RPM Revelations

[Pennyrick]

Put the 2011 RT in the garage after a ride into the mountains on Sunday and when I started her up this morning the check engine light came on and it went into limp mode. I shut it down and restarted a few times and on the fourth try it ran without the check engine light but seemed to idle rough.

I headed to the dealership and the computer on the BUDDS revealed that it had failed to come out of idle mode a few times.

The tech cleaned out the throttle body and took it for a test drive. He told me it felt rough until he put it into the 6-7,000 rpm range for a while and then everything smoothed out.

He put it back on BUDDS and showed me the history of the engine speeds since last August when I bought it. In 9500 miles the engine has spent 56% of its time under 4,000 RPM, and not very much time in the 5-6,000 range.

His advice was to keep it in third and fourth gear longer, and to stay out of fifth until it gets around 5,000 rpm. I had been going into fifth once it got in the 3,500-4,000 range but apparently that is a no-no.

The riding habits from my Gold Wing days need to be discarded and there is a need to go back to the style that I rode my Yamaha twin with.

I hadn't realized I had fallen into this bad habit.

[Cavman]

Hummm...that's good to know. Mine running rough and I've only put 100 mile on it.
Thanks

[Lamonster]

Spyder is much happier around 5-6K

[Texmac1011]

Spyder is much happier around 5-6K

Amen to That!!

[DMENTR]

Double Trouble
Thanks for posting the RPM info. I've put just under 400 miles on mine and I have been experimenting with shift points, etc. But now your post has be wondering what other info and stats are being tracked? Is there a listing somewhere?

[ARtraveler]

RE: Higher revs. I also learned that the hard way. Other bikes usually rev all the way up to 2300 or so before changing gears. The is a whole different animal. I usually shift between 4500 and 5000 (the sweet spot) for seamless shifting on my SE5.

The high rev requirements are one of my only complaints with the . To noisy for me at the higher revs. Forget about the radio on the highway. The high revs also contribute to the poor gas mileage. I have learned to live with it, but still would like to see a bigger engine with lower revs to power our favorite ride.

[billybovine]

I bought my 09GS SE5 used from a dealer. It only had 800 kms (500 mi) on it. After I got it home I found that it had 27 hrs on the hour meter. Wow it must have spent most of it's life idling in the driveway. It ran really bad, often would sputter on aceleration, backfire when you let off the loud grip and double, triple pause when upshifting. I ran it with most of my shifts over 5000 rpm occasionaly a shift from 1st to 2nd at 8500 - 9000. In traffic i will stay in 4th gear and will often downshift to 3rd to pass. It took about 400 kms for the gremlins to slowly go away and it runs great now! Looking back on it, it may have been easier just to put a new set of plugs in it.

[BajaRon]

The riding habits from my Gold Wing days need to be discarded and there is a need to go back to the style that I rode my Yamaha twin with.

I hadn't realized I had fallen into this bad habit.

Not really a bad habit. It's just that the Spyder is a different animal, lives a different lifestyle and is happy at a higher RPM. Your habits were fine for the Goldwing, you just need to retrain yourself to ride the Spyder in its sweet spot which is different than the Goldwing's sweet spot.

[docdoru]

[dave01]

HULIGAN

[Bob Denman]

Gee... I've spent virtually ALL of time time down in the lower rev range... Maybe I'll have to "clean it out" every once in a while to see what (if any) difference it makes.

[daveinva]

Agreed. I read all the advice here when I bought the Spyder, I rarely run the bike at low RPM, it just isn't happy there (let alone much fun). My rule of thumb is just to stay a gear lower than you think you should be (and wear earplugs ).

Still, it'd be nice to get a re-gearing. 5th gear is pretty useless-- there's generally no way to keep it at happy RPMs on the highway unless you're breaking the law. I spend most of my highway time running in 4th as a result.

[Mr. White]

This rpm discussion is interesting. I never paid much attention to when I shift BR1, just when it "felt right", however I tend to wind it out in most gears if on an open road. I have 6,000 on the scoot and will now pay attention to my shift rpm's and check when I do shift. I have to "retune" my thinking when I jump on my Motor Trike, Punkin'....as said earlier, a much different ride...

[ThreeWheels]

Just another point of view here that explains the observed phenomena.

I had something similar towards the end of last season. The Spyder would sometimes run rough at lower RPM.

I got a set of BajaRon plug wires and had them installed. During the install my dealer discovered one of the OEM wires was damaged. After the new plug wires were installed, the bike has run as smooth as silk.

I think the problem was, at lower RPM the magneto was unable to put out enough voltage to pass through the damaged wire. At higher RPM, the higher voltage got through to the plugs.

Just my opinion, I could be wrong.

[3Willie]

Just another point of view here that explains the observed phenomena.

I had something similar towards the end of last season. The Spyder would sometimes run rough at lower RPM.

I got a set of BajaRon plug wires and had them installed. During the install my dealer discovered one of the OEM wires was damaged. After the new plug wires were installed, the bike has run as smooth as silk.

I think the problem was, at lower RPM the magneto was unable to put out enough voltage to pass through the damaged wire. At higher RPM, the higher voltage got through to the plugs.

Just my opinion, I could be wrong.

My first thought was the plug wires were causing issues. Glad someone else had the same thought. Higher RPMs are nice, but the Spyder should run smoothly at lower ranges as well. It may not be in the power range, but should still run smoother than noted above.

[chris56]

I also get all my service-reports printed ..

on the report you don`t see how many miles you drove since the last print-out

(makes it easy to produce a destroyer sheet )

[Campverdefela]

My first thought was the plug wires were causing issues. Glad someone else had the same thought. Higher RPMs are nice, but the Spyder should run smoothly at lower ranges as well. It may not be in the power range, but should still run smoother than noted above.

Agreed, it generally does run fine cruising at lesser than ideal rpms as long as your not constantly laboring the engine, which in time will take it's toll, probably fowling the plugs, or throttle bodies and possibly damaging the engine. Keep the rpms up!

[NancysToy]

With a properly set up electronic fuel injection system, you should not be fouling plugs no matter what rpm you cruise at. If the engine is not lugging, the machine should be fine. Time to check for other possible causes; bad plug wires, weak coil, bad ECM, bad O2 or MAP sensor, dirty throttle body, etc. A modern vehicle that has not been modified, but fouls plugs or carbons up the valves has an issue that needs to be resolved. JMHO

[docdoru]

I also get all my service-reports printed ..

on the report you don`t see how many miles you drove since the last print-out

(makes it easy to produce a destroyer sheet )

Incorrect, the RPM Profile is for the life of your Spyder, on page 1 on the B.U.D.S. printout report you can see the total # of miles. There is no magic "reset to zero" button, therefore no "destroyer sheet" can be done.

[chris56]

Incorrect, the RPM Profile is for the life of your Spyder, on page 1 on the B.U.D.S. printout report you can see the total # of miles. There is no magic "reset to zero" button, therefore no "destroyer sheet" can be done.

.. maybe your buds-report is from the aprilia-mille .. where they made the service just before your spyder came in ??
did more than 25.000 spydermiles till now - nobody can be so "brutal" to this engine !!!!!

[docdoru]

.. maybe your buds-report is from the aprilia-mille .. where they made the service just before your spyder came in ??
did more than 25.000 spydermiles till now - nobody can be so "brutal" to this engine !!!!!

This is not brutal, just rutine after 128,000 miles

[Wattsmyname]

Sounds like Can Am stuck a Crotch Rocket motor in the Spyder, if this engine won't run well unless it's at 50% of redline then it was certainly not a very good choice to power this type of machine.

[spyryder]

I frequently cruise around town in 3rd and 4th gear at between 3 - 4,000 rpm's and have never had a problem, runs just fine.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

HERE I GO AGAINST THE GRAIN AGAIN, I RARELY GO ABOVE 5000 RPM'S AND MY 08 G/S RUNS FINE....MAYBE IT'S AN ANNAMOLY (NEED A DICTIONARY ?)...MIKE

[Bob Denman]

Perhaps the GS/RS 990 needs to be spun a bit more than the RT's 991...
They DID move the powerband down the rev scale almost 1000 rpm...