Hello everyone,
I need your help.
I have a Radical SR3 RS with original paddle shift.
Recently I've been having trouble shifting from idle to first gear or from second gear to neutral.
According to the manual you should proceed like this:
"To select first gear, depress the clutch and pull the left-hand paddle. To change to second gear you then use the right hand paddle.
And
Neutral on the gearbox is between first and second gear. To select neutral with the paddleshift system, it is best to change all the way down to first gear and flick the right hand paddle (with the clutch depressed)."
I have a small black button on the steering wheel. I was told by the previous owner that I should press it (depress the clutch) when I wanted to shift into first gear and when I wanted to shift from second gear to neutral.
But somehow it doesn't work properly. Either first gear doesn't work. Or not even the idle. But when you press the Paddle switch you can hear that the gear linkage is moving.
Do you have experience with this? When exactly should I press the little black button? Only when engaging second gear in neutral? Somehow I don't really understand the system. Especially since the manual says nothing about a black button!!
Thank you for your help.
Hi Helmut @helmutweber, The advice that’s the previous owner is not correct. Follow the instructions in the manual. The black button on the steering wheel is used to shift into neutral. When you want to shift into neutral you should shift the car into first gear and then press the black button and that should help you get in to neutral. You can try going from second but it doesn’t work as well. If you are having trouble shifting into neutral, try going down to first and momentarily start to let out the clutch enough to load up the gearbox. Then push the clutch in again and press the button and try shifting into neutral. That should help. I guess in realigns the gears in the transmission enough to make the shift
Regarding you issues shifting from neutral to first gear. This should be done without pressing the black button. So if you are pressing the button, that could be the problem.
I hope this helps.
Thanks Charley,
I want try it and tell you when it was good.
Best regards helmut
Charley, I am going to brave here and happy to be told otherwise, but I believe the clutch button is required for the half shift to get into Neutral and the same again to get the paddles to operate and get you into a gear - in neutral without the button I believe it shouldn't shift into gear.
Completely agree with lifting the clutch slightly, I think that could be your main problem!
Is the car Life or Geartronics paddleshift? If it is Life you can download the data and check to see if the ECU is seeing the clutch button.
Thanks @rlm-dan, I didn’t use the button that way, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have. 🙂. Thank you for clarifying.
Hallo Dan, wie kann ich feststellen, ob es sich um einen Auto Life- oder einen Geartronics Paddleshift handelt?
Hier ist mein Paddle-Shift-System in Bildern.
I think Helmut forgot to use Translate 🙂 Here it is....
Hi Dan, How can I tell if it's an Auto Life or a Geartronics Paddleshift? Here is my paddle shift system in pictures
@helmutweber, remind me what your chassis number is and I will look it up in my notes. Hopefully I can tell you which you have. The difference between the Life and Geartronic systems is that the Life paddle shift system is controlled by the ECU and the Geartgronics system has a separate controller that is usually mounted on the left side of the cockpit.
this is what the Geartronics controller looks like.
@helmutweber ... there's not much 'e' about that box... mostly pneumatics in there. The 'e' part of this box contains the 3 solenoids that drive the 3 pneumatic valves that control the up-shift, down-shift and blipper actions.
From your photos I would be checking the condition of the wiring loom as it enters the back of the plug on this box... the sheath that's meant to protect the wires and provide support looks torn or has moved out of place... if any of these really small gauge wires are even partially damaged it will 100% give you issues....
If this 'box' is the only control unit you can see (and you can't see one like Charley has shown in his post) then I would suggest yo have the latest 'Life Racing' gearshift system.
I agree with Dan... when I try and shift from Neutral to 1st gear... I almost always have to try more than once (using the black button and the downshift paddle while the clutch is actuated) If it doesn't shift to 1st on the first attempt (maybe 90% of the time) then simply briefly release the clutch, re-engage the clutch and then try again... and almost 100% of the time this will work... and rarely you might have to try the same cycle again... this process just lets the 'dogs' in the gearset line up and allows them to engage.
I found a thread here in the forum where there is a picture showing how large the distance must be from the paddle shift actuator assembly. According to the original measuring template for the SR3 166 mm.
Is this measured when the shift rod is fully pulled out? Or is it completely inside?
In the first case it is 185 mm for me? When the bar is all the way in I have 155 mm.
Unfortunately I couldn't find any instructions on how to set it up at Radical.
