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no power stering
- Thread starter ld271
- Start date
When I got my Spyder I was disappointed at how much back pressure there is on the bar when going around curves. I hate to think of what it would be like with no power steering. Unless of course I don't have any either - how would I know? Does everybody's Spyder take quite a bit of pressure to hold it in a curve?
The two trikes I built have very easy steering, almost no pressure, either push or pull.
Frank
The two trikes I built have very easy steering, almost no pressure, either push or pull.
Frank
Magic Man
Registered User
The easiest way to know if your power steering is functioning is to sit on the Spyder with the bike off and steer it in both directions noting how much force it takes to move the bars. Then start the bike up it should be easier to steer with the bike running. Although not "power steering" like a car has, it should be easier with the bike running to move the bars. If not it's time to call your dealer.
kalavera
New member
mine is in the shop right now for the same thing. A power steering module.
I had just bought it this past saturday. Sunday while riding I felt the bike all of a sudden pull to one side, I corrected and it pulled to the other side. Scared the heck out of me as you can imagine riding a bike at 45mph and the bike pulls left and right. It later went away.
Monday on my way to work, at idle, the handlebars started pulling by themselves (my hands were not on them) and they were pulling left and right then the check engine light came on and the words "Check DPS" scrolled accross the screen.
So, now I see I am not the only one that had to get the module replaced.
I had just bought it this past saturday. Sunday while riding I felt the bike all of a sudden pull to one side, I corrected and it pulled to the other side. Scared the heck out of me as you can imagine riding a bike at 45mph and the bike pulls left and right. It later went away.
Monday on my way to work, at idle, the handlebars started pulling by themselves (my hands were not on them) and they were pulling left and right then the check engine light came on and the words "Check DPS" scrolled accross the screen.
So, now I see I am not the only one that had to get the module replaced.
I can turn corners with one hand,maybe you shoud have
your steering looked at.
NancysToy
Motorbike Professor
Could be the DPS unit, or something else. Causes have been varied. Any electrical problems on the Canbus surge the system, and the computers can then adversly affect other electronic components, and drive you (and the poor technician) nuts. Usually results in lots of fault codes. You are at least the third person that has reported this sudden pulling. Scary stuff. Hope they get it fixed soon. Nice save!
-Scotty
my two cents - or one man's opinion from a thousand feet
my power steering was butter smooth in the first 5k miles. I could navigate curves with one hand and often goofed off doing things like leaning off, waving to the side or just gliding through a curve.
Chapter 1;
Somewhere after 5k miles the DPS became unpredictable. The same curves that I once navigated with such ease would now be completely unpredictable. Sometimes as I entered the turn, the force to make the turn suddenly became so great that I would have to get off the throttle and use upper body strength to make it through. I'm talking slow speed turns on back roads and not on the highway. Under 30MPH but still fast enough to generate some panic because even at 20mph a tree will hurt.
Symptom number two would be instant increase or decrease in steering while in the turn. This really started bugging me because now I would enter a curve feel that it was hard, pull with extra strength and then suddenly the steering would break loose (DPS kicks in) and now all that extra force is not needed and I'm actually pulling myself in to the other lane. Now we are reaching higher levels of panic cause I don't want to hit the front bumper of a Buick. This also started becoming a serious issue for me as I navigated NYC traffic before and after work. Weaving from lane to lane I need to know how much force to use and what to expect.
I spent alot of time at the other forum and posted this info there. A few other folks talked about it but I also read enough horror stories about it not getting fixed so I was not about to run down to the dealer. ( I have an issue and I don't want to stop riding) I was not at all excited by the idea of leaving it with the dealer while everyone attempts to discover what is wrong. One person described a situation where the dealer received a new DPS unit with a newer part number than expected and this new part number caused issues with their computer system. So although they installed it, it threw codes left and right the second the engine started, so it took 4 weeks to get his ride back.
Doing all I could to avoid placing myself in that kind of situation I instead pulled the front DPS control fuse and boom. Now I had no DPS at all. I'm ok with that cause I'm strong enough to move the bars and now I never had to worry about it coming and going.
Chapter 2;
I read on the other forum that someone's dealer had discovered the DPS unit would eventually get warm and start drawing more power than it needed. By testing the amount of power being pulled in at start up and then checking again after a 30 minute ride. After the ride the unit was pulling way more than it should. (i never noted the values)
When I first started having issues I noticed my fender lights dimming as I applied pressure on the bars. It would not happen in the morning but as I approached the end of my 90 minute commute and sat at red lights, I could give a little push on the bars and the lights would dimm down as well as my RPMs. Now we are in the 10k - 15k mile range and now when my rpms drop down in traffic my engine seems to want to stall. Eventually its does start to stall on me.
After an unknown amount of time my engine would just start dying down as if it was dying... and I started thinking about that phantom power draw at the DPS. "Was it draining my battery?"
The few times that it did stall I would be able to just fire it back up, battery light would flash, I would rev it up for a little bit and then all would be well again.. Anytime this would happen I would also start to get a really strong gas smell and I would start backfiring like a popcorn maker. I would approach red lights, let off the gas, pull in the clutch and my RPMs would drop down as far as 1k. If I was not ready to give it gas, it would just stall out and my gauge would blink as it does when you firt put the key in. (gauge needles fly up and down)
Chapter 3;
Needles to say this became a hassle after a while. Then the idea came to me. Although I removed the front DPS fuse, that is not the main DPS fuse. So I went to the rear panel and removed the large DPS fuse. My thought was that maybe the DPS device itself is still drawing power as the front sue was only for a switch to tell it to work... (don't how true this is, its just a thought)
WoW!
No codes, No DPS at all, RPM issues no longer there,
flashing battery light in city traffic = gone,
strong gas smell in city traffic = gone (and yes I still overfill sometimes to the point of spilling out)
backfires in city traffic = gone
stalls at red lights = gone
I start noticing a difference about 50 miles in to my first ride after removing the rear fuse. The Spyder runs like new again. I've logged nearly 4k miles this way with no codes and the engine is running great!
I dropped the Spyder at the dealer yesterday for Tires, brake pads, rear bearings and to replace a faulty oil pressure switch. I also specifically asked them to not touch the DPS, just leave it alone. I'm still riding with heated gear and I don't care to be a guinea pig to have this gremlin tracked down. I'm perfectly happy wihtout the assistance of the DPS.
I take the time to put this in here just to share the information and not recommending that you do the same. Just sharing my experience.
There is life without DPS....
* Disclaimer *
I'm not a mechanic or a CanAm tech so its entirely possible that whatever was causing me issues was not the the DPS. The fact that all my problems dissapperaed at the exact moment of me removing those fuses could just be a coincedence.... or, may not
my power steering was butter smooth in the first 5k miles. I could navigate curves with one hand and often goofed off doing things like leaning off, waving to the side or just gliding through a curve.
Chapter 1;
Somewhere after 5k miles the DPS became unpredictable. The same curves that I once navigated with such ease would now be completely unpredictable. Sometimes as I entered the turn, the force to make the turn suddenly became so great that I would have to get off the throttle and use upper body strength to make it through. I'm talking slow speed turns on back roads and not on the highway. Under 30MPH but still fast enough to generate some panic because even at 20mph a tree will hurt.
Symptom number two would be instant increase or decrease in steering while in the turn. This really started bugging me because now I would enter a curve feel that it was hard, pull with extra strength and then suddenly the steering would break loose (DPS kicks in) and now all that extra force is not needed and I'm actually pulling myself in to the other lane. Now we are reaching higher levels of panic cause I don't want to hit the front bumper of a Buick. This also started becoming a serious issue for me as I navigated NYC traffic before and after work. Weaving from lane to lane I need to know how much force to use and what to expect.
I spent alot of time at the other forum and posted this info there. A few other folks talked about it but I also read enough horror stories about it not getting fixed so I was not about to run down to the dealer. ( I have an issue and I don't want to stop riding) I was not at all excited by the idea of leaving it with the dealer while everyone attempts to discover what is wrong. One person described a situation where the dealer received a new DPS unit with a newer part number than expected and this new part number caused issues with their computer system. So although they installed it, it threw codes left and right the second the engine started, so it took 4 weeks to get his ride back.
Doing all I could to avoid placing myself in that kind of situation I instead pulled the front DPS control fuse and boom. Now I had no DPS at all. I'm ok with that cause I'm strong enough to move the bars and now I never had to worry about it coming and going.
Chapter 2;
I read on the other forum that someone's dealer had discovered the DPS unit would eventually get warm and start drawing more power than it needed. By testing the amount of power being pulled in at start up and then checking again after a 30 minute ride. After the ride the unit was pulling way more than it should. (i never noted the values)
When I first started having issues I noticed my fender lights dimming as I applied pressure on the bars. It would not happen in the morning but as I approached the end of my 90 minute commute and sat at red lights, I could give a little push on the bars and the lights would dimm down as well as my RPMs. Now we are in the 10k - 15k mile range and now when my rpms drop down in traffic my engine seems to want to stall. Eventually its does start to stall on me.
After an unknown amount of time my engine would just start dying down as if it was dying... and I started thinking about that phantom power draw at the DPS. "Was it draining my battery?"
The few times that it did stall I would be able to just fire it back up, battery light would flash, I would rev it up for a little bit and then all would be well again.. Anytime this would happen I would also start to get a really strong gas smell and I would start backfiring like a popcorn maker. I would approach red lights, let off the gas, pull in the clutch and my RPMs would drop down as far as 1k. If I was not ready to give it gas, it would just stall out and my gauge would blink as it does when you firt put the key in. (gauge needles fly up and down)
Chapter 3;
Needles to say this became a hassle after a while. Then the idea came to me. Although I removed the front DPS fuse, that is not the main DPS fuse. So I went to the rear panel and removed the large DPS fuse. My thought was that maybe the DPS device itself is still drawing power as the front sue was only for a switch to tell it to work... (don't how true this is, its just a thought)
WoW!
No codes, No DPS at all, RPM issues no longer there,
flashing battery light in city traffic = gone,
strong gas smell in city traffic = gone (and yes I still overfill sometimes to the point of spilling out)
backfires in city traffic = gone
stalls at red lights = gone
I start noticing a difference about 50 miles in to my first ride after removing the rear fuse. The Spyder runs like new again. I've logged nearly 4k miles this way with no codes and the engine is running great!
I dropped the Spyder at the dealer yesterday for Tires, brake pads, rear bearings and to replace a faulty oil pressure switch. I also specifically asked them to not touch the DPS, just leave it alone. I'm still riding with heated gear and I don't care to be a guinea pig to have this gremlin tracked down. I'm perfectly happy wihtout the assistance of the DPS.
I take the time to put this in here just to share the information and not recommending that you do the same. Just sharing my experience.
There is life without DPS....
* Disclaimer *
I'm not a mechanic or a CanAm tech so its entirely possible that whatever was causing me issues was not the the DPS. The fact that all my problems dissapperaed at the exact moment of me removing those fuses could just be a coincedence.... or, may not
kalavera
New member
The DPS unit is what needed to be replaced. Heard back from my dealer service dept. The have the part on order and wont be ready till next week. I bought my bike this past saturday afternoon and have only ridden it that day and sunday. Now its in the shop. sux i cant ride it
NancysToy
Motorbike Professor
Could be worse, you could live in Michigan. Snow sux, too!
-Scotty
Apparently BRP recommends that they are replaced at 30k miles. I'm real close to that number and my schedule is going to be tight over the next month so we went for it. Seems that everything was in really great shape except for those bearings, so I'm glad we went for it.
kalavera
New member
yep, mine did that. Its at the shop getting a new DPS unit
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