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Check Suspension drop down message appears intermittently - any ideas/help?
- Thread starter Johnb
- Start date
Check to make sure the air compressor is working, look for/listen for air leaks, both of these have to do with the ride air suspension. Also look and make sure the little arm that hooks to the part of frame that goes to the rear tire is connected. If it's unhooked, it will not tell the air system of the ride height. I'm not sure how to explain all of the air ride height system stuff.
McClendons
Active member
Also, is your battery in good shape? Not sure if the 2022's used the cheap Chinese batteries or not, but they can cause comms issues that force error messages. Most likely the compressor/suspension, the one I would add to the post above is to make sure the Schrader valve in the system is tight and not leaking.
Mikey
Well-known member
How is the ride of the bike when it throws that message at you? Is it bottoming out? Can you feel, or hear the compressor when it kicks in, does it seem to run a lot of the time when you're riding it? When you go out to use your bike, before you start it, lift the seat to get to the schrader valve and put a tire gauge on it and check the pressure! There should be some air in the system after a rest overnight, if it has no air then you have a leak somewhere. Break out the soapy water and start to check the whole system to find the leak! Come back and tell us how you made out! Good Luck!
mecsw500
Active member
From what I posted to another forum. To the best of my understanding, this is how the auto ride height system works and can be debugged. It was in an answer to whether someone should fix their rear suspension with a new shock absorber so the situation is not the same question as you are asking, but it may help you debug your issue. I don’t know if the F3S is the same as an RT also. I might also be wrong in the details but here it goes…
–————————-
On my 2021 RT LTD when new it threw constant suspension codes and until they replaced everything apart from the shock before it fixed it. After that it worked find as does on my new 2026 model.
I'm pretty sure the shock absorber is completely separate from the air suspension system. The spring and shock function as per a normal motorcycle. The air system adjusts the ride height. This can be a manual or automatic system depending upon the year and model. With no air in the system the ride height is low and it bottoms out. With air in the system the ride height is set higher and the shock won't bottom out.
On my system they first failed to connect the ride height sensor to the swing arm which caused the pump to run continuously and burn out the pump pretty quickly. CHECK THIS FIRST. The arm has to be bolted to the top of the swing arm about a third of the way back from the pivot. As I found out, this critical PDI item ate though 3 pumps. Then they changed the outlet valve which was always dumping air out of the system slowly even when the bike was shut off and the ECU was not telling it to. One of the air pipes was leaking at a junction. Also, the manual air Schraeder valve under the passenger where you can insert air or test for pressure leaked too.
I used soapy water to test and find the the leaks at the ECU driven air release valve. That's fun to actually get to. Then it was soapy water for the Schraeder valve under the passenger seat until that was fixed. Soapy water on all the air pipe connections found those leaks. Of course, finding leaks in the air bag itself is a joy to get to to see what is happening.
To find those leaks, I used a bicycle pump to add about 30-40lbs of pressure at the Schraeder valve under the seat and then test everything with the engine off. If you put 40lbs in it in the evening, you should still have very close to 40lbs in the system in the morning. Don't use a compressor, you can easily over pressurize the system beyond the 90lbs limit in seconds.
If all of those are no problem and it still doesn't hold air it could be the back flow check valve which I believe is inside the pump, i.e. the new pump is faulty too.
Now to test the pump when the bike is running if everything checks out. First let enough air out of the Schraeder valve to get about 20lbs of pressure. Get someone of medium build to sit on the bike whilst you listen for the pump at the rear. Get them to start the bike, and put it into gear with the parking brake off, holding it on the brake pedal and you should hear the pump running if you are close to the rear.
Put the bike in neutral, set the parking brake and turn the bike off. You can measure the rider only pressure at the Schraeder valve under the rear seat. The exact pressure should be enough to compensate for the rider's weight. For my lardy 240lbs body I get about 35-40lbs.
Now, with the bike once again running, in gear and with the parking brake off, held on the foot brake, get another medium build person to sit on the rear of the bike as well. You should hear the pump add more air for the extra weight of two people as they sit down. Once the pump has stopped, get the second person to get off and you might hear the pressure outlet valve let some air out of the system. Then get the passenger to sit back on and the pump should run again to take it back up to pressure for two people. With two people still on the bike, put it in neutral, set the parking brake and turn the bike off. Now check the pressure at the Schraeder valve under the seat. It should be holding more pressure than it did with just one person, like 50lbs or so.
After many weeks through COVID this is what the dealer tech and I did as the thing was driving everyone crazy. It would be good after a test ride for an hour by the tech who weighed about 150lbs. I got on it and ran the same route at me being 240lbs and every time I went over a rise in the freeway surface, when the suspension unloaded and the system extended, it would throw fault codes.
We also got fooled because the pump would only do its thing when the bike was running, in gear with the parking brake off. Once we figured out how it all worked we found our way past faulty pumps, pipe junction leaks, outlet valve leaks and the Schraeder valve leaking. Every time we thought all was good, the problem returned. It was because there was actually one PDI assembly problem and four actual air leek faults. If the pump runs continuously they can overheat and burn out pretty quickly.
I hope all this helps. This is the best of what I remember we went through but it was five years ago. It drove me mad. I couldn't understand as how something as simple as a PDI assembly error and then a pump change would take us down this rabbit hole.
I'm not a Spyder expert but this was my experience. Make sure you get someone who can follow instructions to sit on the Spyder and run it in gear with the parking brake off and not drive through your garage wall. Also, only run the thing with the garage door open.
I really don't think it is your shock absorber at 18,000 miles and I doubt that would throw fault codes. As far as I can tell, when they replace the shock with an after market item, it has nothing to do with the automatic air ride height system. I'd hate to see you spend a lot of money on a fancy shock absorber until the core issue is fixed.
———————
I hope some of this helps.
–————————-
On my 2021 RT LTD when new it threw constant suspension codes and until they replaced everything apart from the shock before it fixed it. After that it worked find as does on my new 2026 model.
I'm pretty sure the shock absorber is completely separate from the air suspension system. The spring and shock function as per a normal motorcycle. The air system adjusts the ride height. This can be a manual or automatic system depending upon the year and model. With no air in the system the ride height is low and it bottoms out. With air in the system the ride height is set higher and the shock won't bottom out.
On my system they first failed to connect the ride height sensor to the swing arm which caused the pump to run continuously and burn out the pump pretty quickly. CHECK THIS FIRST. The arm has to be bolted to the top of the swing arm about a third of the way back from the pivot. As I found out, this critical PDI item ate though 3 pumps. Then they changed the outlet valve which was always dumping air out of the system slowly even when the bike was shut off and the ECU was not telling it to. One of the air pipes was leaking at a junction. Also, the manual air Schraeder valve under the passenger where you can insert air or test for pressure leaked too.
I used soapy water to test and find the the leaks at the ECU driven air release valve. That's fun to actually get to. Then it was soapy water for the Schraeder valve under the passenger seat until that was fixed. Soapy water on all the air pipe connections found those leaks. Of course, finding leaks in the air bag itself is a joy to get to to see what is happening.
To find those leaks, I used a bicycle pump to add about 30-40lbs of pressure at the Schraeder valve under the seat and then test everything with the engine off. If you put 40lbs in it in the evening, you should still have very close to 40lbs in the system in the morning. Don't use a compressor, you can easily over pressurize the system beyond the 90lbs limit in seconds.
If all of those are no problem and it still doesn't hold air it could be the back flow check valve which I believe is inside the pump, i.e. the new pump is faulty too.
Now to test the pump when the bike is running if everything checks out. First let enough air out of the Schraeder valve to get about 20lbs of pressure. Get someone of medium build to sit on the bike whilst you listen for the pump at the rear. Get them to start the bike, and put it into gear with the parking brake off, holding it on the brake pedal and you should hear the pump running if you are close to the rear.
Put the bike in neutral, set the parking brake and turn the bike off. You can measure the rider only pressure at the Schraeder valve under the rear seat. The exact pressure should be enough to compensate for the rider's weight. For my lardy 240lbs body I get about 35-40lbs.
Now, with the bike once again running, in gear and with the parking brake off, held on the foot brake, get another medium build person to sit on the rear of the bike as well. You should hear the pump add more air for the extra weight of two people as they sit down. Once the pump has stopped, get the second person to get off and you might hear the pressure outlet valve let some air out of the system. Then get the passenger to sit back on and the pump should run again to take it back up to pressure for two people. With two people still on the bike, put it in neutral, set the parking brake and turn the bike off. Now check the pressure at the Schraeder valve under the seat. It should be holding more pressure than it did with just one person, like 50lbs or so.
After many weeks through COVID this is what the dealer tech and I did as the thing was driving everyone crazy. It would be good after a test ride for an hour by the tech who weighed about 150lbs. I got on it and ran the same route at me being 240lbs and every time I went over a rise in the freeway surface, when the suspension unloaded and the system extended, it would throw fault codes.
We also got fooled because the pump would only do its thing when the bike was running, in gear with the parking brake off. Once we figured out how it all worked we found our way past faulty pumps, pipe junction leaks, outlet valve leaks and the Schraeder valve leaking. Every time we thought all was good, the problem returned. It was because there was actually one PDI assembly problem and four actual air leek faults. If the pump runs continuously they can overheat and burn out pretty quickly.
I hope all this helps. This is the best of what I remember we went through but it was five years ago. It drove me mad. I couldn't understand as how something as simple as a PDI assembly error and then a pump change would take us down this rabbit hole.
I'm not a Spyder expert but this was my experience. Make sure you get someone who can follow instructions to sit on the Spyder and run it in gear with the parking brake off and not drive through your garage wall. Also, only run the thing with the garage door open.
I really don't think it is your shock absorber at 18,000 miles and I doubt that would throw fault codes. As far as I can tell, when they replace the shock with an after market item, it has nothing to do with the automatic air ride height system. I'd hate to see you spend a lot of money on a fancy shock absorber until the core issue is fixed.
———————
I hope some of this helps.
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