DPS..has it been fixed

[wyliec]

I know a few here have had their DPS lockup and BRP replaced the DPS.

So, is this the fix. Or, did they (BRP) do something else to those spyders?

The two that come to mind are smylinacha and pittmon. I do hope your spyders are permanently fixed.

If this is their fix after the fact, this is not really a fix, is it? I would think they would be looking for issues to correct before a steering lockup occurs.

I'm just asking because I've been gone a few days and may have missed something. I'm also asking because what's to prevent the lockups from happening again on those spyders that have had the DPS replaced?

 

[musicarcade]

I was at my dealer on Sat. I decided to have them install my comfort seat as I don't have torque wrenches and they had it done in a half hour. As I got the paperwork, he asked me if I was having any steering probs. I told him as a matter of fact , yes. It's locked up twice on me but just took a little tweak to the right to unlock it. Since reading posts here and having it happen once before after the first update, I am aware of it an try and drive accordingly. He mentioned that he thought there may be a recall on the DPS. From the posts I've read here, that would not surprise me. Anyone else hear anything like that? Ususally I'm telling the shop what's up from what I read here on Spyderlovers.

 

[r1eater]

I was at my dealer on Sat. I decided to have them install my comfort seat as I don't have torque wrenches and they had it done in a half hour. As I got the paperwork, he asked me if I was having any steering probs. I told him as a matter of fact , yes. It's locked up twice on me but just took a little tweak to the right to unlock it. Since reading posts here and having it happen once before after the first update, I am aware of it an try and drive accordingly. He mentioned that he thought there may be a recall on the DPS. From the posts I've read here, that would not surprise me. Anyone else hear anything like that? Ususally I'm telling the shop what's up from what I read here on Spyderlovers.

I dunno about a recall but I just bought a 2009 Saturday and it did exactly what you described on the ride home and every time I've taken it out since. So I'll be calling the dealer Tuesday to get more info. Other than that I love the Spyder, really comfortable and otherwise stable...except for when the steering thing happens cause it jerks a bit when it corrects.

 

[Smylinacha]

I got a new DPS - nothing else was done to my Spyder (no updates or anything like that) and I rode it yesterday and didn't have any problems. I was nervous in the beginning though but everything went ok.

My steering never locked up until AFTER I had the first update which was back in July when it came out. Then it happened twice while in TN and then never again after that (tech in TN downloaded something from a laptop into the Spyder and I don't know if that was a 2nd update or what).

But I was afraid to ryde it after that so I got a new DPS. Took two different dps's to get in my Spyder to work once I brought it back to the dealer after the TN trip. 1st replacement DPS they put in didn't work at all and then another got shipped and that is in my Spyder now - worked fine yesterday.

 

[Al Bragg]

Mine locked up on Saturday the 14th.

My dealer is closed on Sunday and Monday.

Was almost a life ending event.

Locked up at freeway speed. Had to force the bars hard to the right to get the wheels to move to the right. But when the DPS did move it sent me hard right shooting across 2 lanes of trafic.

My wife was behind me on her spyder yelling at my on the radio.

I was able to get off the freeway at the next exit with some difficulty.

Had the spyder towed home.

 

[Smylinacha]

:gaah: 08 or 09, SM or SE? Not that it could make a difference - I don't know - just trying to see maybe one type might have this issue more than the other type.

I'm glad you didn't get hurt and had it towed!

Mine locked up on Saturday the 14th.

My dealer is closed on Sunday and Monday.

Was almost a life ending event.

Locked up at freeway speed. Had to force the bars hard to the right to get the wheels to move to the right. But when the DPS did move it sent me hard right shooting across 2 lanes of trafic.

My wife was behind me on her spyder yelling at my on the radio.

I was able to get off the freeway at the next exit with some difficulty.

Had the spyder towed home.

 

[Al Bragg]

It's an 08. SM5. only 3k miles. I have not done the update as I was planning to take it into the shop this week anyway for the 3k service.

 

[RoadHammer]

Yikes....... glad you kept in under control.

It sounds like this lasted for a long amount of time. Did it happen again while exiting the freeway?

Mine locked up on Saturday the 14th.

My dealer is closed on Sunday and Monday.

Was almost a life ending event.

Locked up at freeway speed. Had to force the bars hard to the right to get the wheels to move to the right. But when the DPS did move it sent me hard right shooting across 2 lanes of trafic.

My wife was behind me on her spyder yelling at my on the radio.

I was able to get off the freeway at the next exit with some difficulty.

Had the spyder towed home.

 

[Firefly]

Mine locked up on Saturday the 14th.

My dealer is closed on Sunday and Monday.

Was almost a life ending event.

Locked up at freeway speed. Had to force the bars hard to the right to get the wheels to move to the right. But when the DPS did move it sent me hard right shooting across 2 lanes of trafic.

My wife was behind me on her spyder yelling at my on the radio.

I was able to get off the freeway at the next exit with some difficulty.

Had the spyder towed home.

Make sure and alway be prepared to make an emergency stop. The manual covers this a bit - but in your case of steering lockup at highway speeds - I would immediatly hit the kill switch and pull the clutch in and get over to the side of the road.

At highway speeds the steering should feel about the same even with the engine off.

Good thing to go on a back road and practice such things.

The kill switch is there for just such occasions of mechanical failure.

Glad you were not hurt. Better get it in to the shop.

 

[Al Bragg]

Yikes....... glad you kept in under control.

It sounds like this lasted for a long amount of time. Did it happen again while exiting the freeway?


OH Yeah!!!. It would lock up with the wheels straight. This was a good position for the wheels to be headed. When I was slowing down for the exitit felt like the bars where locked. Then they would free up and the wheels would move.

I was about to hit the kill switch when I went balistic accross the lanes of traffic. But at the time my mind was yelling MORE POWER!!. As i did not want to get hit from behind.

At first my wife thought I was goffing off.

I called back to her on the radio and said I was in big trouble hti your hazards and lets get out of the car pool lane. and exit next exit!

Then the bars locked up and like I said early.... accross trafic I went.

Once I was off the freeway I hit the kill swith. called AAA, towed baby home. Wife road off as soon as the tow truck showed up.

 

[pitmon]

Yes do get it in the shop and don't ride it until they check it out. It's better to be safe than sorry.

According to the printout they replaced my dps, gear box position sensor, steering position sensor, plate, and hooked it up to buds and did a dps recovery. After all was said and done the repair bill total was almost $5000.00, I am sure glad it was all warranty work.

RideNow and BRP did a great job getting my bike up and running and I really appreciate them. It took a while to get the parts and get it done but so far it seems to be fixed. They took it on a long test run and then I rode it 80 miles home and had no problems. Hopefully I will get some riding in next weekend to see for sure. I will be watching it closely for a while but I sure am glad to have it back... I really missed my spyder. :2thumbs:

 

[Al Bragg]

I hope you get a good long ride in before any bad weather ends the riding season.

I am not worried about the cost of the repairs because I have the BRP covarage and from the dealer I have a 1 year unlimited service contract.

Again I hope you can get out and ride. I love riding the spyder and going on long rides with my wife on her spyder.

 

[gazey]

I know a few here have had their DPS lockup and BRP replaced the DPS.

So, is this the fix. Or, did they (BRP) do something else to those spyders?

The two that come to mind are smylinacha and pittmon. I do hope your spyders are permanently fixed.

If this is their fix after the fact, this is not really a fix, is it? I would think they would be looking for issues to correct before a steering lockup occurs.

I'm just asking because I've been gone a few days and may have missed something. I'm also asking because what's to prevent the lockups from happening again on those spyders that have had the DPS replaced?

:bdh:

 

[Smylinacha]

It's an 08. SM5. only 3k miles. I have not done the update as I was planning to take it into the shop this week anyway for the 3k service.

Mine is also 08 SM5.

 

[boborgera]

:bdh:

By talking about the many steering problems:chat: [after the recall] there's a running record of the problems, So maybe a permanent fix will come about?

 

[2spyders]

I had my dps replaced, along with the update to the update. I've put about 600 miles on it since with no further lock ups. Runs and steers better than ever!:clap:hyea:

 

[czdaryle]

:bdh:

Disagree
I very interested if this will be a recall. People are still experencing this. New ones everyday.

 

[r1eater]

I'll be calling the dealer tomorrow on mine. I'm kinda said that I've only had the Spyder 3 days and from day one it was doing it :gaah: But BRP seems very interested in doing the right thing and if others have tons of parts replaced and now it runs fine that I'm ok with that. Obviously I would have liked it to work from the get go but hopefully it will be fixed soon.

 

[PCBeachBum]

Sorry about the length of this post.

I have an 08 SM5 and from day one it was hard to steer. I had the recall done in Oct and there was no change in the steering after leaving the dealership. Not knowing, I thought it was normal and than stopped at Pet's Mart to get some dog food, down the road from the dealership.

When I came out and started it, I saw "Check DPS" scrolling across the screen. I took it back to the dealer and they put it on the computer but, no codes came up. Leo said he would call BRP to find out what this means and sent me on my way, telling me to bring it in Tues. or Wed for the regular service and he should have an answer from BRP than.

The following Saturday, late in afternoon during Thunder Weekend, I was on my way home after stopping at my toy store and while making a slight right turn to go over a small bridge crossing the lagoon, my steering locked up. I gave the handlebars a hard jerk to the left and saw my left front wheel jump 4" to the left freeing up my steering.

After crossing this small bridge I was able to get out of traffic and pull over. Checking what I could, without stripping it down with a biker friend. I got it home where it sat til Tuesday morning.

I called Leo and told him what happened and he sent a tech out with a trailer to pick it up. The tech took it for a short ride and came back shaking his head. He didn't have to say anything, the look on his face was enough. That afternoon, I got a call from Leo and he said they tried several things and it still has that "Check DPS" scrolling across the screen and they ordered a new power steering unit for it.

It took 6 days to get the new DPS in and I picked it up about a week and a half after they picked it up. Leaving the dealership and taking it up the street, I could feel a huge difference in the steering. Since getting it back, I've gone more than 1100 miles w/out a problem.

Before having this done, I had to move it to turn the handlebars but, not now and it steers the same now at any speed.

If I had known better, I would have left it at the dealership when I saw "Check DPS" scrolling across the screen. Now! I do know and believe me! If I see anything else scroll across the screen, besides "Release Parking Brake" or it doesn't feel right to me, its going back to the dealership and staying until its fixed.

The last thing I want to be or anyone else to be is a statistic, with this DPS issue and that's why I'm writing this at 2:30 in the morning.

If you feel your having a problem w/your DPS or have experienced a Lockup, get it in to your dealer. If you don't feel safe driving it in like I did, have it trailered. My dealership here in Panama City, FL told me not to drive and took the responsability to come and get it.

Don't kid yourself about this issue. "Well it did happen once a few weeks ago but, has been fine since". If it happened once expect the problem to get worse. That "But" could get you seriously injured or worse and I don't want to read a post where a Brother or Sister Spyder Ryder, got hurt badly, because of this DPS issue.

Whether this new DPS unit is the fix? I don't have the answer for that and can only take the wait and see approach. With all the DPS units being replaced and sent back to BRP, to be stripped down and inspected is the only way I know of that they can determine what is wrong and come up with the solution to this problem.

No longer being a backyard mechanic with these new machines, it far cry from my first, a 1948 BSA. That was fun to work on and figure out why it wouldn't start. After kicking the life out of my legs, with the kick starter. Remember those?

 

[r1eater]

Thanks for this post. I gotta say being an owner for just 3 days and having this problem already has got me a bit bummed. Mostly because the whole reason we got the Spyder was that my wife felt safer on the Spyder than she did riding two up on my other bikes. With all the Spyders electronic wizardry and just being plain more comfortable for her she has been really excited to ride. But I've been hesitant to take her on long rides because of the steering issue. Mine isnt scrolling anything across but its obvious somethign is happening.

Its very reassuring to hear that your issue got taken care of. I honestly dont care if they have to replace every single sensor on the bike as long as it rides as smooth as that demo bike we rode during the BRP weekend. :2thumbs:

Sorry about the length of this post.

I have an 08 SM5 and from day one it was hard to steer. I had the recall done in Oct and there was no change in the steering after leaving the dealership. Not knowing, I thought it was normal and than stopped at Pet's Mart to get some dog food, down the road from the dealership.

When I came out and started it, I saw "Check DPS" scrolling across the screen. I took it back to the dealer and they put it on the computer but, no codes came up. Leo said he would call BRP to find out what this means and sent me on my way, telling me to bring it in Tues. or Wed for the regular service and he should have an answer from BRP than.

The following Saturday, late in afternoon during Thunder Weekend, I was on my way home after stopping at my toy store and while making a slight right turn to go over a small bridge crossing the lagoon, my steering locked up. I gave the handlebars a hard jerk to the left and saw my left front wheel jump 4" to the left freeing up my steering.

After crossing this small bridge I was able to get out of traffic and pull over. Checking what I could, without stripping it down with a biker friend. I got it home where it sat til Tuesday morning.

I called Leo and told him what happened and he sent a tech out with a trailer to pick it up. The tech took it for a short ride and came back shaking his head. He didn't have to say anything, the look on his face was enough. That afternoon, I got a call from Leo and he said they tried several things and it still has that "Check DPS" scrolling across the screen and they ordered a new power steering unit for it.

It took 6 days to get the new DPS in and I picked it up about a week and a half after they picked it up. Leaving the dealership and taking it up the street, I could feel a huge difference in the steering. Since getting it back, I've gone more than 1100 miles w/out a problem.

Before having this done, I had to move it to turn the handlebars but, not now and it steers the same now at any speed.

If I had known better, I would have left it at the dealership when I saw "Check DPS" scrolling across the screen. Now! I do know and believe me! If I see anything else scroll across the screen, besides "Release Parking Brake" or it doesn't feel right to me, its going back to the dealership and staying until its fixed.

The last thing I want to be or anyone else to be is a statistic, with this DPS issue and that's why I'm writing this at 2:30 in the morning.

If you feel your having a problem w/your DPS or have experienced a Lockup, get it in to your dealer. If you don't feel safe driving it in like I did, have it trailered. My dealership here in Panama City, FL told me not to drive and took the responsability to come and get it.

Don't kid yourself about this issue. "Well it did happen once a few weeks ago but, has been fine since". If it happened once expect the problem to get worse. That "But" could get you seriously injured or worse and I don't want to read a post where a Brother or Sister Spyder Ryder, got hurt badly, because of this DPS issue.

Whether this new DPS unit is the fix? I don't have the answer for that and can only take the wait and see approach. With all the DPS units being replaced and sent back to BRP, to be stripped down and inspected is the only way I know of that they can determine what is wrong and come up with the solution to this problem.

No longer being a backyard mechanic with these new machines, it far cry from my first, a 1948 BSA. That was fun to work on and figure out why it wouldn't start. After kicking the life out of my legs, with the kick starter. Remember those?