ST-S SE5 stuttered and died when coming to a stop

[AlphaJoe]

Had a strange thing happen yesterday, which fortunately happened when I was in my parking lot. I fired up like normal and backed out of my space, then went into first and was heading to the exit. When I slowed to stop at the exit, the bike just died. When I started it back up, it did not want to move forward. When I hit the gas it would rev like normal but it was like someone was holding the bike back. The transmission was making a clattering sound like a gear was slipping or something (I have heard that sound before if I don't let it warm up on a cold day). I put it in reverse to back away from the exit and everything was fine. As soon as I went back in to first it would idle rough and chug when I tried to go forward. I shut it off and did a check of fluids. I overfilled the oil last week, but other than that it seemed fine, but without the engine properly warmed up I didn't really trust the reading. I fired it back up and let it run for a few minutes, then tried again. Everything seemed fine and I rode it to my destination without issue. Rode it back that night and again this morning without any problems. I was curious if anyone knows what the issue could have been?

 

[stevencovert]

Does this sound right: It will run, but a quick twist on the throttle it will just chug up RPMs slowly; when moving (fwd or back) it stutters like mad. If that sounds right, I will bet you one beer that you have a fouled plug (that cleaned up a bit, but will foul again). A friend on our Spyder group has the same Spyder, and it started "chugging" in first, then would take off. Was OK for a month, then got worse over time until it just stutters and rattles trying to move all the time. I removed the front cylinder plug wire and it made no difference, meaning that cylinder was dead. Easy test - pop off the left panel (like you are checking oil) the coil is right there. Pop off the inner plug wire closest to the engine. It will start and be sluggish, and rattle like crazy (sounds like tranny) trying to move.

The reason I say it is the front cylinder is because of Murphy's Law. It is a REAL PAIN IN THE arse to get to that plug, 2 hour job tearing down the air box, etc and getting it all out. So it WILL be that plug that is fouled At least I am HOPING it is the plug, not some dang sensor or problem in the throttle body. Haven't got to it yet because the hurricane approacheth.

If it happens again, you can try popping off the plug wire. If you have not changed out plugs you can get a kit from Baja Ron (sponsor here) with ultra nice 8mm plug wires and premium fine tip Iridium plugs for about $100. I'd get this kit and grab a 6 pack and a buddy and upgrade just in case. In my friends case they still have the original Yausa battery, so we will put in a fresh one from Batteries Plus. I bought three for Spyders over the years they are nice.



Steve