New to me 2009 RS with ABS/VSS/EBD fault - Any ideas??

[Coolvirgo54]

Just acquired a 2009 RS with 30K miles for very little money. It's permanently in limp home due to ABS/VSS/EBD fault. Dealer claims ABS unit needs replacing. It has had front and rear brakes separated for over 15k miles with front brake lever and master cylinder on the handlebars. This was supposedly a kit, but I have no information on it.
Any help or information would be really appreciated. I don't believe the ABS unit has suddenly failed.

 

[Peter Aawen]

The first step with ANY problem presenting multiple faults/issues like this is to CHECK THE BATTERY AND ALL TERMINALS & EARTHS!! :lecturef_smilie:

It might be something else, but multiple system failures resulting in limp home mode are quite rare and invariably expensive to fix; dead or dying batteries, especially in older bikes, are VERY COMMON, especially with the under the seat batteries and dodgy earth points under there on bikes of this vintage, and they are relatively easy to diagnose and cheap to fix! Heaps of info and reading if you search for it. :thumbup:

 

[larryd]

I can't help with your fault codes. But I do remember that a guy named Ken that ran a different Spyder Forum offered a kit that separated the front and rear brakes. That was way back in the 08 & 09 GS only days. Larryd

 

[Snowbelt Spyder]

Just acquired a 2009 RS with 30K miles for very little money. It's permanently in limp home due to ABS/VSS/EBD fault. Dealer claims ABS unit needs replacing. It has had front and rear brakes separated for over 15k miles with front brake lever and master cylinder on handlebars. This was supposedly a kit but i have no information on it.
Any help or information would be really appreciated. I don't believe the ABS unit has suddenly failed.

I assume you know that on a Spyder, the ABS unit isn’t just an ABS unit. It is the Vehicle Control Module. One of the black box computers in the system. Occasionally they do go belly up suddenly. Besides battery and battery connections, check the fuses, and the wheel speed sensors. Check both the sensor gap and the sensor wire harness for damage. The brakes have been split for 15k with no issues? Probably not that.

And while you have it all apart, change the vacuum hoses while you’re in there. Two to the MAP sensor and one to the fuel pressure regulator.

 

[tbjohnson10]

Just acquired a 2009 RS with 30K miles for very little money. It's permanently in limp home due to ABS/VSS/EBD fault. Dealer claims ABS unit needs replacing. It has had front and rear brakes separated for over 15k miles with front brake lever and master cylinder on the handlebars. This was supposedly a kit, but I have no information on it.
Any help or information would be really appreciated. I don't believe the ABS unit has suddenly failed.

Were you ever able to get this figured out? Mine's been like this for a few years, and I can't find a dealer around here to work on it. Thanks

 

[Peter Aawen]

Do note that this is a thread dating back to April 2024, and @Coolvirgo54 hasn't looked in for almost 6 months now...

Still, I dunno about 'fixing' this, cos every one of those early Spyders that I've seen &/or ridden (that's a few, not a dozen tho... ) which has had a separate hand brake system added to the front brakes only (as opposed to one of the 'Hand Brake kits' from ISCI & others that links up to the foot brake/OEM Master Cylinder and works in conjunction with the OEM Brakes rather than separately.m ) has had those ABD/VSS/EBD faults ALL the time, from the date of installation/first ride, without any recourse or repair!!

These things still sorta 'functioned' as a Spyder, but without all the traction control & stability features that make Spyders so fantastic to ride in the twisties where there's only short straights and tight curves to let the inherent 'Reverse Trike' stability and the Nanny to really show their stuff, and a clean pair of heels to anything else, so they weren't all that much fun there - but they would do donuts & make lotsa smoke from spinning the rear wheel... And IIRC, they were all basically in 'Limp Home Mode' all the time, with varying degrees of limitation on how hard you could ride them... but they would do donuts & make lotsa smoke from spinning the rear wheel!

Basically, it seemed to me that those who separated the front and rear brakes pretty much converted their Spyders into machines that were pretty limited in the where and how they could be ridden. After one ride on such a machine, I heard one of the other blokes who'd tried it describe it as 'loosely guided lawn dart, with a mandatory speed limiter to avoid spearing the rider off into the shrubbery with a homicidal intent', and my experience then had pretty much been exactly like that - and it was on a skid pan too, not on a road! But they would get up to about 100kph/60-ish mph in a straight line and they would do donuts & make lotsa smoke from spinning the rear wheel...

I know we tried to help with yours a few years back @tbjohnson10 (Jan '23) and the consensus then was that you might've had a dodgy sensor &/or wires, or you'd got all the Codes due to a low &/or dead/dying battery, which can and does often do exactly that cascade of Codes & Errors until Limp Mode kicks in; but I don't think we ever heard back from you if you'd ever had any success with checking/fixing any issues with those sensors/wires or with a properly charged new battery - but I reckon we also didn't know about the separated hand brake back then either?

Was this separated hand brake system fitted then, &/or is this still the same issue? Can you remember who/when the hand brake was fitted, and did all this start around the same time?? The more we know, the more likely we can offer some help?!

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