F3 Shifting Problems & sticking in Reverse - any ideas?

[HSCRandy]

Hello Fellow Spyder Lovers!
I'll start by saying that I am not good with new technologies, computers, social media, etc. Any idea how many people I am reaching with this communication?
My wife and I both have 2018 F3 LTD SE-6 Spyders. I am in a dilemma about mine that I'm hoping somebody will respond to.....

About 8 times now my Spyder will not shift gears. The first time it got stuck in 1st gear. It simply would not shift into 2nd. I pulled off to the side of the road and tried to figure out what was happening. It didn't throw any codes or warning messages. I shut it down to see if re-starting would do anything. I was able to put it into neutral and reverse. Then it stuck in reverse, and I couldn't get it back into 1st gear. I called my son to bring a trailer and figured I would just back it onto the trailer and take it to a dealer. After about 20 minutes I started it up and it ran fine. No more problems for about a week.

The next time I had problems it got stuck in 2nd gear. I could not get it to shift into 3rd gear. Again, pulled to the side of the road, played around with the gears and got it stuck in reverse again. It would not go into 1st gear. I was about 1/2 mile from home. I drove home in reverse. After letting it sit for a while everything was fine. It shifted fine.

This has happened a handful of times since then. I took it to a local Can Am dealer. It got stuck in 2nd gear on the way to the dealership. I was very fearful that my Spyder would not act up for them so that they could properly diagnose it. This is exactly what happened. Four different test drives (1 of them riding very aggressively). Shifting worked fine. The dealership said that they did some re-learning of the gears with the computer (I don't know what that means) and this probably resolved the problem.

I drove it around on a few "in town" trips and didn't have any problem. I trailered it down to Colorado to do some riding. It worked great the first day. The second day it got stuck in 2nd gear, but it only took about a few minutes before it started working again. We went to Silverton and after being parked for a while, I put it into reverse and backed out of the parking stall. It would not shift into 1st gear, nor would it shift back into reverse. By turning off the Spyder, I could get it into neutral. I tried disconnecting the battery to see if that might possibly re-set something. It didn't help. After about 20 minutes it started working again, and it ran fine the 60 miles back to our base camp.

I'm worried about getting stranded. Any ideas what the problem might be or what to do????

Somebody please respond?!

Sincerely and Gratefully,
HSCRandy

[3Tyme]

I'm no expert, but try doing a search for "gear position sensor", you'll get several posts with shifting problems (lots of reading), some like yours, some not. It may help you find the problem. Good Luck, let us know what you find out.

[BertRemington]

90% likelihood it's your LHS. This was a problem for your year. I believe BRP will replace the switch -- maybe BRP provides the part and you pay the labor. Anyway search for 2018 gear shifting or 2018 LHS problems. You should find at least 100 posts.

[BajaRon]

There are a few things that can create this issue. Some have already been mentioned. There is a bracket, which hangs disturbingly low, on the left side below the front pulley. If it gets bent at all it can give you shifting grief. It is easy to damage this bracket when loading on a trailer or hitting road debris, etc. As I said, it doesn't take much bend to create issues with shifting. Something to check.

[ottawa-rider]

What BertRemington said, the 2018's were known to have an issue with the shifter paddle on the left hand handlebar module.

[Peter Aawen]

This thread below might help....


https://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/...t%3B+%2Bmodule

[cjr00]

I have a 2018 F3 LTD also that had the same issue. The dealership replaced the left hand switch module. ( at least that's what I think it is called) There was a Technical Service Bulletin put out on it a while ago you should be able to find on the internet. Good luck.

[Peter Aawen]

Hmmm, ya gotta wonder about some of these new members and their questions - the OP joined & despite the warning from SpyderBOT NOT to post support questions in the Welcome sub-forum, didn't bother reading that but instead immediately posted the opening post of this thread in there....

I put up a post explaining why it wouldn't help posting it in there pretty much straight away; gave a brief response to his question; and told him that as soon as I could, I'd transfer his post/question out here into its own thread & I'd send a PM with a link to where it ended up. That post never got read; the PM never got read; the OP has never looked at this thread...

In fact, after being in such an all fired hurry to ask the question, the OP has never even bothered to come back to the Forum and have a look to see if anyone ever answered. It seems the only time they were interested enough to come onto the Forum was to post the question in the opening post and then abandon it!! Why bother asking if you're not going to even try to look at the answers people have shared?!

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Hmmm, ya gotta wonder about some of these new members and their questions - the OP joined & despite the warning from SpyderBOT NOT to post support questions in the Welcome sub-forum, didn't bother reading that but instead immediately posted the opening post of this thread in there....

I put up a post explaining why it wouldn't help posting it in there pretty much straight away; gave a brief response to his question; and told him that as soon as I could, I'd transfer his post/question out here into its own thread & I'd send a PM with a link to where it ended up. That post never got read; the PM never got read; the OP has never looked at this thread...

In fact, after being in such an all fired hurry to ask the question, the OP has never even bothered to come back to the Forum and have a look to see if anyone ever answered. It seems the only time they were interested enough to come onto the Forum was to post the question in the opening post and then abandon it!! Why bother asking if you're not going to even try to look at the answers people have shared?!

He was worried about getting stranded ..... maybe He is ..... if any members see Him pass on Peter's last post ...... Mike

[bikerchris1270]

Hello Fellow Spyder Lovers!
I'll start by saying that I am not good with new technologies, computers, social media, etc. Any idea how many people I am reaching with this communication?
My wife and I both have 2018 F3 LTD SE-6 Spyders. I am in a dilemma on mine that I'm hoping somebody will respond to.....

About 8 times now my Spyder will not shift gears. The first time it got stuck in 1st gear. It simply would not shift into 2nd. I pulled off to the side of the road and tried to figure out what was happening. It didn't throw any codes or warning messages. I shut it down to see if re-starting would do anything. I was able to put it in neutral and reverse. Then it stuck in reverse and I couldn't get it back into 1st gear. I called my son to bring a trailer and figured I would just back it onto the trailer and take it to a dealer. After about 20 minutes I started it up and it ran fine. No more problems for about a week.

The next time I had problems it got stuck in 2nd gear. I could not get it to shift into 3rd gear. Again, pulled to the side of the road, played around with the gears and got it stuck in reverse again. It would not go into 1st gear. I was about 1/2 mile from home. I drove home in reverse. After letting it sit for awhile everything was fine. It shifted fine.

This has happened a handful of times since then. I took it to a local Can AM dealer. It got stuck in 2nd gear on the way to the dealership. I was very fearful that my Spyder would not act up for them so that they could properly diagnose it. This is exactly what happened. Four different test drives (1 of them riding very aggressively). Shifting worked fine. The dealership said that they did some re-learning of the gears with the computer (I don't know what that means) and this probably resolved the problem.

I drove it around on a few "in town" trips and didn't have any problem. I trailered it down to Colorado to do some riding. It worked great the first day. The second day it got stuck in 2nd gear but it only took about a few minutes before it started working again. We went to Silverton and after being parked for awhile I put it into reverse and backed out of the parking stall. It would not shift into 1st gear, nor would it shift into reverse. By turning off the Spyder I could get it into neutral. I tried disconnecting the battery to see if that might possibly re-set something. It didn't help. After about 20 minutes it started working again and it ran fine the 60 miles back to our base camp.

I'm worried about getting stranded. Any ideas what the problem might be or what to do????

Somebody please respond!

Sincerely and Gratefully,
HSCRandy

There is a Technical Service Bulletin out there that addresses failure of the Left Hand paddle shifter switch housing on your handle bars for no shifting issues. Part # 71000891…..$500.