bjt
Very Helpful Member
Wow. I am now officially "more than curious" as to the cause of this. I hope BRP can find the problem and a viable solution quickly.
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Wow. I am now officially "more than curious" as to the cause of this. I hope BRP can find the problem and a viable solution quickly.
Firefly
Active member
Sorry for your loss. Did you get another Spyder?
Did you file a report with the NHTSA ? I only see one report filed. It is very important to file the report, otherwise BRP might never do anything to fix it.
Okay---- now that we know of 3 CONFIRMED Spyder fires and 1 more that sounds legitimate is everyone ready to take this a bit more seriously?
I'm for sure parking mine outside until it cools down - especially since I park inside at home and at work.
This is as serious - if not MORE serious than the steering problems. Someone could be hurt or killed - let's try and avoid this!nojoke
Don in E Texas
New member
Darrell:
That is one heck of a first post!!!
Sad news to hear about recent fires - but glad no one was hurt (Mental hurt, of course, is to be expected)..
don
WaltH
Senior Member
This sounds the same as what happened to me. In about three minuets I had flames shooting 30 feet in the air. Obviously, this was the gasoline burning. The source of ignition is the mystery. The gas tank never exploded. The gas cap remained on the tank, but the opening for the gas lines and the fuel pump blew out. Except for the fire in Illinois, for which we don't know, all of the fires seem to have started in roughly the same place. Mine started on the right side of the Spyder right where the fuel filter and carbon canister are located. This, of course, does not rule out other possible sources of ignition.
I filed a report with the NHTSA. This should be done for the other fires as well. It is important to do this for the benefit of all Spyder owners.
I filed a report with the NHTSA. This should be done for the other fires as well. It is important to do this for the benefit of all Spyder owners.
Smylinacha
Yellinacha
Ducati is sounding better to me.
Another one? No. I do not trust them now. From my point of view a new one would have the same potential for burning as mine did.
No, I have not filed a report yet.
WaltH
Senior Member
I agonized over this issue myself before I bought Spyder #2. I could easily have bee killed, or my house destroyed. This was not an easy decision. Then, I decided to improve my odds by by making two important changes.
First: I am now super-super careful about filling the gas tank. I put the hose nozzle in the spout about 3-4 inches and stop filling at the first indication of spitting, or when the nozzle clicks off the first time. I want to leave plenty of room in the tank for expansion. I always fill up on the way out, and never on the way in. I don't want a full tank sitting in my garage, especially on a hot day (even though my garage is airconditioned). Gasoline comes out of the ground cold. There is always expansion. I am trying to prevent any possibilitiy of raw gasoline getting into the carbon canister.
Second: I installed a Kuryakyn breather tank. The crankcase breather hose no longer vents through the air box. It goes to the breather tank which is emptied at each oil change. As has been reported by others, the stock arrangement results in a great deal of oil splattered over the front of the engine and everything else in the area. I had 36,500 miles on Spyder #1 at the time of the fire. That is a lot of splattered oil.
These changes may not prevent the next fire, and they may not be relevent to the actual cause of my fire, but on the other hand they may help. I want BRP to find the actual cause of these fires so that we can make all of the changes that are appropriate. I believe the changes I have made have merit in their own right and will be continued along with the changes BRP recommends.
for you loss but :congrats: on your spyder#2 and we all want to know the causes of these fires.
NancysToy
Motorbike Professor
Well stated and well planned. Doing these things certainly can't hurt, and they do have merit alone. Overfilling the gas tank makes for unpleasant gas fumes coming from the canister, at very least. Unless you like the smell, prudent filling can make your ride more pleasant. Some kind of breather intervention keeps the oil out of the intake, which helps the Spyder run better. I know engineers say it is inconsequential, but the oil effectively lowers the octane of the fuel charge, makes for less atomization, and reduces power ever so slightly. It also makes for more carbon build-up on the backs of the valves and in the combustion chambers. It belongs somewhere else than in the intake.
I might add the prudent step of removing the Tupperware more often than just at the 3,000 mile inspections, and looking over and cleaning this area thoroughly. Like the man says...can't hurt.
-Scotty
Firefly
Active member
Good info and rules to follow to help avoid a fire. What originally was thought as a nuisance (oil dripping) is now a more serious concern.
I originally thought they had the oil dripping so that us Spyder owners would fit in better with the HD crowd - :roflblack:.
Another thing to mention is that as long as there is power to the Spyder (including the 20 second delayed shutdown), there is fuel pressure. Learned this when adjusting the fuel pressure regulator from Evoluzione.
I originally thought they had the oil dripping so that us Spyder owners would fit in better with the HD crowd - :roflblack:.
Another thing to mention is that as long as there is power to the Spyder (including the 20 second delayed shutdown), there is fuel pressure. Learned this when adjusting the fuel pressure regulator from Evoluzione.
WaltH
Senior Member
It is probably a good idea to keep power to the fuel pump in case the engine stalls out and you want a fast restart. Unfortunately, the 20 second delay seems not to apply to the engine fan. When I pulled up to my hotel, today, I was at 6 bars and the fan was running. I hit the kill switch and the fan stopped running. The ignition switch was still on. I turned the fan on with my override switch. Should not the fan have remained on?
Firefly
Active member
I agree the fan should stay on. Someone needs to devise a switch like your that runs on a timer or based on a temp sensor. I know my car fan keeps running after I park it.
One of our cars does this too, but now you got me thinking...
Is the coolant still circulating in these 'system" where the fan continues to run after shutoff?
In each case (circulation or not) what is the relative advantage of the fan still running after engine shutdown?
Seems to me that without an electric water pump that still also runs after shutoff the advantage would be less. Could the heat (hot coolant) from the engine block still migrate to the radiator without an operating water pump after shutoff?
Pete
Is the coolant still circulating in these 'system" where the fan continues to run after shutoff?
In each case (circulation or not) what is the relative advantage of the fan still running after engine shutdown?
Seems to me that without an electric water pump that still also runs after shutoff the advantage would be less. Could the heat (hot coolant) from the engine block still migrate to the radiator without an operating water pump after shutoff?
Pete
NancysToy
Motorbike Professor
No active circulation, but you still get some circulation by convection, as long as the thermostat remains open. Slower cooling than with a water pump running, but it beats nothing.
-Scotty
NancysToy
Motorbike Professor
SNOOPY
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SNOOPY
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