some reason, I have time and can get a ride home. But I will definitely post what I find out.

[spyder13]

With the bike running press the mode button on left handle bar till you get it to total hours. hold the mode button in and press the flash headlights switch fast 5 times the self check will read on the speedo screen. If the bike won't start same sequence but just turn key on and hold button on back of right handle bar

[dltang]

I just got back from the dealership and here is what he found. There were only two faults, one was for low voltage. He checked everything and couldn't see where there was any problems with voltage draw. He said that fault code could have occurred even in the prep and set up process. The computer gives faults but not the date of the fault. The second one had to do with the steerig sensor. Evidently my steering was off by 2 degrees and if it is off continually it will eventually affect the DPS. So he corrected that and cleared out all the fault codes. So if anything comes up now, it will be new and fresh and we will be able to get a better idea. He said he had one other Spyder that came in with the steering off and the check engine light on. I know 2 degrees isn't a lot but I guess it is enough to make a difference. I will keep you all updated if the light comes back on or not.

[dbnc]

:congrats: that it was an easy fix and nothing serious..

:bad2thebone: still love the paint job :bigthumbsup:

[dltang]

:congrats: that it was an easy fix and nothing serious..

:bad2thebone: still love the paint job :bigthumbsup:

Thank You!

[Pinkwidow1941]

:congrats: Hey deb. I am glad that it all worked out easily for you. Now we will know how to check the codes and also what to look for if it happens to ours!!!

[Lamonster]

I just got back from the dealership and here is what he found. There were only two faults, one was for low voltage. He checked everything and couldn't see where there was any problems with voltage draw. He said that fault code could have occurred even in the prep and set up process. The computer gives faults but not the date of the fault. The second one had to do with the steerig sensor. Evidently my steering was off by 2 degrees and if it is off continually it will eventually affect the DPS. So he corrected that and cleared out all the fault codes. So if anything comes up now, it will be new and fresh and we will be able to get a better idea. He said he had one other Spyder that came in with the steering off and the check engine light on. I know 2 degrees isn't a lot but I guess it is enough to make a difference. I will keep you all updated if the light comes back on or not.


So what did they do to correct the stearing?

[NancysToy]

Nancy's check engine light came on today, during a ride. Stopped and turned Spyder off for about a minute, then back on, and it was OK. No matter what I do I can't seem to get the self test codes to come up. I have tried the button thing, in several variations that I have read on the forums. Nothing happens. Guess we get a trip to the dealer. They still owe us money and warrantee parts anyway. Hope your problem is gone for good, Deb. Nancy has the handlebar riser, too, and I heard some of them were off considerably. Could be the culprit.
-Scotty

[bjt]

dltang's post was a false alarm, or false hope maybe. She told me just a bit ago that her Check Engine warning came back on. She is going to take it back this weekend. They are pretty confident that whatever fault code is showing now will be the thing that they need to fix. I'll take another look at her TIPZ light wiring to be sure that is connected properly since that is the last thing we connected before she had the problem. Also, we may disconnect the battery for 20 minutes or so to reset the computers.

[dltang]

So what did they do to correct the stearing?


Lamonster I am not sure. I am terrible at remembering the things the mechanic said. He has something that he uses to find the center at zero degrees and then can adjust it the 2 degrees it was off. How I do not know. So sorry.

[dltang]

The saga continues.....I left this morning to go back to the dealer for this check engine light problem. It was not on at all and the bike is running fine. The light only come on intermittently with no rhyme or reason. The brakes and power steering work just fine. After I stopped for fuel and restarted it and took off, there comes that stupid light again. This time the ABS light and the light under it, not sure what it is, flashed briefly, like a short or something. That happened once before too. Then they went off but the check engine light stayed on the whole rest of the way to the dealership, about 25 miles. As I was pulling into the dealership service dept. the VSS fault came on, the ABS fault came on and something that said EBD fault I think. I left it running so that Roger, the service manager could see what it was doing. As he was looking it over and just before I shut her down, the Limp Mode came scrolling across the screen. The bike is running fine, nothing is wrong with anything.

After two hours at the dealership and checking out various things and ruling out various things, it appears to be a problem with the computer in my instrument cluster. When he plugged a different cluster in, there are no faults or anything. He did this a number of times, switching back and forth between the two panels. My original panel almost always came up with various faults and the check engine light, the other panel did not. So far now, I have a different panel in my spyder. If this checks out and I don't get anymore lights or faults they will order me a whole new panel. The one I am using shows 749 miles, a big difference from my 4600 or so miles. The interesting thing is, the hours of usage is still correct. The computer keeps the hours but not the miles. So when my new panel comes in it will show zero miles to start but 115 hours or so. It doesn't matter to me, just so my baby is running nicely and works well. I will keep everyone updated to any changes.

[Napalmseth]

I'm starting to wonder if all the electronic mods are faulting the computers. Is there anyone out there other than me who hasn't done any mods. I know I have yet to have any faults... of course as soon as I say that I'll start it up tonight and have something go wrong :joke:

Just throwing it out there. As I've said in previous posts, I'm mechanically and electronically inept when it comes to this stuff.

[ataDude]

I'm starting to wonder if all the electronic mods are faulting the computers. Is there anyone out there other than me who hasn't done any mods. I know I have yet to have any faults... of course as soon as I say that I'll start it up tonight and have something go wrong :joke:

Just throwing it out there. As I've said in previous posts, I'm mechanically and electronically inept when it comes to this stuff.


I've added lots of stuff. However, I ran a totally new "accessory" wiring harness... front-to-back... powered directly from the battery. The only original circuit I use is the 3 amp accessory fuse to trigger a relay... which powers the new accessory fuse block.

[dltang]

I'm starting to wonder if all the electronic mods are faulting the computers. Is there anyone out there other than me who hasn't done any mods. I know I have yet to have any faults... of course as soon as I say that I'll start it up tonight and have something go wrong :joke:

Just throwing it out there. As I've said in previous posts, I'm mechanically and electronically inept when it comes to this stuff.


The electronic mods are not the problem. We have the powerbus system from Evoluzione which runs power from the battery and all other things are hooked to it. Also, from the service manager to Magic Man to others I talked to, those things wouldn't cause the faults that I was getting. Also, from the information the service guy was getting after hooking up to the computer, it was becoming pretty evident that the problem was in the computer that is actually in the panel cluster itself. As my service manager pointed out, what are the odds that I would lose my VSS, ABS, and power voltage and EBD (not sure about that one) all at once, especially since I didn't have any problems with the bike itself. Don't be afraid of mods, especially the ones that can keep you safer, like the lighting kits. Heck while I was up there, I showed the owner of the dealership all the videos of the lighting mods and he not only wants them, he wants to become a dealer of them. I gave him Magic Man's number.

[Napalmseth]

Like I said... I have no clue. LOL. :joke:

[NancysToy]

EBD (not sure about that one)

Electronic Brake Distribution? Just a guess.

Sorry to hear about this, especially after Nancy's light came on this week, too. We'll see what prevails.

-Scotty

[dltang]

Electronic Brake Distribution? Just a guess.

Sorry to hear about this, especially after Nancy's light came on this week, too. We'll see what prevails.

-Scotty

Her check Engine light came on? I have heard of other problems with the instrument cluster though, so if the bike is not running poorly, make sure your dealer takes that into consideration. I will continue to keep everyone updated. So far with this "new" cluster I have not had any fault lights come on. We will see how it goes.

[NancysToy]

Her check Engine light came on?

Well, I guess it was actually a text display. Turned the Spyder off, then back on, and it went away. Hopefully a momentary glitch, and not a sign of lingering woe.
-Scotty

[bjt]

Back to the new display and what is saved in the display memory, I wonder why the odometer seems like it is stored in the display memory but the hour meter is stored in one of the other computers memory. :dontknow: I also wonder if the service department could somehow preload mileage into a new display. For a sly businessperson, removing mileage from the odometer could be very handy when selling their Spyder. http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Angels_and_Demons/satanic-0052.gif However, some people like myself view the odometer reading as a badge of honor and really wouldn't want to lose that proof of saddle time.

I do know that one other couple we rode with one day had to have their display replaced and their odometer reset to zero. When I saw the mileage on their Spyder, I commented that they were going to be due for the first service shortly. They told me that they were well past that as the display had to be changed out with around 1200 miles on the Spyder.

[NancysToy]

I also wonder if the service department could somehow preload mileage into a new display.

I was just wondering this myself, today as we left the dealership. Somewhere on Can-AmTalk a long while back, somebody hacked into the Spyder computer. Maybe you can find out more from him.
-Scotty

[statrust]

I need some help. I just purchased my 1 st spyder. Rode home from dealership just fine. When I got home I put the parking break on. Kids wanted to go for a ride so I started it back up. I don’t think the parking break fully disengaged and away I went with it still partly on. Now my check engine light is on. Does anyone know what this could be?