2018 F3L Air Suspension Not Working

[ChicagoSpyder]

Was out riding two up with my wife last night and the ride confirmed what I suspected on my last few solo rides, the rear suspension is dead as a door nail.
Is there anything easy I can troubleshoot and repair before taking it in to dealer for service? The good news is it's under warranty and I have to get it to a dealer 100 miles away to do a tire change, the issue is I would like to ride today and tomorrow but I was absolutely cringing everytime I knew we were going to hit some imperfections in the pavement and we have a lot of that on our crummy northern Illinois roads.

[bikerchris1270]

Was out riding two up with my wife last night and the ride confirmed what I suspected on my last few solo rides, the rear suspension is dead as a door nail.
Is there anything easy I can troubleshoot and repair before taking it in to dealer for service? The good news is it's under warranty and I have to get it to a dealer 100 miles away to do a tire change, the issue is I would like to ride today and tomorrow but I was absolutely cringing everytime I knew we were going to hit some imperfections in the pavement and we have a lot of that on our crummy northern Illinois roads.

Make sure the actuator arm is connected between height sensor and rear lower suspension arm.
Check to make sure air supply tubing is intact and routed properly to air bag and compressor.

[pauly1]

SpyderDeb''s 2018 F3-L recently had issues: the ride height sensor had to be reset. Now it works as intended. Need BUDS2 and two blocks to set min and max. The whole process took about 15 minutes once I had the blocks cut (wood), including time to hook up the computer and troubleshoot/manually activate the pump.

[Ex-Rocket]

You would think that if your rear air shock isn't working properly that it would throw an error code on your display. But I guess the Spyder has enough sensors as it is.

[Peter Aawen]

Try adding some air manually via the Schraeder valve under the seat (is it under the front or rear seat on F3's?? ) Don't put too much in, they max out VERY quickly, so maybe a second or two of shop air or a gas station's air hose; or saaay, 30 to 50 psi...

If it's just leaked all the air out slowly over time, as many do, so that now there's no air in the bag at all, generally you'll get a 'Manual' warning light up in the 'how full' column on the dash (do F3's get that?? ) in which case even just 5psi of air will be enough to get the auto part of the ACS working again. BUT, if all the air has leaked out via pin-prick holes in the bottom of the bag caused by fine dirt collecting under it's base & wearing thru; thru leaky air-line 'press to release' joints; or if it's got a jammed &/or dodgy inflate/deflate non-return valve then it's not really going to matter how much air pressure you put into it!

If it's struck a leak somewhere as in the latter examples above, sorry, but it's gonna be a 'pull it all apart & open it up' job, and if you don't do it sooner rather than later, there's a good chance you'll burn out the compressor eventually... if it hasn't already!

If you do get to the stage of opening it up, some find it easier to simply run a hose direct from the Schraeder valve to the top of the air bag, and then never worry about the auto bit not working/failing/burning out the compressor ever again! However, there are others who've upgraded either part of or the entire system, fitting better quality air-lines, joiners, valves, & even compressors - the only thing most don't change is the connections to the computer & therefore the OE ACS - but there are also some who've completely by-passed that to run a fully autonomous air-bag ride height setting system with separate on-dash controls.... some have even added bags up front too!

Good Luck whichever way you choose to go!

[ChicagoSpyder]

Make sure the actuator arm is connected between height sensor and rear lower suspension arm.
Check to make sure air supply tubing is intact and routed properly to air bag and compressor.

SpyderDeb''s 2018 F3-L recently had issues: the ride height sensor had to be reset. Now it works as intended. Need BUDS2 and two blocks to set min and max. The whole process took about 15 minutes once I had the blocks cut (wood), including time to hook up the computer and troubleshoot/manually activate the pump.

Try adding some air manually via the Schraeder valve under the seat (is it under the front or rear seat on F3's?? ) Don't put too much in, they max out VERY quickly, so maybe a second or two of shop air or a gas station's air hose; or saaay, 30 to 50 psi...

If it's just leaked all the air out slowly over time, as many do, so that now there's no air in the bag at all, generally you'll get a 'Manual' warning light up in the 'how full' column on the dash (do F3's get that?? ) in which case even just 5psi of air will be enough to get the auto part of the ACS working again. BUT, if all the air has leaked out via pin-prick holes in the bottom of the bag caused by fine dirt collecting under it's base & wearing thru; thru leaky air-line 'press to release' joints; or if it's got a jammed &/or dodgy inflate/deflate non-return valve then it's not really going to matter how much air pressure you put into it!

If it's struck a leak somewhere as in the latter examples above, sorry, but it's gonna be a 'pull it all apart & open it up' job, and if you don't do it sooner rather than later, there's a good chance you'll burn out the compressor eventually... if it hasn't already!

If you do get to the stage of opening it up, some find it easier to simply run a hose direct from the Schraeder valve to the top of the air bag, and then never worry about the auto bit not working/failing/burning out the compressor ever again! However, there are others who've upgraded either part of or the entire system, fitting better quality air-lines, joiners, valves, & even compressors - the only thing most don't change is the connections to the computer & therefore the OE ACS - but there are also some who've completely by-passed that to run a fully autonomous air-bag ride height setting system with separate on-dash controls.... some have even added bags up front too!

Good Luck whichever way you choose to go!

Thanks for the info guys! Didn't get to it yet, but I will be calling the dealer tomorrow to schedule service for tires and the suspension, meanwhile I'll pull the seat/seats and take your info to see if I can detect the issue as I always like to go into a repair shop with a good idea of what needs to be fixed.

[pauly1]

On the F3-L there isn't a Schrader valve under the seat as the air line goes directly to the pump, which is behind several layers of plastic panels.

BUDS2 can activate the pump manually to verify function. The on-board air pump will not pump up the suspension in automatic mode until the engine is running and the bike is in gear; I'm sure there is logic to that. I don't remember the fuse or relay ID for the suspension

[Mikey]

On the F3-L there isn't a Schrader valve under the seat as the air line goes directly to the pump, which is behind several layers of plastic panels.

BUDS2 can activate the pump manually to verify function. The on-board air pump will not pump up the suspension in automatic mode until the engine is running and the bike is in gear; I'm sure there is logic to that. I don't remember the fuse or relay ID for the suspension

Your are absolutely right, they have changed it up a little on that one, the Schrader valve has been taken out! If I had one of those that would change in short fashion! That whole systems great when they work, but sucks when it don't! Manuel fill is the way to go in my book, set it and forget it!