IdahoMtnSpyder
Active member
The other day I stopped at a rest area/view point in East Idaho. When I got back on the bike and started it immediately a check engine screen came up. The engine also wouldn't drop to idle speed, but stayed at 2000 to 2100 rpm. When I put it into reverse the clutch clattered and sounded like it was going to fly apart. I put it into neutral and checked for a code. P1614 was the only one to come up but I didn't bother to check it on Spyder Codes app. I thought I had a clutch getting ready to blow up. I shut the engine down and waited a few minutes. When I started it it did the same thing again. I managed to get into reverse long enough to back out of the parking spot, and got it into first with 2 or 3 tries. The clutch was clattering like hell, but shut up after I got moving. I was in the middle of nowhere so decided to try to get to a little bit of a town a few miles down the road. When I got on the highway the bike wouldn't go over 4000 rpm and 20 mph in 1st and 30 mph in 2nd. The bike was acting like it was in limp mode, but there was no limp mode screen showing. I came to a parking area along the road and decided I better stop and see if the engine was extremely low on oil, thinking maybe that was why the clutch was making so much noise.
The oil level was full. After about 20 minutes I got back on and all ran perfectly fine. The next day I stopped at Rexburg Motorsports and they squeezed me in for a BUDS check. Sure enough, I remembered correctly the code was P1614, which is for throttle idle position failure. Turns out that BOSS web does not recommend a throttle body replacement but does say to clean the throttle body. In fact the service tech said the throttle body should be cleaned periodically, like maybe about every 20,000 miles. I had close to 23,000 miles. Since I was 300+ miles from home and on a schedule I decided to not have the TB cleaned. On the way home about 80 miles from home it happened again. This time I shut down and then did an engine flood start procedure, i.e., hold throttle wide open and hit the starter. The engine won't start doing this but it opens the throttle plates all the way. I don't know it that procedure helped or not but it started right up and the bike has been running fine since. I have it scheduled for a TB cleaning.
Here's the lessons learned as I see it.
** The TB problem can happen to any machine, not just the ones that had the TB recall done. The tech said it's caused by oil residue building up in the TB from the oil vapor that gets sucked into the air box which can't be prevented entirely. The TB needs to be cleaned every once in awhile so any time you have to get to the air box and below, have the TB cleaned.
** Shifting the bike into gear at high idle speed can make the clutch sound like it's going to fly apart catastrophically.
** There are error codes that will send the bike into a limp mode like condition without throwing up a limp mode screen.
This issue falls right in line with these two recent threads. http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/...-this-racket-is-happening&highlight=limp+mode and http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/...mode-from-parking-on-hill&highlight=limp+mode.
The oil level was full. After about 20 minutes I got back on and all ran perfectly fine. The next day I stopped at Rexburg Motorsports and they squeezed me in for a BUDS check. Sure enough, I remembered correctly the code was P1614, which is for throttle idle position failure. Turns out that BOSS web does not recommend a throttle body replacement but does say to clean the throttle body. In fact the service tech said the throttle body should be cleaned periodically, like maybe about every 20,000 miles. I had close to 23,000 miles. Since I was 300+ miles from home and on a schedule I decided to not have the TB cleaned. On the way home about 80 miles from home it happened again. This time I shut down and then did an engine flood start procedure, i.e., hold throttle wide open and hit the starter. The engine won't start doing this but it opens the throttle plates all the way. I don't know it that procedure helped or not but it started right up and the bike has been running fine since. I have it scheduled for a TB cleaning.
Here's the lessons learned as I see it.
** The TB problem can happen to any machine, not just the ones that had the TB recall done. The tech said it's caused by oil residue building up in the TB from the oil vapor that gets sucked into the air box which can't be prevented entirely. The TB needs to be cleaned every once in awhile so any time you have to get to the air box and below, have the TB cleaned.
** Shifting the bike into gear at high idle speed can make the clutch sound like it's going to fly apart catastrophically.
** There are error codes that will send the bike into a limp mode like condition without throwing up a limp mode screen.
This issue falls right in line with these two recent threads. http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/...-this-racket-is-happening&highlight=limp+mode and http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/...mode-from-parking-on-hill&highlight=limp+mode.
