Blipper Shifter Diagnosistic

It sounds like you are making good progress.  I have attached a schematic of the shifting /blipper system.  Note that there are two different styles of blippers.  The kind shown is on the earlier Gen 2 cars and is made by geartronics, and the later systems are made by Life Racing.  An easy way to tell which system you have is to look at the blipper.  If you have wires going to it in addition to the pnematic line you have one of the early systems (like the one in the schematic).  If you only have a pneumatic line going to the blipper you have one of the later styles.

Regarding the next steps, I would recommend starting with the easy things.  I would recommend starting by checking for a pneumatic leak in the pipes going to the actuator.  One of them could have a leak which would keep the actuator from moving.  If that is good I would pull the line that isn't working and actuate a shift to see if air is being directed there.  The next thing I would do is check to make sure the wire harness isn't pinched or damaged anywhere. I would also check the connections to the throttle blipper ECU, Pneumatic distribution block, and dash board.  If all of that is good I would think one of the switches on the paddle shifter has gone bad and would trouble shout that to see if that is the problem. It isn't uncommon for the switches to fail in the paddles.  Radical does not sell the switches individually but I have been told that you can find the switches on line.

I hope this helps,

Charley

Ordered new harness and it came this week from the UK.  Was sick on Friday and Saturday, so finally got around to it today.  Unfortunately, that did not do the trick; down worked fine, up still did not work.  I’ll start checking the pressure out of the compressor.  

Hi Brandon,

I cannot tell from the pictures as they are too small, the actuator needs to bolt on the outside (towards left rear wheel) of your new gear lever.

Do you know if your car is on Life paddleshift? If so download the engine data and take a look at that, send it over to me if you want me to take a look for you, from this you can tell if the ECU is receiving a signal to change or not and then also see if if the actuator actually tries to me make the gear change.

Brandon, another thought, have you checked the actuator setting?

This is important to ensure it moves the same amount either way and with you fitting the new gear lever it may have changed.If it doesn't move far enough you wont complete the gear change.

I will check in the morning what the measurement should be and let you know.

Data will be useful if you have it.

Great comments Dan, and very nice of you to help analyse the data!  

Here are a few things from the manual that might help also.

According to the manual the measurement for the actuator is 166mm.

Here is some information on the pneumatic valve block that might be helpful.  I doubt that the leaking valve block is your issue, but you may as well check it while you are in there.  Also they pin out for the valve block could be helpful in trouble shooting depending on what data you get back from the ECU review.

Charley

Dan - Thanks for offering some thoughts.  Lord knows I need them since I'm not the most mechanical.......

I have the actuator on the outside of the gear shift - see the following pic:

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I measured the actuator, and this isn't the best pic, but it was around the 166mm, although I could not tell from the handbook if that was referencing the closed or actuated position.....

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Additionally, I switched the pneumatic lines going into the actuator and when I hit the left handle it would shift fine to 2nd, 3rd 4th, etc....  When it's in the correct setting, it will downshift correctly.

To Charley's point, I had cleaned and resealed the valve block before, so I don't think that is it either.  Here's an focused pic of my valve block, which I believe is the 1st gen Gear Tronics:

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I'm traveling now, but printed out some various specs / troubleshooting items from the various manuals and Charley's diagrams to focus on this weekend.

And FWIW, it did work at some point..... not my video and not my voice, but.....

Hi Brandon,

Actuator is the correct side of the gear lever which is good.

With regards to the setting of 166mm this is with the actuator bolted to the gear lever in its rest position, so essentially it will be half way through the actuator stroke for the same movement on up and down shifting. Doesnt sounds like this is your problem though if everything works with the left hand paddle.

Having already replacing the steering wheel loom I would now be carrying out a continuity test between the pin in the plug that the steering wheel connects too and the wiring loom where it goes into the geartronics box. Maybe worth also checking the switch itself on the wheel completes the circuit as required. After this it maybe a problem with the geartronics box.

You could also look to connect to geartronics with the correct lead and see if that gets a signal.

Looks like you might be on a geartronics system due to that valve block. Is your throttle blipper gold with an electronic connector?

If you have ruled out a pneumatic leak, I would be focusing on the switch in the paddles.  They do have a history of failing. It could also be a bent pin at one of the connectors.  Hopefully that is the issue and not the Geartronics box.   Out of curiosity, when did you notice the shifting not working?  Did it never work right, or just stop working, or did it stop working after something was done to the car?

You are getting closer.

Charley

Posted by: Brandon Fosbinder

So went to test, I could get car to down shift, but not upshift.  Wondering if there was something wrong with the ram, I reversed the air lines - went to retest, and left paddle would upshift - could not get right paddle to do anything.  Thus I'm thinking the wiring harness for the paddle is to blame and will likely order that - unless any of you have other ideas?

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I have had the wires that go to the paddle switches in the center of the steering wheel come unsoldered/work loose multiple times. Once from the common wire so lost both up and down and once on the up switch.  Probably from turning the steering wheel, you'd think it shouldn't be affected by rotating motion but things do strange things.  I've had to disassemble at the track and resolder at the track.

I'd test for continuity from the paddle switches to the bulkhead plug. Sounds like you've verified the mechanical portion is working, doesn't sound like it's getting a signal to do something. 

Posted by: CharleyH

Out of curiosity, when did you notice the shifting not working?  Did it never work right, or just stop working, or did it stop working after something was done to the car?

 

That was one of the systems that wasn’t hooked up when I got it.  Just put it back together, I thought....... 

I’m sure it’s just a connector that I didn’t find when doing the other things, hopefully....

Not that I'd recommend this course of action for others, but these were the sort of issues that led me down the path of a complete ECU replacement.

Blew off responsibilities this afternoon and started digging back into this…. 

To date, I’ve put a new steering wheel harness in and corrected the alignment of the ram system. Also reversed the lines from the valve block to the ram and car would upshift (with the left paddle) – so I didn’t think it was a problem with the ram itself. 

Decided to take off the valve block and see if there was a problem there.  It was holding good pressure and when I removed the line in, there was quite a bit of air.  Here’s my valve block:

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I noticed when I was putting the valve block back on that the shroud around the wiring harness was cracked.  Looked inside and noticed that the blue wire was loose – could this be the culprit?

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One that that is confusing is that the valve block only has 4 pins but the wiring harness has 5 spots – is one not used?

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That could definitely be the problem.  How many wires are currently hooked up to the back of the plug?  If there are three hooked up then the blue wire is needs to be repaired. If there are already four wires hooked up they the blue wire could be an unused wire. 

Charley

The shifter block uses 4 wires (2 for up and 2 for down shift). Each side should have a 12v supply, and the ECU (or GCU on older cars) pulls the corresponding wire to ground to make the shift happen.