WaltH
Senior Member
I hope you don’t make this kind of stupid mistake.
I was coming home last night from a short trip in Florida (400 miles) on my 2009 GS/RS, when I discovered at a routine pit stop that I had no tail lights. It was 7:00 pm and would be getting dark soon. I found the blown fuse and replaced it. The new fuse blew immediately when the ignition switch was turned on (direct short somewhere). I was thinking it would be necessary to stay at a hotel and drive home in the morning.
I called my son for advice. He recommended that I check out the Cat-Eye tail light (replaced the stock license plate light), which had given us some trouble in the past. The Cat-Eye looks great, but mounted on the fender; the vibration beats the crap out of it. To make the story shorter, I will just say it was immediately apparent what had happened. I corrected this and replaced the fuse again. This time Bingo! The Spyder lit up like a Christmas tree. Hurray!
When it was time to go, I realized the instrument cluster was dead and I had no power steering. I pulled the fuse for the cluster. It looked good, but I replaced it anyway. Still no instrument cluster. I assumed it must be a blown fuse for the power steering for which I think there is a fuse in the front and one in the back. I didn’t have a fuse for the back, so I decided to just go home anyway. Home was 130 miles away. I drove home with no speedometer, no odometer, no gas gauge, and no power steering. Everything else worked great. This was the first time I had ever driven a Spyder without power steering. It is an interesting experience.
Later at home, when I was trying to get to sleep, I thought “I wonder if I correctly replaced the relay that I removed to get to the fuse for the lights”. This didn’t help my insomnia. First thing this morning, I checked the relay. It was not installed correctly. Fortunately, nothing was damaged. Now, the instrument cluster works perfectly, and without leaving the garage, I knew the power steering was back. Just to be sure, I took it for a short ride. At first, I had a tendency to over-steer a wee bit.
My stupid mistake was not that I incorrectly replaced the relay. It was not remembering to go back and double check the last thing I did before the new problem arose. People have been telling me since I was a boy – “when a new and unexpected problem arises, go back and check the last thing you did before the new problem arose”.
Now I have another 130 miles on the Spyder that are not on the odometer. These miles can join the 62,137 miles that were already on the Spyder and not on the odometer (odometer reset problem).
Sometimes the obvious is not so easy to see.
I was coming home last night from a short trip in Florida (400 miles) on my 2009 GS/RS, when I discovered at a routine pit stop that I had no tail lights. It was 7:00 pm and would be getting dark soon. I found the blown fuse and replaced it. The new fuse blew immediately when the ignition switch was turned on (direct short somewhere). I was thinking it would be necessary to stay at a hotel and drive home in the morning.
I called my son for advice. He recommended that I check out the Cat-Eye tail light (replaced the stock license plate light), which had given us some trouble in the past. The Cat-Eye looks great, but mounted on the fender; the vibration beats the crap out of it. To make the story shorter, I will just say it was immediately apparent what had happened. I corrected this and replaced the fuse again. This time Bingo! The Spyder lit up like a Christmas tree. Hurray!
When it was time to go, I realized the instrument cluster was dead and I had no power steering. I pulled the fuse for the cluster. It looked good, but I replaced it anyway. Still no instrument cluster. I assumed it must be a blown fuse for the power steering for which I think there is a fuse in the front and one in the back. I didn’t have a fuse for the back, so I decided to just go home anyway. Home was 130 miles away. I drove home with no speedometer, no odometer, no gas gauge, and no power steering. Everything else worked great. This was the first time I had ever driven a Spyder without power steering. It is an interesting experience.
Later at home, when I was trying to get to sleep, I thought “I wonder if I correctly replaced the relay that I removed to get to the fuse for the lights”. This didn’t help my insomnia. First thing this morning, I checked the relay. It was not installed correctly. Fortunately, nothing was damaged. Now, the instrument cluster works perfectly, and without leaving the garage, I knew the power steering was back. Just to be sure, I took it for a short ride. At first, I had a tendency to over-steer a wee bit.
My stupid mistake was not that I incorrectly replaced the relay. It was not remembering to go back and double check the last thing I did before the new problem arose. People have been telling me since I was a boy – “when a new and unexpected problem arises, go back and check the last thing you did before the new problem arose”.
Now I have another 130 miles on the Spyder that are not on the odometer. These miles can join the 62,137 miles that were already on the Spyder and not on the odometer (odometer reset problem).
Sometimes the obvious is not so easy to see.
