Well last night, my F3 totally let me down. This F3 has had consistent issues since new and has been in the shop several times for repairing the same thing. A check engine light would come on (P0172) and it pointed to a purge valve issue that has now been replaced twice. The check engine light is back on now along with other things after a ride last night. BTW-the last time it came back from the shop, it went into limp home mode after driving it about 500 feet after the delivery driver dropped it off. A really bad omen.

Fast forward to last night. On Friday, I picked up my new Ducati V4S Streetfighter and wanted to get some miles on it. It requires 621 miles (1000 KM) of break in and an oil change before the full power of the engine is available. So a buddy and I decided to get those miles on it and as a chase bike, we took my F3 to carry extra stuff and as a backup if something went wrong with the new Ducati.

After a short stop, with everything that could go wrong without something major falling off, the Spyder came unglued. I got on the Spyder, turned on the key and started the engine. When I put it in gear I got a warning about transmission control failure on the display (SE6) and it actually hadn't gone into gear. I shut off the engine, and tried to re-start it. This time the engine would start but immediately stall when you released the start button. After a couple off attempts, I was able to get the engine to stay running by holding the start button in and revving it up with the starter engaged. At this point I was able to get the transmission into reverse and back up. However I noticed that I had no power steering and I had a red battery warning light on indication that the battery wasn't charging. Looking at the headlight at idle and then revving the engine, it was obvious as the headlight was getting brighter when revved it up so it was charging, it just didn't think it was. So I took it around the block. It also appeared that I had no ABS and/or stability systems but I had no warning lights about them either. When I shifted to second gear, the vehicle slowed down and didn't get throttle back until 24 MPH when it went into limp home mode. When I got back in the driveway, I checked for active codes and there were 10 listed. The only code that wasn't there was my usual P0172. The following codes were there: U3E0C, U0100, P0562, U9001, U0126, C0051, U1150, C1290, U0122 and U1031. I was able to clear the codes and got a green check mark saying no active codes. The vehicle was then drivable in a normal manner and I drove it 50 more miles last night. The check engine light was still on but other than that, there were no issues. This morning I was able to start it with no problems but now in addition to the check engine light, the battery warning light is on. So it is now parked until the dealer can pick it up.

This Spyder has less than 1500 total miles on it. It was a demo that had 300 miles on it when I picked it up. This will be the forth time it has been in the shop and I am getting tired of it. The last time it was in the shop they ran it into something and wiped out the front fender that took additional time to get it back. The failures appear to my untrained eye as a massive failure in the CAN communication system as all the operational failures were in modules that require communication with each other to function. I told them to keep it until they fix it properly and need to get BRP directly involved in the troubleshooting. I also told them if it ever has this kind of failure in the future they can have it back forever and we can settle out the financial mess later. I am not going to own something that is so unreliable that it will put me in the poorhouse in repairs after the factory warranty expires. I know it's buyer beware but the vehicle should still be roadworthy and to be roadworthy means that it isn't going to strand you along the side of that road.

Any thoughts on this or if anyone ever experienced this would be helpful. It looks like this kind of total failure is uncommon but it has happened here.