Thrustmaster T3PA-PRO Throttle Issue?

This isn't exactly AC-related but I thought I'd post about it here since there must be some others in this forum with my same pedals, or at least a good understanding of the mechanical aspect of these things. I've been using my Thrustmaster T3PA-PRO pedals for a few months now. A couple of days ago, I noticed the throttle pedal has started acting strange. The actual pedal feels fine but there's a fluctuation happening in the signal when looking at it in any software. So when I'm driving in AC for example, it lacks precision when controlling throttle especially at lower amounts.

It was doing it much worse yesterday, the signal would bounce like crazy and in-game I'd be getting bursts of acceleration when I don't want it. Today, when I made the video embedded below, it's not doing it as intensely but it's still noticeably there. Anybody have any idea of what part might be causing this and if there could be a simple fix? I'd rather not have to send it to Thrustmaster and deal with their support, so any "home fix" ideas are welcome.

 

Classic pot spiking. The potentiometer is dirty, causing those fluctuations. You can clean the pot with the appropriate cleaning fluid. Or you can swap the less important clutch pot for the throttle pot.

 

Excellent information. Would isopropyl alcohol do the trick?

 

Probably, there is dust/dirt in potentiometer. You must clean it, but than the warranty ends. I had the same issue on my g25, after cleaning they work good again. But you have it only few months? This is known issue for mechanical potentiometers...but few months is too early!

 

Yeah, I got them at the very beginning of January. But where we live is excessively dusty and we have two dogs which tend to shed a lot. Wouldn't be too surprised if it's just dirty. So that will void my warranty though? Do I have to make permanent modifications to the pedals to clean this piece, that they would later be able to detect? I'm not skilled in soldering wires or anything like that.

 

After knowing what those parts are called from your responses, I did some further research and found a video showing how to take apart the potentiometer for cleaning the internal parts. Seemed like a stressful task. But then further reading and I found a few posts or comments online saying that you can fix the issue by simply spraying an electronic contact cleaner into the potentiometer box and it works better than taking it all apart. I'm going to try this!

 

Same happened with my T3PA pedals, with the brake.

I reported it to their support and they replaced the pedals but I haven't got around to testing the new ones yet as I decided to use some G29 pedals with the Nixim mod instead, as I prefer the feel of them.

 

Hello again friends. I ordered a can of LPS brand CFC free electro contact cleaner and it arrived today. There's a hole where some wires go from the pedal into the little plastic potentiometer box. I pointed the straw down in there and sprayed a few times and mashed the pedals for a while. Then sprayed some of the other mechanical components of the pedals while I was in there. Pedals feel squeaky clean and brand new again, and the spiking is gone.

 

Glad you got it sorted! I had this issue quite bad on my T500RS accelerator and went so far as to remove and dismantle the pot before using contact cleaner.