What does it feel like when the Nanny takes over?

[Snoking1127]

I installed my new H&R springs and did a 145 ride one-up, and it handled fine. Yesterday we did a two-up ride, and the steering was doing strange things in corners. It was like for a moment it felt like the steering was locked and did not want to change with my input. Was this the Nanny taking over????? Or do I have a power steering issue?

Additional note: I recently also did brake pads on all three corners. Will be doing the normal checks again today, and tire air pressure, and lug nut torque, etc.

[RayBJ]

The Nanny will reduce/cut the engine power when it feels slippage. It can also apply brakes if I'm not mistaken. I used to get the Nanny to do that frequently but never felt steering intervention. The sway bar, shocks, & car tires virtually eliminated the Nanny's annoyance.

FWIW, I don't think the power steering is used above parking lot speeds.

[ARtraveler]

In most cases, when Nanny takes over you will only experience a light on the dash for a second or two. The bike does not go into "Spyder" mode and take over apart from the driver. You are always in major control of the Spyder.

Nanny took over for me twice only. Both times on Alaska roads where I was involved in "hydroplaning." I had a bad one where my Spyder spun 360 degrees. Nanny kept me from crashing by stopping the spin.

Background: AK allows the use of snow tires with studs. The main highways have ruts in them from the two tire tracks. When it rains in summer, the grooves fill with water. Hit them at more than 50 mph on a Spyder and you are going to hydroplane. There is a warning about this in the user manual. It took twice, but I learned good. I have had the nanny "light up" twice on our Arkansas twisties when I first got my F3's. YUP! she worked again.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

In most cases, when Nanny takes over you will only experience a light on the dash for a second or two. The bike does not go into "Spyder" mode and take over apart from the driver. You are always in major control of the Spyder.

Nanny took over for me twice only. Both times on Alaska roads where I was involved in "hydroplaning." I had a bad one where my Spyder spun 360 degrees. Nanny kept me from crashing by stopping the spin.

Background: AK allows the use of snow tires with studs. The main highways have ruts in them from the two tire tracks. When it rains in summer, the grooves fill with water. Hit them at more than 50 mph on a Spyder and you are going to hydroplane. There is a warning about this in the user manual. It took twice, but I learned good. I have had the nanny "light up" twice on our Arkansas twisties when I first got my F3's. YUP! she worked again.

... and let me add ..... HOW the Nanny reacts ( a little or a lot ) depends on how severe the input is. .... ie. dangerously high speed while turning or spinning the rear tire and fish-tailing ..... Mike

[ARtraveler]

... and let me add ..... HOW the Nanny reacts ( a little or a lot ) depends on how severe the input is. .... ie. dangerously high speed while turning or spinning the rear tire and fish-tailing ..... Mike

Can I add one point ???

On my 360 hydroplane, It seemed to last forever, but only took a couple seconds. I think I heard "buzzing & whirring" coming from somewhere during the "course correction."

[BajaRon]

The older Spyders had a more severe and temperamental Nanny. It was refined in 2013 and has probably had adjustments since then as well. You can get a jerking/pulsing action depending on what is triggered. More in the older bikes. Less in the newer ones. Steering could be affected if the Nanny is pulsing just one front wheel. But it isn't going to take control of steering. That would indicate a DPS issue. But you will surely throw codes if this is the case.

The DPS in my 2008 GS did take total control of steering a few times as it was failing. It was like the handlebars were welded in place. Fortunately, I was on a very wide 4 lane road with very little traffic. This scary issue was experienced by several in those early years and BRP had to redesign the DPS and replaced quite a few. I have not heard of this happening since the DPS was re-designed.

[Snoking1127]

The older Spyders had a more severe and temperamental Nanny. It was refined in 2013 and has probably had adjustments since then as well. You can get a jerking/pulsing action depending on what is triggered. More in the older bikes. Less in the newer ones. Steering could be affected if the Nanny is pulsing just one front wheel. But it isn't going to take control of steering. That would indicate a DPS issue. But you will surely throw codes if this is the case.

The DPS in my 2008 GS did take total control of steering a few times as it was failing. It was like the handlebars were welded in place. Fortunately, I was on a very wide 4 lane road with very little traffic. This scary issue was experienced by several in those early years and BRP had to redesign the DPS and replaced quite a few. I have not heard of this happening since the DPS was re-designed.

Well that is what it felt like, steering frozen it place for a moment. I will check for codes.

[Snoking1127]

Well that is what it felt like, steering frozen it place for a moment. I was check for codes.

No codes showing. Will take it for a careful test ride this afternoon.

[Allen42]

I think I heard "buzzing & whirring" coming from somewhere during the "course correction."

That would have been my butthole making all that noise in that situation. Sounds scary!

[Navydad]

I ride hard in the twisties and Nanny has spanked me many times. Most of the time it is just a quick cut in power like the kill switch was quickly flipped off then on. There have been a few occasions where the brakes were applied. I have never had a steering issue. When Nanny cuts the power or applies brakes it happens suddenly and the brief seconds of nose dive that happens could be construed as a steering problem I guess. After switching to real tires and adding the beefier sway bar I have less spankings from Nanny.

[BajaRon]

No codes showing. Will take it for a careful test ride this afternoon.

I would be surprised if it turns out to be the DPS. If you could move the handlebars at all during the event, it was probably just the Nanny. She can come at you for several different directions.

[CloverHillCrawler]

I have experienced the brake pulses in corners but the weirdest thing (expected under conditions but never experienced before) was when I was working in Hagerstown and took I-70 to work across 2 mountains here.

There are some really nice and long downhill straightaways, I have had the throttle just stop responding and just coasted with VSS indicated after getting to a certain speed even though the spyder was nice and stable and riding like it was on a rail.

After I dropped below a certain speed the VSS went away, and the throttle and gas started responding again. Luckily, I was in a clear area and not in the middle of passing anyone.

I am used to having governors on vehicles but nothing that would just totally cut out the throttle and gas at the same time.

[Snoking1127]

I checked the lug torque, lowered tire pressure a tad, swapped the DPS 40 fuse with another one and wrenched down a tad tighter on the battery connection. Nothing was glaringly wrong. Did not get out to test this afternoon. Will ride it tomorrow.

[DickB]

I had an issue on my Ryker where the nanny would kick in on left turns way before right turns due to equipment failure. It felt like a wobble, most likely one front wheel brake pulsing and possibly reduced power to the rear. Did not really feel like loss of steering control, but then the Ryker does not have power steering.

(I did get the issue fixed.)

[Peter Aawen]

I checked the lug torque, lowered tire pressure a tad, swapped the DPS 40 fuse with another one and wrenched down a tad tighter on the battery connection. Nothing was glaringly wrong. Did not get out to test this afternoon. Will ride it tomorrow.

Sounds like a good start, but I might be able to shed a little more light on your issue...

Back a while, the 8 or so year old original battery in my 2013 RT started to get tired, working to start the engine, especially in the cold, so I replaced it. Purchased a new (higher rated) battery; charged it for 12 hours before installation; no worries doing the job, altho I did have a little trouble keeping the Negative lead out of the way as I slid the new battery in & I hadta move that cable around a little... (remember that, why becomes clear later! ) Took it out on short a test ride, and all seemed fine. It was a luverly day, the sun was out, not too hot, we had nothing scheduled for the day; sooo, I took the Child Bride out for a longer ride; a bit of faster stuff to start with, then lunch & gas up before heading home via the twisties - yep, the Child Bride's a Rev Head too!

BUT, once we hit the twisties, the trouble started!! Exactly as you describe, halfway thru a corner it'd feel like the steering locked up for a second or two - dive in too hard & it made for a real bum-pucker moment as the steering just seemed to jam & leave us drifting out of the turn at speed!! Slower, it'd be nowhere near as confronting, but it'd still be there, popping up every now and then! Suddenly lurching halfway thru a corner before coming back & working fine. Now I know very well what Nanny intervention in all its forms feels like, and it definitely wasn't that, but it did really feel like the DPS was either locking up or taking control & trying to go the wrong way. Nothing permanent tho, not as if the DPS had failed completely so that the steering just became a whole lot harder all the time; rather a seeming lock-up or take-over every now and then, but always when the steering was under load/halfway thru a corner/coming off a bump; it happened turning either way, so it wasn't tires; and it was getting worse....

After a very tentative trip home, I looked at EVERYTHING I'd touched that morning, thinking it was most likely the last thing I'd touched that'd be causing this issue, and that last thing was the battery. But it'd been good for all the trip out, almost 150 miles of fairly high speed straights & sweeping curves, so surely not??? It was only once we hit the bumpier, twistier roads, with lots of direction changes & 'G' forces.... could the battery be falling out, or had the DPS failed internally?? The battery still looked good, tested well, secured solidly in place, all the terminals tight, star washers firmly gripping, nothing moving or loose; I even checked how tight the cables were in their respective terminal ends.... and THEN it hit me - that bloody Negative cable that'd been flopping around and getting in the way!!

I'd checked the BATTERY end, hadn't I?! But I'd completely ignored the OTHER end of that cable, and I'd been rattling the battery end a fair bit!! The other end is buried waaaay in behind the Left Front Wheel, deep in the guts of the machine, right where the DPS is mounted on the Main Spar of the Frame, and there's a major Earth point there too; so there's a lug soldered onto the cable that's meant to be tightly secured to a clean & shiny patch of the frame, allowing it to serve as the Main Earthing point for the Battery AND the DPS!! So I started digging, wheel off, work light into the tunnel, following that Negative Cable. And when I finally reached & checked the bolt & Earth connection, it felt nice & tight, looked like a good connection onto the frame too... Went to grab the cable & rattle it around a bit just to be sure to be sure, only just by touching the Negative Cable I knew I'd found the culprit!! The solder holding the cable into the terminal/lug that was bolted to the frame had given up, and while the terminal/lug was tightly affixed to the frame, every lurch, bump, or rattle meant the cable would move in the socket and so not Earth the battery OR the DPS!! THAT was why it was intermittent, and mostly on corners/bumps/under load!

It took about an hour to fish the cable out far enough to clean & re-solder the terminal/lug onto the cable again; maybe another 10 minutes to get it all back in place and tightly secured again; then a solid couple of hours of riding all the local twisties & bumpy roads I could think of to convince myself that I'd truly fixed it! And I had!

So I reckon your problem DOES sound very much like a dodgy DPS and not really VSS/Nanny related, and while yours may not be a dud joint &/or broken solder, have you replaced your battery lately, or even just connected anything to the battery terminals?? Are those battery terminals tight, and if they are, will the cables move in the sockets of the terminal/lug ends at all?? Have you checked the OTHER end of your battery cables too, and checked to make sure the terminal/lugs are both securely soldered/crimped onto the cable ends and tightly fixed to a clean, bright, & bare section of the frame?? Cos if you haven't, then like me, you juuust may have found the source of those particular steering problems...

Good Luck!

[Snoking1127]

Sounds like a good start, but I might be able to shed a little more light on your issue...

Back a while, the 8 or so year old original battery in my 2013 RT started to get tired, working to start the engine, especially in the cold, so I replaced it. Purchased a new (higher rated) battery; charged it for 12 hours before installation; no worries doing the job, altho I did have a little trouble keeping the Negative lead out of the way as I slid the new battery in & I hadta move that cable around a little... (remember that, why becomes clear later! ) Took it out on short a test ride, and all seemed fine. It was a luverly day, the sun was out, not too hot, we had nothing scheduled for the day; sooo, I took the Child Bride out for a longer ride; a bit of faster stuff to start with, then lunch & gas up before heading home via the twisties - yep, the Child Bride's a Rev Head too!

BUT, once we hit the twisties, the trouble started!! Exactly as you describe, halfway thru a corner it'd feel like the steering locked up for a second or two - dive in too hard & it made for a real bum-pucker moment as the steering just seemed to jam & leave us drifting out of the turn at speed!! Slower, it'd be nowhere near as confronting, but it'd still be there, popping up every now and then! Suddenly lurching halfway thru a corner before coming back & working fine. Now I know very well what Nanny intervention in all its forms feels like, and it definitely wasn't that, but it did really feel like the DPS was either locking up or taking control & trying to go the wrong way. Nothing permanent tho, not as if the DPS had failed completely so that the steering just became a whole lot harder all the time; rather a seeming lock-up or take-over every now and then, but always when the steering was under load/halfway thru a corner/coming off a bump; it happened turning either way, so it wasn't tires; and it was getting worse....

After a very tentative trip home, I looked at EVERYTHING I'd touched that morning, thinking it was most likely the last thing I'd touched that'd be causing this issue, and that last thing was the battery. But it'd been good for all the trip out, almost 150 miles of fairly high speed straights & sweeping curves, so surely not??? It was only once we hit the bumpier, twistier roads, with lots of direction changes & 'G' forces.... could the battery be falling out, or had the DPS failed internally?? The battery still looked good, tested well, secured solidly in place, all the terminals tight, star washers firmly gripping, nothing moving or loose; I even checked how tight the cables were in their respective terminal ends.... and THEN it hit me - that bloody Negative cable that'd been flopping around and getting in the way!!

I'd checked the BATTERY end, hadn't I?! But I'd completely ignored the OTHER end of that cable, and I'd been rattling the battery end a fair bit!! The other end is buried waaaay in behind the Left Front Wheel, deep in the guts of the machine, right where the DPS is mounted on the Main Spar of the Frame, and there's a major Earth point there too; so there's a lug soldered onto the cable that's meant to be tightly secured to a clean & shiny patch of the frame, allowing it to serve as the Main Earthing point for the Battery AND the DPS!! So I started digging, wheel off, work light into the tunnel, following that Negative Cable. And when I finally reached & checked the bolt & Earth connection, it felt nice & tight, looked like a good connection onto the frame too... Went to grab the cable & rattle it around a bit just to be sure to be sure, only just by touching the Negative Cable I knew I'd found the culprit!! The solder holding the cable into the terminal/lug that was bolted to the frame had given up, and while the terminal/lug was tightly affixed to the frame, every lurch, bump, or rattle meant the cable would move in the socket and so not Earth the battery OR the DPS!! THAT was why it was intermittent, and mostly on corners/bumps/under load!

It took about an hour to fish the cable out far enough to clean & re-solder the terminal/lug onto the cable again; maybe another 10 minutes to get it all back in place and tightly secured again; then a solid couple of hours of riding all the local twisties & bumpy roads I could think of to convince myself that I'd truly fixed it! And I had!

So I reckon your problem DOES sound very much like a dodgy DPS and not really VSS/Nanny related, and while yours may not be a dud joint &/or broken solder, have you replaced your battery lately, or even just connected anything to the battery terminals?? Are those battery terminals tight, and if they are, will the cables move in the sockets of the terminal/lug ends at all?? Have you checked the OTHER end of your battery cables too, and checked to make sure the terminal/lugs are both securely soldered/crimped onto the cable ends and tightly fixed to a clean, bright, & bare section of the frame?? Cos if you haven't, then like me, you juuust may have found the source of those particular steering problems...

Good Luck!

Peter, thank you for your lengthy reply. It got a new Yuasa YUAM6250H YTX24HL-BS Battery the first of November 2022. It is always on a maintainer when not being used. I will be all over the cables tomorrow. I really need to get to the bottom of this issue, that appears to be exactly what you had, as it is always part way through a corner when I had it occur, turning left. I really like the twisties and do not want to go sailing off the highway. I will report back on my findings. I did have the starter engage and click right off the other day, which might indicate something in the cabling, it started the second time. If I do not find a cabling issue, I will get the battery tested. Whatever it takes or costs I need this resolved, as I have an 1800 mile repositioning ride occurring in two months, to move it from Arizona to Washington State.

[Peter Aawen]

Peter, thank you for your lengthy reply. It got a new Yuasa YUAM6250H YTX24HL-BS Battery the first of November 2022. It is always on a maintainer when not being used. I will be all over the cables tomorrow. I really need to get to the bottom of this issue, that appears to be exactly what you had, as it is always part way through a corner when I had it occur, turning left. I really like the twisties and do not want to go sailing off the highway. I will report back on my findings. I did have the starter engage and click right off the other day, which might indicate something in the cabling, it started the second time. If I do not find a cabling issue, I will get the battery tested. Whatever it takes or costs I need this resolved, as I have an 1800 mile repositioning ride occurring in two months, to move it from Arizona to Washington State.

Leaving your battery on a maintainer ALL the time (except for when riding, of course! ) is not really a great idea; it's not ideal for any battery. That can hide a poor or weak battery until you're out there somewhere, well away from home, and the battery fails, or just doesn't quite do the job properly. They are best left off the maintainer if they get a good 30 minute+ ride every week or so, and only get the maintainer if left for longer than that.

So yeah, if you can't find a loose terminal or cable (& I do suggest you check the soldering/crimping on them, as well as their fixing/connections etc.) then a load test is a good idea. I've seen new batteries fail within days or even hours of installation, some that were even properly charged beforehand too!!

Good Luck!

Ps: One of our Ozzie Spyder Ryders recently had a similar experience when one of the OEM original fitment Shocks on the front of his Spyder failed... A real pucker moment as his Spyder suddenly darted off the road halfway thru a corner!! There's a thread here somewhere, so it might be worth your while checking for oil leaks around the shock seals too!

[Snoking1127]

Leaving your battery on a maintainer ALL the time (except for when riding, of course! ) is not really a great idea; it's not ideal for any battery. That can hide a poor or weak battery until you're out there somewhere, well away from home, and the battery fails, or just doesn't quite do the job properly. They are best left off the maintainer if they get a good 30 minute+ ride every week or so, and only get the maintainer if left for longer than that.

So yeah, if you can't find a loose terminal or cable (& I do suggest you check the soldering/crimping on them, as well as their fixing/connections etc.) then a load test is a good idea. I've seen new batteries fail within days or even hours of installation, some that were even properly charged beforehand too!!

Good Luck!

Ps: One of our Ozzie Spyder Ryders recently had a similar experience when one of the OEM original fitment Shocks on the front of his Spyder failed... A real pucker moment as his Spyder suddenly darted off the road halfway thru a corner!! There's a thread here somewhere, so it might be worth your while checking for oil leaks around the shock seals too!

I just put H&R springs on the shocks, so I had them all apart and back to gether. The Spyder seems to have a fair amount of parasitic draw when not in use. And a week seems to be dipping into battery capacity a fair amount.

[Hound]

We could start an entire new thread "What were you doing when the Nanny spanked you?"

[Snoking1127]

OK did a test ride of about 40 with some twisties, taken with caution and then a little faster and no issues. Was coming into the RV Resort and doing slow turns and had what felt like something in the steering was binding when I straighten back up after a corner. I looked at the service manual the night before last and did not find anything that needs to be greased.

[Peter Aawen]

OK did a test ride of about 40 with some twisties, taken with caution and then a little faster and no issues. Was coming into the RV Resort and doing slow turns and had what felt like something in the steering was binding when I straighten back up after a corner. I looked at the service manual the night before last and did not find anything that needs to be greased.

Any chance you've got a binding Tie-rod end?? The OEM units aren't greasable; not many are these days, but beyond what's already been offered, that could be a possible cause?!

I certainly hope it's not a failing DPS Unit, cos they ain't cheap!! Or readily available, either!! It might just be cos we're here in Oz, but I know of one fella who waited so long for BRP/the local dealer to supply & fit a replacement unit under warranty that he went and bought a new bike!! Yes, it was another Spyder, but he purchased interstate, over 8 hours ride away, and he has even been taking it back there for any servicing he can't do himself! Good dealers are sometimes hard to find!

[Snoking1127]

I am going to jack up the front tomorrow and see if I can find what is causing it. Could be an upper or lower ball joint also.

[Peter Aawen]

I am going to jack up the front tomorrow and see if I can find what is causing it. Could be an upper or lower ball joint also.

They tend to make noises & contribute to twitchy/erratic steering tho, rather than seeming to bind the steering... But yeah, well worth a check up front!

[Mikey]

You may have to have it on the ground and loaded to get it to bind up for you! Just a thought! I also hope it's not the DPS! Would BUDS help with hunting this problem out, if it was the DPS?

[Snoking1127]

Man reading about the DPS, steering torque sensor, etc in the service manual, I sure hope it is a ball joint and some other DIY repair!