Preventative Maintenance Throttle Actuator Gear Replacement

[Space Fox]

I saw that gavsadler went ahead and replaced his throttle actuator gears preventatively before any codes were thrown using a kit similar to this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/2X-New-Thro....c100677.m4598

I'm curious if anyone else has done so. Is this a better solution than waiting for the car to enter limp mode and replacing the entire throttle actuator? Obviously significantly less money. I'm curious if this prevents the circuit board from frying as appears to be the case with letting the gears wear and fixing once it's already broken.

Is there a certain mile marker that the actuators begin to fail?

[RC Post]

Replace the whole unit with OEM thru FCP EURO lifetime warranty and be done.

Hard to determine which will go out first. The gears or circuit board? Who knows? Wastes time going back and forth trying to find what went wrong. These units are known to fail so just replace them.

I replaced both at the same time for peace of mind but that's me.

[RE36TRO]

Did mine proactively through M power Motorsports. Check them out as well.

[pbonsalb]

Or use MPower Motorsports, which has UK Rebuild units with rebuilt electronics as well as new gears. As someone who replaced gears in 4 actuators, I don’t recommend replacing just the gears. I now have one actuator I bought new and one from MPower.

[SYT_Shadow]

I preemptively changed both of mine to the M Power versions

[Redd]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

I preemptively changed both of mine to the M Power versions

Ditto with Rebuild UK units.

[Space Fox]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. Sounds like paying the $700 for the M Power rebuilt units is the general consensus.

[nycplumber]

Originally Posted by brantp

Thanks everyone for the feedback. Sounds like paying the $700 for the M Power rebuilt units is the general consensus.

Yeah but why change something that isn't broken? Heaven forbid someone crashes into your car before the part goes you've just wasted money.

[jvictormp]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

Or use MPower Motorsports, which has UK Rebuild units with rebuilt electronics as well as new gears. As someone who replaced gears in 4 actuators, I don’t recommend replacing just the gears. I now have one actuator I bought new and one from MPower.

Does someone know what is done by MPower Motorsports so that the fault doesn't occur again?

I guess the subject was much discussed before, but the question is inevitable: do the worn gears cause some "overload" in the circuit board and then its failure?

Originally Posted by nycplumber

Yeah but why change something that isn't broken? Heaven forbid someone crashes into your car before the part goes you've just wasted money.

I think it's because you don't want it to happen in a road trip or anywhere far from home, cause it will ruin your fun.

[pbonsalb]

Look up the posts by Jason or read at Ukrebuild.org for info on what he does. Probably someone who is good at electronics could also repair or improve boards.

Someone who pays $400 for a HPDE or goes on a long trip in his fun car would want to be reassured his car would perform well. But if you don’t care, you will still be able to do 80 on level ground and could drive for thousands of miles.

[Space Fox]

Originally Posted by jvictormp

Does someone know what is done by MPower Motorsports so that the fault doesn't occur again?

I guess the subject was much discussed before, but the question is inevitable: do the worn gears cause some "overload" in the circuit board and then its failure?

I think it's because you don't want it to happen in a road trip or anywhere far from home, cause it will ruin your fun.

This was my original intent in asking if replacing the gears preventatively was a good strategy. It does sound like the worn gears cause the circuit board to overload but I'm not sure if the correlation vs. causation has been determined. If this were the case then yes, replacing the gears for $100 preventatively to avoid having to replace the entire actuator(s) (and save ~$650) would make a lot of sense. If that were not the case and the circuit boards wear out/fry independent of the worn gears then I would simply wait for an error code and pay for new actuator units as seems to be the consensus here. I still don't feel this has been fully vetted/answered, however.

[Space Fox]

Originally Posted by nycplumber

Yeah but why change something that isn't broken? Heaven forbid someone crashes into your car before the part goes you've just wasted money.

See above

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

Look up the posts by Jason or read at Ukrebuild.org for info on what he does. Probably someone who is good at electronics could also repair or improve boards.

Someone who pays $400 for a HPDE or goes on a long trip in his fun car would want to be reassured his car would perform well. But if you don’t care, you will still be able to do 80 on level ground and could drive for thousands of miles.

Exactly. Many times you will have intermittent faults and be able to complete many miles after resetting faults

Some people do not want to risk it for many reasons

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by brantp

This was my original intent in asking if replacing the gears preventatively was a good strategy. It does sound like the worn gears cause the circuit board to overload but I'm not sure if the correlation vs. causation has been determined. If this were the case then yes, replacing the gears for $100 preventatively to avoid having to replace the entire actuator(s) (and save ~$650) would make a lot of sense. If that were not the case and the circuit boards wear out/fry independent of the worn gears then I would simply wait for an error code and pay for new actuator units as seems to be the consensus here. I still don't feel this has been fully vetted/answered, however.

Both the gears and the circuits get fried, sometimes together, other times independently

People have replaced gears and had them fail anyway. Removing the plenum is some work and I don't like doing work twice. First time right is the way to go!

[jvictormp]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

People have replaced gears and had them fail anyway.

You know if the gears were replaced after first fail or preventatively?

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by jvictormp

You know if the gears were replaced after first fail or preventatively?

I'm speaking from memory but we've had both cases on the forum

I have two E9X M3s. One has 60k and that one is getting preventative M Power actuators. The other has 39k and will keep its actuators for a while more

[Richbot]

My car has original actuators at 126,000 miles. Probably because I have a pair of new ones in a cabinet - the ol reverse Murphy’s law. If I have to go in there, ERRYTHANG is getting replaced. I have just about all the plastic stuff in the vee ready to go in a cabinet if anything fails but so far, nothing has.

So my advice because of my one anecdote is don’t bother unless you’re going to be in there anyway for another job.

[tsk94]

I would get new ones from FCP Euro. Comes with lifetime warranty on them so you never need to worry about it again.

[pbonsalb]

Originally Posted by brantp

This was my original intent in asking if replacing the gears preventatively was a good strategy. It does sound like the worn gears cause the circuit board to overload but I'm not sure if the correlation vs. causation has been determined.

If you have low miles on your original actuators, like around 50k, go ahead and change the gears. Then report back in a few years on whether or not they have failed. It won’t be conclusive since every now and then we read about of a car with original actuators at 100k+ miles, but in general, they are probably the highest failure part on the motor.

Since any original actuators are now 7-12 years old, my recommendation to most people is to wait until one fails and then replace both. But I think you should replace the gears in yours since you are not convinced. It might cost you $100 and take a day, but you will feel like you tried.

[Space Fox]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

If you have low miles on your original actuators, like around 50k, go ahead and change the gears. Then report back in a few years on whether or not they have failed. It won’t be conclusive since every now and then we read about of a car with original actuators at 100k+ miles, but in general, they are probably the highest failure part on the motor.

Since any original actuators are now 7-12 years old, my recommendation to most people is to wait until one fails and then replace both. But I think you should replace the gears in yours since you are not convinced. It might cost you $100 and take a day, but you will feel like you tried.

This is what I'm currently debating. Car has 46k on it. May just be letting the COVID boredom get to me. We'll see!

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by tsk94

I would get new ones from FCP Euro. Comes with lifetime warranty on them so you never need to worry about it again.

but so do the M Power ones, they also have upgraded gears and electronics and also have a lifetime warranty

not doing things twice is a good way to not screw up

[pbonsalb]

Originally Posted by brantp

This is what I'm currently debating. Car has 46k on it. May just be letting the COVID boredom get to me. We'll see!

If you want to have even more fun, I think someone on eBay is selling strips of replacement mosfets for these actuators. You will get good at pulling the plenum after you have removed it a dozen times. You will probably also break a plastic hose or hose connector or wire harness holder or connector or forget to connect something during one of your removals or reinstallations.