Spyder shuts off without a reason

Just got my sts home about a week ago. Haven't been able to put many miles on her but I'm trying. My husband took it for a short ride to get lunch and the bike shut down twice on him while at traffic light. All would be fine,he would go to take off and the bike just shut down,like you hit the kill switch. It would start back up without a problem and he could go on his way. This happened 2 times. Hand was no where near the kill switch. Went out for a short ride. Stopped for lunch,then got on the bike and tried to reverse out of the parking space,same thing,bike shut off. Can't find a reason for it. Hubby pulled all panels,fuses etc. He rechecked everything. We are thinking maybe a bad switch? Any ideas?

This could be as simple as a loose ground cable on the battery i would check to see if it has throw any codes if not see your dealer soon.

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Originally Posted by jwhatman

Just got my sts home about a week ago. Haven't been able to put many miles on her but I'm trying. My husband took it for a short ride to get lunch and the bike shut down twice on him while at traffic light. All would be fine,he would go to take off and the bike just shut down,like you hit the kill switch. It would start back up without a problem and he could go on his way. This happened 2 times. Hand was no where near the kill switch. Went out for a short ride. Stopped for lunch,then got on the bike and tried to reverse out of the parking space,same thing,bike shut off. Can't find a reason for it. Hubby pulled all panels,fuses etc. He rechecked everything. We are thinking maybe a bad switch? Any ideas?

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Had this problem too. I went back and forth with BRP until one of the techs told me that they coat the tank with some protective antirust liquid, when the liquid hits the injectors it makes the bike shutdown. Starts right back up with no problem. Run 3-4 tank fulls of good gas and see if it stops. My spyder has a little over 3K miles and has not shut down again after about 1K miles. Now my DPS was acting up and BRP replaced the sensor and magnet. Keeping my fingers crossed. Besides these minor problems, the machine is really great.

Have fun - Big Bad Bob - Georgia

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Originally Posted by mcaccamise

This could be as simple as a loose ground cable on the battery i would check to see if it has throw any codes if not see your dealer soon.

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:agree:Check the screw under the cable on the ground where you would attatch a battery tender.This tends to loosen up causing the symptoms you have.This happened on mine.It is difficult to get to it but once I tightened it up all was well.
ivor:spyder:

Lots of possibilities...loose connection at the battery, loose frame ground, loose main relay, bad DESS module, bad kill switch, water/condensation in the kill switch, bad gas, moisture in the fuel, bad plug wire(s), etc. Best thing would be to see the dealer. It sounds like it is frequent enough to be repeatable for them to find it.

All battery and ground connections are tight and solid, that was the first thing I checked.

Of course it will go to the dealer before the 600 mile service if the problem persists or be noted at the 600 mile service even if it clears.

I suspect a reset is needed since the heated grips replace the entire throttle assembly. I installed all the accessories (radio, Bluetooth, iPod and heated grips) and made 100% sure all connectors, ground straps and battery connections were properly seated and tight. The problem only occurs off idle (0% throttle) which is why I suspect the heated grip assembly. I'm sure they can re-calibrate the throttle with BUDS but the instructions made no mention of that being a requirement.

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Originally Posted by NancysToy

Lots of possibilities...loose connection at the battery, loose frame ground, loose main relay, bad DESS module, bad kill switch, water/condensation in the kill switch, bad gas, moisture in the fuel, bad plug wire(s), etc. Best thing would be to see the dealer. It sounds like it is frequent enough to be repeatable for them to find it.

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no loose connections, no water anywhere on the bike, gas was full from the dealer, plug wires double checked, every connector you can see with the Tupperware off checked and seated, all fuses and relays seated.

Just to clarify the symptoms a bit more, the bike is at operating temp and idling smoothly, no hunting, no slow down or stumble. Then, for no reason it simply stops running as if you hit the kill switch. My wife did have it stall after putting it in gear from a fresh restart and applying throttle but I believe it's the same root cause.

i suspect it's the heated grips, which include a complete throttle assembly, needs to be calibrated to the ECM. I know it does this automatically every time the bike is turned on but the symptoms point to something in the ECM getting a shutdown signal and an out of range reading from the throttle rheostat could cause a shutdown. FYI, I installed the grips as well as the radio, BT and iPod connector, all by the book with no problems. All factory parts done by the book by someone with decades of mechanical and engineering experience.

I decided to check things a bit further this morning and pulled the left side Tupperware. After cycling power to the bike, which sets the throttle body into its cool down mode (the whine you hear after shutdown) I disconnected the throttle body connector. Reconnecting it caused it to do a calibration cycle, going full open then shut, you could hear it cycle. I them powered on the bike and went to WOT then back to zero and you could hear the throttle body cycle at both ends of its swing then settle. I did that 2 more times, on the 3rd cycle the TB didn't cycle, I think the ECM decided it had its constants for zero and WOT. I then started the bike and noticed something that it didn't do before. After it settled on its 1400 RPM idle I opened the throttle and let it close on its own. It pulled back to 2000 rpm the settled back to 1400. Before it would drop all the way to 1400 then hunt a bit for idle. I really think the system needed a TB to throttle re-calibration and what I did forced it to reset the throttle constants. I may be reading more into this than is needed, it's the engineer in me.....

We'll go for another ride today and see if it behaves. If it doesn't then a trip to the dealer (they are only 3 miles down the road) on Tuesday is in order.

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Originally Posted by jwhatman

Just got my sts home about a week ago. Haven't been able to put many miles on her but I'm trying. My husband took it for a short ride to get lunch and the bike shut down twice on him while at traffic light. All would be fine,he would go to take off and the bike just shut down,like you hit the kill switch. It would start back up without a problem and he could go on his way. This happened 2 times. Hand was no where near the kill switch. Went out for a short ride. Stopped for lunch,then got on the bike and tried to reverse out of the parking space,same thing,bike shut off. Can't find a reason for it. Hubby pulled all panels,fuses etc. He rechecked everything. We are thinking maybe a bad switch? Any ideas?

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It started the moment I took my new 2012 RT Limited off the floor. First it was just sitting at lights, then it was shutting down at 70 mph on the highway, but would restart every time. My dealer, Honda of Tulsa, which is fantastic, first swapped out the ignition switch but no change. The fix was changing out the right hand cluster and on the handle bars. It was a bad kill switch.

I'd suspect the fuel, a faulty DESS module, or a faulty kill switch long before I'd suspect the heated grips. I do think you may be reading too much into it. How did you check the connections? If just for tightness it would not be enough if there was an unseated connector pin, an bad wire/connector joint, or moisture in a connector.

I have about 1,000 miles on my ST-S. I have had the bike die for no apparent reason twice. Once in my driveway, while I was opening the garage door at the end of a ride, and once at a stop sign two days ago. I mentioned it to the dealer at first service. It is puzzling, since the bike is running normally and just suddenly dies, just like it was turned off. I have no electrical mods on the bike, with the exception that I had the dealer add a plug in set of wires for a battery tender, which was added to the top accessory battery terminals. One "dying episode" was before this, and one afterward. I wouldn't like having it die at highway speed, since that would also kill the powersteering, and could be dangerous.

Shut off without a reason..?? There has to be a reason...I would really check that throttle assembly. If this started after replacing the heated grip something may have been pinched cut etc..good luck :thumbup:

......this happens when you pushing your Dealer to hurry up with assembly of bike -:shemademe_smilie:

now you dealing with so many variables - that alone must give you a headache

I would suggest to do nothing and let it happen 2 - 3 times again and try to read situation, sometimes problem isn't in the bike but on the bike, no offence - on all occasions you described could have brake pedal engaged while opening throttle - happens

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Originally Posted by NancysToy

I'd suspect the fuel, a faulty DESS module, or a faulty kill switch long before I'd suspect the heated grips. I do think you may be reading too much into it. How did you check the connections? If just for tightness it would not be enough if there was an unseated connector pin, an bad wire/connector joint, or moisture in a connector.

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Scotty,

Understand I'm an engineer, I checked each connector I had access to by removing, inspecting the pins and reseating, it's not a connector, at least none I traced from the throttle connection through the ECM and down to the throttle body. It's not bad gas either, I know the station they use to fill up after the PDI and have a tank full of the same fuel in my BMW, no problems. It's unlikely it's the DESS module, that pretty much takes itself out of the loop once it processes the initial ignition on switch action but I'm sure stranger things have happened.

The initial post here by my wife wasn't so much to ask for a diagnosis but to see if anyone else was reporting the problem and if they had, what they did to resolve it. I'll leave the ultimate diagnostics to the dealer who I'm sure will do their due diligence, they are one of the best Spyder service department in the country, that's one of the reasons we do business with them.

But thanks for the ideas :thumbup:

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Originally Posted by Chupaca

Shut off without a reason..?? There has to be a reason...I would really check that throttle assembly. If this started after replacing the heated grip something may have been pinched cut etc..good luck :thumbup:

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I went back over the entire installation of everything, Radio, Bluetooth and grips, all wires are free and clear and routed exactly as described in the manual. I had the exact same though yesterday and my wife reminded me today that it stalled on me when I was getting ready for a maiden ride around the block the day we picked it up, before I installed anything but I chalked that up to operator error. :thumbup:

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Originally Posted by DragonLorD

......this happens when you pushing your Dealer to hurry up with assembly of bike -:shemademe_smilie:

now you dealing with so many variables - that alone must give you a headache

I would suggest to do nothing and let it happen 2 - 3 times again and try to read situation, sometimes problem isn't in the bike but on the bike, no offence - on all occasions you described could have brake pedal engaged while opening throttle - happens

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The dealer wasn't rushed, they had 3 days to PDI the bike. As for the situation, at it's worst, 2 days ago before I forced a reset of the TPS, I could recreate the stall by riding the bike around the block, pulling onto my garage, getting off the bike and standing in the driveway. 1 or 2 minutes later the bike stops running and I'm 10 feet away. The first time it happened I was sitting in traffic, foot on the brake, hands in my lap listening to the radio. I appreciate where you are coming from but I've already read the situation.

As for the number of variables, this is nothing compared to the complex systems I design on my day job. The Spyder is really a pretty straight forward device, I just lack a system to allow me to peak into the internals whiles it's running.

BTW, holding the brake and applying throttle does not cause the bike to stall. I'm sure it would if this were an SM5 and I let out the clutch just like any manual will stall if you don't use proper clutch control but on an SE5 the centrifugal clutch just slips (and gets hot, that's why it's not a good thing to do....) There's no electronic cutout tied to the brake.


For everyone here I appreciate the thoughts, as does Joyce. We'll let you know what we find after the dealer has time to look it over this week.

The bike is back and it seems to be fixed. Joyce took it for a nice 100 mile ride today with a ton of stop and go traffic and it ran perfectly.

The official diagnosis, after the dealer spent 2 days on the phone with BRP, was a corrupt ECM. The initial BUDS diagnostic reported a number of codes, all of which said "Contact BRP". The Service Manager thanked us for allowing him to get deeper into the ECM than he's ever been before. This wasn't a simple program update, they walked the service manager through a complete ECM wipe and reload using a direct connection to the ECM, not through the CAN BUS port in the front and he needed to do it 3 times before it completed without errors.

Props to Mark at Daytona Fun Machines and BRP engineers for spending the better part of Thursday on the phone with him. Hopefully the book is closed on this. :pray:

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Originally Posted by mjw930

The bike is back and it seems to be fixed. Joyce took it for a nice 100 mile ride today with a ton of stop and go traffic and it ran perfectly.

The official diagnosis, after the dealer spent 2 days on the phone with BRP, was a corrupt ECM. The initial BUDS diagnostic reported a number of codes, all of which said "Contact BRP". The Service Manager thanked us for allowing him to get deeper into the ECM than he's ever been before. This wasn't a simple program update, they walked the service manager through a complete ECM wipe and reload using a direct connection to the ECM, not through the CAN BUS port in the front and he needed to do it 3 times before it completed without errors.

Props to Mark at Daytona Fun Machines and BRP engineers for spending the better part of Thursday on the phone with him. Hopefully the book is closed on this. :pray:

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Been through that one. Kudos to your tech, for first having the good sense and lack of ego to contact BRP dealer tech support, and second for being sharp enough to get through a very ticklish and exacting procedure. I hope this is the last wrinkle for many, many happy miles!

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Originally Posted by DaveNur

Just sounds like a Spyder to me. Funny, I never had any of these problems with my Gold Wing - - EVER!

I am so sorry I traded it off for a Spyder.

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No Comment.

Cruzr Joe

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Originally Posted by Cruzr Joe

No Comment.

Cruzr Joe

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DITTO

Did it display any faults or codes when it happened because mine did the same thing but displayed VSS Fault ..Check DPS ??

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Originally Posted by wrbrown

Did it display any faults or codes when it happened because mine did the same thing but displayed VSS Fault ..Check DPS ??

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No, no codes on the display, only codes read by BUDS.

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Originally Posted by DaveNur

Just sounds like a Spyder to me. Funny, I never had any of these problems with my Gold Wing - - EVER!

I am so sorry I traded it off for a Spyder.

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whatever.......

This is her second Spyder, the first one, an '08 (first model year) was flawless aside from the DRS that was replaced under recall.

We had no concerns buying another. At least our frames never cracked.......

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Originally Posted by wrbrown

Did it display any faults or codes when it happened because mine did the same thing but displayed VSS Fault ..Check DPS ??

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These are warnings, not fault codes. You can pull up active fault codes using different procedures for the RS and RT. The dealer has to pull up past, inactive fault codes using BUDS.