Low pressure brake warning

[kevienz]

Hi all I'm new to this site

My wife is disabled and pestered me for years she wanted to ride a motorcycle .... sooooo took the plunge and bought a 2010 RSS Spyder for her.

Then proceeded to apparently do (according to the dealership) what has never been done worldwide to a Spyder.... We fitted wide custom built floorboards, then shifted the brake pedal from the right foot position across to the left foot side of the bike.... then took the accelerator off the handlebar and fitted a custom made accelerator to the floor to the left of the brake pedal, enabling her to use her left foot for accelerator and brake. We also extended the park brake so she can hand operate it instead of the heal of her foot (see pic album on profile).

The work brought up 9 faults on a BUDS scan, the shop figured the engineer had turned on the ignition key while the brake unit was disassembled and managed to clear them all but one came back immediately with 4 attempts to re clear it. I brings up the "Brake Failure" on screen
The analysis says "Low Brake Pressure Switch (Malfunction)"

Hes suspecting with the brake and wiring re-location possibly a wire has broken, a wiring plug has been left off or not been pushed fully in the plug so have to try to follow everything back and see if its the case.

Any Canam Techos out there that may have an idea what to look for?? I tried to find a wiring diagram online unsuccessfully.
Also I have seen comments that the owner can clear faults without me having to take the machine 2 hours to the dealership to clear it.

 

[Snowbelt Spyder]

yes, that's quite a bit of mods to the brake system. But, if all they did was move the pedal, and kept all the switches as they were on the right hand side still, then you may just need to perform the reset procedure attached. You don't mention how they attempted to clear it, but simply reseting the fault in BUDS is not enough for that one. The Low Brake Pressure switch actually doesn't measure brake pressure, it measures pedal travel. The reasoning is that if the pedal travels further than normal, then there must be low brake pressure. In your case, it all might be due to the mod if it repositioned the linkage geometry, and you may have to reposition the switch so it doesn't get activated needlessly. So, attached are two screen grabs of how the Brake LPS works and how to reset it. ( click on the attachments to make them bigger in a new window. However, this site is shrinking their size. Hope you can read them ok. Use your browser zoom if necessary)



Now, I am making a leap of faith here that the RSS brakes operate the same as the RT brakes. These came from an RT manual. But, once you crawl under there, you'll know for sure. Both the brake light switch and the brake low pressure switch would have been on the right hand side operated by the linkage. Good luck with it.

 

[kevienz]

yes, that's quite a bit of mods ............ Hope you can read them ok. Use your browser zoom if necessary)
.

Thanks for that, Yes they only connected BUDS and told it to clear the faults, the Brake Failure was the one that kept coming back and when he looked on the analysis if the fault it said it was a LPS fault. He didnt go in depth any further than to say check the wires and fittings are all right, But then .... he also didnt charge me the $55 he quoted to clear the faults either so cant grumble lol
Will have a look, I did notice a switch which hasnt been fitted on overly well so may be the positioning of that, will check now I have an idea what im looking for
Will post if I find the problem

 

[Snowbelt Spyder]

Your technician may not have really been up to speed on why there were two switches under there in the first place. The LPS normally never actuates at all. If it does, then the VCM checks to see if brake pressure is above a certain threshold. If they physically moved both switches during the modifications, then it's a good possibility that the LPS is actuating too soon before brake pressure builds and there's not anything actually wrong with your brake system. And of course, even the reset procedure won't stick because the fault will come right back. So, I think you're on the right track and have a good possibility to correct the issue. It's all a matter of placement of the LPS with respect to pedal travel and brake pressure. Once that's done, the reset procedure attached above - depressing the brake pedal all the way - should be successful.

 

[kevienz]

Your technician may not have really been up to speed on why there were two switches under there in the first place. The LPS normally never actuates at all. If it does, then the VCM checks to see if brake pressure is above a certain threshold. If they physically moved both switches during the modifications, then it's a good possibility that the LPS is actuating too soon before brake pressure builds and there's not anything actually wrong with your brake system. And of course, even the reset procedure won't stick because the fault will come right back. So, I think you're on the right track and have a good possibility to correct the issue. It's all a matter of placement of the LPS with respect to pedal travel and brake pressure. Once that's done, the reset procedure attached above - depressing the brake pedal all the way - should be successful.

I think too he's a tad gobsmacked at the mods that were done and in that would be a bit at a loss as to the source of the problem.
As mentioned they are pretty sure nobody has been crazy enough to do the mod, so no-one would have encountered the problems that could crop up; Will look at the switch positions and see if he's put one too close and being activated too soon, the guy that done the mods does disability mods to motorcycles and trikes and also builds custom bikes and 1/4 mile drag bikes and admitted he'd never touched or even been up close to a Spyder so the possibility of mis-positioning the switches is a real possibility. Might even look at an existing spyder and see the locations, clearances and how far the pedal goes before the switches respond. The help on this forum is great , thanks all

 

[kevienz]

Checked switches on brake pedal

Checked ....... only apparent wiring on the brake pedal/master cylinder is the one in pic on top of the pedal, looks to be only activating the brake light, couldn't see a omitted switch anywhere, is the "Low Pressure Switch" located somewhere else??? this is the 2010 RSS Spyder. (read original entry re the mods that have been done to this machine

 

[Snowbelt Spyder]

The original position of both switches is on the right hand side. Both operated by the brake pedal linkage. Look at another Spyder if need be and you'll see exactly how they work. When they moved the brake pedal to the left hand side - and modified the linkage as required - did they also move that brake light switch over to the left hand side? Is so, then the LPS must still be over on the right hand side someplace....unless it was disconnected and removed.

Just for the record, the master cylinder is still in its original location, right?

 

[kevienz]

..............................Just for the record, the master cylinder is still in its original location, right?

Will have to have a look at a factory Spyder to see if the brake unit is the same one, I thought he took the whole thing and moved it to the left side using original brake master cylinder
Will have to pull the fairings off me thinks and have a good look and follow the piping etc.