Hi all,

A couple of week ago my dealer informed me of a recall on the throttle pedal assembly.  I asked what the issue was but he didn't/couldn't give me any details.  I sent photos of the chassis vin plate and the sticker on the top of throttle pedal assembly to them.

Yesterday, when I was out using the buggy (a EU spec ZForce 1000), I the engine lost power and flashed a fault code on the display - "P213829".  After turning the engine off and on again the buggy's engine was fine so I continued to use it, but keeping a close eye on performance, odd noises and so on - no problems for about an hour or so.  Then it did it again...  Turning off/on cured the power loss again, and I headed home.  On the way home it did it a couple more times, after the 3rd time the Orange 'Check Engine' light appeared next to the display.  I kept the revs low and applied minimal throttle changes and eventually got home where I was able to use an ODB2 tool to read the ECU.

Torque shows the code as:

P2138 - Powertrain
Throttle/Pedal Position Sensor/Switch D/E Voltage Correlation

So I'm guessing that my accelerator pedal has now developed the fault that the recall was for.

Since I recorded the km/hours when the pedal was OK (1043km/35.9 hours), and when it has a problem I confirm that it happened at 1371km 47.3 hours of use.

The dealer already has the replacement part, it's awaiting fitting, hopefully next week.

Just posting this in case anyone else has similar issues.

[2015 Z Force 800 53/Trail EPS]

Makes sense as I heard they are "By Wire" throttle now. Good luck. Let us know how it turns-out.

Ok, so my problem appears to have nothing to do with the recall, today curiosity got the better of me and I removed the throttle pedal assembly by removing the 3 10mm bolts holding the assembly to the mounting bracket and also unclipping the 6 pin connector.  I inspected the connector and found that there had been some water ingress and two of the pins had signs of corrosion.  Likely the water ingress was a result of using the car wash.  I used compressed air to blow out any remaining water, and used some isopropyl alchohol (electronics cleaner) on the contacts and applied some dielectric grease to the male and female contacts and greased the blue silicon boot and wire ends to help prevent further corrosion and water ingress.

After re-fitting everything I found the fault code had cleared itself, the ODB-II scanner did not report any codes either.  I then went for a 30 minute drive and I'm happy to report the problem is solved.

The throttle pedal sensor socket has markings by the pins, labelled A,B,C,D,E,F  There was corrosion between the D and E pins and also of the C and D pins of the socket.  The fault code description seems to correlate with the corrosion.

After some basic research it turns out the throttle pedal provides the ECU with two throttle pedal position signals and when the signals do not correlate the fault code is triggered.  It's possible to monitor and log the sensor positions using an ODB-II tool, I did this after the cleaning process and both signals seemed OK.

The throttle position sensor as a no-contact sensor, depressing the throttle pedal causes a shaft to rotate, and recessed in the shaft under the sensor there appears to be something that can be read by the sensor, likely a magnet or special piece of metal that can be read by a hall-effect sensor inside the throttle position sensor module.

Everything is very easy to get to, so recommend application of some waterproofing solution if you run your ZForce sport in muddy/wet conditions or use a high-pressure water cleaner like i did.

Likely I'll be applying some additional waterproofing to all the other connectors on the buggy ASAP, especially those lower-down in the chassis.

I took a few pictures, see attached.

[2015 Z Force 800 53/Trail EPS]

Nice. Thanks for reporting-back. I'm sure others will find this helpful.

So the problem wasn't fixed.

Today I went to the petrol station to get some fuel and on the way back a different error code appeared. P212716.

Google search result says: "The P2127 code means that the throttle or pedal position sensor switch E has a low input."

So I inspect the connections, no issues, but when I shook it some water came out!!!  So I set about trying to crack it open to see what's what and couldn't get it open without marring the black plastic housing, I was about to give up and thought about using some compressed air into the hole in the end of the sensor's connector.  This worked a treat and the cover popped right off.  See attached.

Inside there is a PCB which appears to be tightly press-fitted onto some pins which are injection moulded into the plastic housing.  I tried to prise it off but it wouldn't budge - apparently the press-fit is tight.

Upon opening it I found some rust on the metal shield and two of the un-soldered pads, D and E, had signs of corrosion.

I cleaned up the pads and soldered them, A,B,C and F soldered up just fine, but I had to scratch the surface of D and E pads d before the solder would take, even with good flux.  Eventually I got them soldered up nicely and the no-clean flux and heat shifted a fair amount of corrosion from them.  Again see attached.

The top cover is also held in place by the screws that hold the sensor onto the throttle pedal assembly.

I cleaned off the flux and corrosion reside, greased up the o-ring, reassembled everything and it's all working fine now.

I can only assume that the o-ring didn't do a very good job of sealing the unit, since the hole I used to blow compressed air in is likely only there to allow air to come out when the top cover is fitted.  The o-ring on the unit itself, and the blue o-ring on the connector *should* seal the unit, but that clearly wasn't the case on my one.

I drove many kilometers on it today, with no issue.

I hope this is the last of this problem, we'll see...

[2015 Z Force 800 53/Trail EPS]

Nice. I'm sure this will help others.