As many have seen from my other post on recent TPS and ACT sensor issues after engine rebuild. What a racket. Maybe I was just lucky with my first ~15 months with SR3XX with no problems, but am scared to think what may be coming.
My car's TPS and ACT were fine before the engine rebuild. The TPS apparently went bad at some point during the install and was replaced by dealer doing the install. During my first weekend event a few weeks ago, my car experienced weird shifting issues which were identified as bad TPS and ACT. So, I took it back for resolution. Much to my surprise, was charged again for another expensive TPS.
WTH was my first reaction. No warranty on Radical parts, even though it apparently did not work out of the box. This is a staggering business practice to me. I dont know of any other market where manufacturer's dont stand behind their products any better than this (straight out of the box). I was told another Radical car owner/driver recently went thru three (3) TPS sensors in one weekend. These freaking things are apparently so fragile, or low quality manufacturing, that they fail completely unexplainably. I asked a rhetorical question: if I purchase 5 of these sensors and all are defective in the box, I still have to pay and Radical wont warranty, what a scam. Interesting new marketing plan to sell more parts, package low quality inferior stuff and charge $250 each box for the crap shoot.
This brings back memories to when I received my SR3XX, the shifter air valve body was complete failure and had to be replaced before I could drive anywhere the very first time. I was furious that I was supposed to pay for replacement on brand new car. After much hassle with a couple dealers, Radical finally stepped up and sent replacement part.
Sorry for the venting. I know this is an expensive hobby, but this is freaking ridiculous. I know for a fact that other manufacturers like Porsche Motorsports stand by their expensive parts.
I have had a similar experience with the TPS. New engine with maybe 6 hours. Throttle kept cutting out. Logs showed TPS failure. Replaced. Ran one session fine. Second session toward the end it started happening again. Logs show another bad TPS! So now I am on my third. Asked SM and Crown and both say this is not uncommon. I heard that Radical is testing a different TPS but doesn’t help us now.
This issue will likely disappear when Radical switch to the newest generation Hayabusa engine with 'fly by wire' throttle body control. The engine will have it's own integrated TPS from the Suzuki factory, and I suspect that this will be kept when Radical install these new engines into the new cars...
Does nothing to help you both with your TPS issues... and makes me wonder if I should be carrying a spare TPS in my toolbox. How much are these things (approx)?
@azwcat .. looks like the TPS is a standard Jenvey item (would need to check but the TPS housing looks the same and the plug that connects to the cars loom is the same EconoSeal type)
Interesting the suggested tightening torque is only 1.6N.m (about 1.2ft/lb or 14in/lb)... I reckon mine is done up much tighter than that right now!!
Mine cost $271 ea. I guess I can understand a part going bad after service, but straight out of box, crazy that we have to pay for this. Normally I care spare critical parts myself, but at present, does not seem like the brand new in box part is assured of working either.
Do yall have actual part number and source in the US to purchase outside of Radical? I am not familiar with Jenvey.
This does seem to be a concern. I damaged my TPS by over-tightening the screws that hold it in place, and I was warned by Radical and Jonathan of Group-A never to over-tighten because the parts are plastic and can/will deform and permanently damage the TPS.
Dan, can you be certain that the TPS was in fact defective "straight out of box" and that installation did not damage it?
On the topic of receiving bad parts, my AiM GPS09 failed shortly after using it with a new car this year. I sent it to AiM and they confirmed it was bad. No questions were asked and they sent my GPS back to Italy where it received a new circuit board and sent back to me; the repair was covered by warranty (which I believe is one year) which is how it should work if the part is defective.
Yes it is possible it was damaged during handling/installation by others, not me. Thus, not pursuing elevating it higher. With that being said, me the consumer is caught paying for more stuff unnecessarily, whether the part or the install. It doesnt negate the fact of how fragile this particular part is along with others noted above in a arguably violent application which we put these cars thru.
On a side note, I carefully watched these parts replacements and procedures closely this time as it was my first chance to see it in action. Wow, that TPS needs a simple micro-adjustment feature independent of two tightening screws. That calibration took several repetitive steps to hit the high/low numbers while being secure. I will certainly do this myself in the future.
Wow. All I can be is sympathetic. I've entirely swapped out all Jenvey parts on my SR8 (at mega expense), switching to AT Power and Kinsler replacements. It took me three tries to get it all right, but now it's solid. No throttle issues anymore, and I used to have all kinds of weird issues.
Does anyone have exact part number for the TPS and a USA source outside of Radical?
@raider89 I am going to guess that it is a Colvern CP17 Throttle Potentiometer or Jenvey TP1, and probably not available in the USA outside of Radical dealers.
This is what a failed TPS looks like in your ECU data.
First image is zoomed out and showing normal TPS operation. At full throttle the TPS goes consistently to the max, for me this is 102.3 or 102.4.
Second image is also zoomed out and showing the TPS malfunctioning. At full throttle the TPS reading is very noisy. It is varying from 102 to 113.
Last image is a closeup of the throttle cutting out. Just before cutting out, the TPS shot up to 114.5 and then it completely cuts out to 0, before coming back alive. I have only experienced this in turns where you get on the gas very quickly on corner exit, but perhaps as this thing degrades further it will happen in more situations.
