Surging

[Grandpot]

My 2011 RTS-SE5 now has about 18,000 miles on it. Lately it has developed a slight surge when cruising steady at highway speeds. Outside temperature and humidity have no effect. I use high octane gas. Vacuum hoses are new, plugs and wires are new. Air filter is new. Speed and RPM do not register a change. The surge is slight, but very annoying.

I searched for answers, but did not find any. There were all kinds of suggestions. It seems a lot of folks have had this problem.

Has anyone actually found a fix?:dontknow:

 

[Grandpot]

Bump

Bump

 

[quasi]

My 2011 RTS-SE5 now has about 18,000 miles on it. Lately it has developed a slight surge when cruising steady at highway speeds. Outside temperature and humidity have no effect. I use high octane gas. Vacuum hoses are new, plugs and wires are new. Air filter is new. Speed and RPM do not register a change. The surge is slight, but very annoying.

I searched for answers, but did not find any. There were all kinds of suggestions. It seems a lot of folks have had this problem.

Has anyone actually found a fix?:dontknow:

come to think of it mine does that. I figured it had something to do with the clutch pack. i'd forgot all about it. haven't been on the highway with it since last fall.

 

[bmwlarry]

When I had ny 2011, I bought it from an older guy and he put 250 miles on it. This was the first spyder I ever rode. It had a huge surge when down shifting and I rode it for 3000 miles like that. It wasn't until I took it in for service I learned that bit was not supposed to do that. Turns out the clutch pac was toast and it was never releasing completely. They replaced the clutch pac with a new one under warranty and never had that problem again. your post, however, sounds like it is doing it under speed. that is different that what mine was doing. just thinking out loud.

 

[Chupaca]

Interesting. ...

does it feel like engine surge or traction. Some oils will cause the clutches to do this or there is a clutch problem. On the engine side could be a gasoline of filter problem. Moisture in the fuel system or a dirty filter. :dontknow: If the filter has not been changed it would be a good time to change it anyway.

 

[Grandpot]

does it feel like engine surge or traction. Some oils will cause the clutches to do this or there is a clutch problem. On the engine side could be a gasoline of filter problem. Moisture in the fuel system or a dirty filter. :dontknow: If the filter has not been changed it would be a good time to change it anyway.

I'm using Amsoil from Ron. The fuel filter is the only one I have not changed. I'll give it a try.

 

[Bob Denman]

I'd have the dealer check to make sure that your throttle position sensor isn't getting a bit wonky... :thumbup:

 

[Pandy]

Now that you mentioned it

I'm getting ready to investigate clutch woes on my machine as well. I had posted about creeping at stops and the centrifugal clutch was mentioned as a possible culprit. Surging at speed as well.hmm, I guess I'll do the whole thing,clutch pack and all. Parts are kinda pricey but considering 62k miles meh
Let us know what you determine. If you please.

 

[cptjam]

Diagnostics

My 2011 RTS-SE5 now has about 18,000 miles on it. Lately it has developed a slight surge when cruising steady at highway speeds. Outside temperature and humidity have no effect. I use high octane gas. Vacuum hoses are new, plugs and wires are new. Air filter is new. Speed and RPM do not register a change. The surge is slight, but very annoying.

I searched for answers, but did not find any. There were all kinds of suggestions. It seems a lot of folks have had this problem.

Has anyone actually found a fix?:dontknow:

Change fuel filter.
run a bottle of sea foam thru.
once fuel system is eliminated from the problem, look at clutch.

 

[Grandpot]

I'm getting ready to investigate clutch woes on my machine as well. I had posted about creeping at stops and the centrifugal clutch was mentioned as a possible culprit. Surging at speed as well.hmm, I guess I'll do the whole thing,clutch pack and all. Parts are kinda pricey but considering 62k miles meh
Let us know what you determine. If you please.

The problem I am having is very slight and very consistent. I'm going to start looking at a fuel delivery issue. If it were the clutch I would expect a more abrupt surge and also see a change in RPM.

This is just an annoying problem that is becoming a crusade.

 

[Marker]

My 2011 RTS-SE5 now has about 18,000 miles on it. Lately it has developed a slight surge when cruising steady at highway speeds. Outside temperature and humidity have no effect. I use high octane gas. Vacuum hoses are new, plugs and wires are new. Air filter is new. Speed and RPM do not register a change. The surge is slight, but very annoying.

I searched for answers, but did not find any. There were all kinds of suggestions. It seems a lot of folks have had this problem.

Has anyone actually found a fix?:dontknow:

I owned a 2010 Rt SE5 and my clutch pack came apart. The C clip fell off and the washers from the clutch pack fell off getting chewed up and sucked into both oil filters.
I did not notice surging but rough shifting compared to when the clutch pack was fixed. Repairing the clutch pack was under extended warranty as it cost $4500.00 CDN to fix.

 

[bmwlarry]

I'm getting ready to investigate clutch woes on my machine as well. I had posted about creeping at stops and the centrifugal clutch was mentioned as a possible culprit. Surging at speed as well.hmm, I guess I'll do the whole thing,clutch pack and all. Parts are kinda pricey but considering 62k miles meh
Let us know what you determine. If you please.

What you describe is definitely a bad clutch. This is the main reason I moved up to a 15. the idea of now having a hydraulic clutch makes riding a marvelous worry free ride now. If at all possible, when at the dealer - get yourself a 14 on up bike! You will NEVER regret the move!

 

[DrewNJ]

The problem I am having is very slight and very consistent. I'm going to start looking at a fuel delivery issue. If it were the clutch I would expect a more abrupt surge and also see a change in RPM.

This is just an annoying problem that is becoming a crusade.

Try this first....take off the right side panel and pinch off the line to the purge valve, then go for a ride. See if your slight surge goes away.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[Grandpot]

Try this first....take off the right side panel and pinch off the line to the purge valve, then go for a ride. See if your slight surge goes away.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

That's quick and dirty. I'll try that first. Can't do it until Saturday, but I will post a follow-up on your suggestion and that of the others. Thank you, everyone.

 

[Grandpot]

Update

When the cause of a problem just doesn't jump out at you, try the simple stuff first. My suspicion was a fuel delivery problem, so I decided to change fuel. I ran the tank of 93 octane gas to empty and filled it 87 octane. The surging went away almost immediately.

I had used 93 octane almost all the time and had the surging, so it wasn't that I just got a bad tank full when the surging began. I'm going to run some Techron for a tank and try the 93 octane again. If it starts to surge again, I'll go back to running the 87 octane.

 

[merlot]

surging

hi grandpot
my 2013 RT did this also
its almost imperceptible but you know its there..i tried to kid myself that it was wind bufferting
it seemed worse after the heat recall,so much so that i got rid of it
i used super fuel always which is just below avgas here..i tried a fuel controller but just wasted my money
i now have a 2014 RT and the motor is a gem
when i ease out the clutch it dosent rev up all by itself(to 1800 rpm)..that feature alone drove me nuts,i had to wait for the revs to die down before shifting again when shunting
hope you get it sorted
russ

 

[11rtLTD]

When the cause of a problem just doesn't jump out at you, try the simple stuff first. My suspicion was a fuel delivery problem, so I decided to change fuel. I ran the tank of 93 octane gas to empty and filled it 87 octane. The surging went away almost immediately.

I had used 93 octane almost all the time and had the surging, so it wasn't that I just got a bad tank full when the surging began. I'm going to run some Techron for a tank and try the 93 octane again. If it starts to surge again, I'll go back to running the 87 octane.

My RT is doing the same thing. Are you still running 87 or did you go back to the 93 octane after the Techron?

 

[Grandpot]

My RT is doing the same thing. Are you still running 87 or did you go back to the 93 octane after the Techron?

After awhile I still had surging with the 87 octane, so that was not a cure. I went back to 93 octane.

I then did a canisterectomy. http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/showthread.php?13298-Canisterectomy&highlight=canisterectomy

So far the surging has stopped completely. I was going to wait awhile before I posted this result for fear of being premature, but since you asked, it appears to be the correct fix for the problem.

 

[Easy Rider]

run a bottle of sea foam thru.

Do yourself a favor and use a product that was designed to be a fuel system cleaner; SeaFoam isn't.
Berrymans B12, Gumout and Techron are much better cleaners.


Then......a wild guess:
Brake rotors are never absolutely true; a slightly sticking caliper can cause a feeling like surging. Easy to check.
So could a bad spot in the drive belt or a tire going bad.

(Edit: I see that the fix took an entirely different turn. It is important to note that the canister only becomes a problem IF it ends up with liquid gas in it......and that most often happens by over-filling the tank. The thread provided also had some suggestions for "fixing" the canister.)

 

[11rtLTD]

After awhile I still had surging with the 87 octane, so that was not a cure. I went back to 93 octane.

I then did a canisterectomy. http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/showthread.php?13298-Canisterectomy&highlight=canisterectomy

So far the surging has stopped completely. I was going to wait awhile before I posted this result for fear of being premature, but since you asked, it appears to be the correct fix for the problem.

Thanks Grandpot, I will ponder this for a while.. I bought the bike used so I suppose the EVAP canister could be completed saturated.