Fanatec CSL DD -Mclaren GT3 V2 Fail

[Stephen Gibb]

I had the exact same problem with my CSL DD and was provided with the above images through support.
I was also told to remove the shaft and reinsert it rather than just push it in again.
Still had a problem with it till I tightened it with an extra bar on the Allen key.
I went from a CSW v2.5 to the CSL DD I must admit for me it’s a great upgrade.

 

[RasmusP]

I went from a CSW v2.5 to the CSL DD I must admit for me it’s a great upgrade

What do you like the most?
I guess you got the 8Nm version?

I had a csl DD for 10 days and I loved the silent operation. The ffb itself felt pretty similar. But I always find the csw 2.5 to be "almost too rough for me" and I always use some smoothing anyway.

What would be the main reason for me to get a csl dd:
Try the advanced mode and then 25% natural damper but then 50% friction and 50% inertia.

For me, this gave me a very easy to turn swiftly wheel but with a lot of "weight" when turning slowly.

I always dislike the "too weightless" feel of the csw 2.5.
Driving straight in dirt rally 2.0 has almost no ffb.
Turn the ffb up far enough and cornering is way too strong.

More damper(dri) and you can't turn fast enough.

Friction + inertia gave me exactly what I wanted! But I'm gonna wait for the new qr2, an upgraded shaft/clamp or a better qr light..

 

[Stephen Gibb]

What do you like the most?
I guess you got the 8Nm version?

Yeah I got the 8Nm version.
Just so much more detailed ffb for example in iRacing it’s definitely easier to catch a slide in GT3’s.
Dirt Rally 2.0 it’s so much easier to flick the wheel and it’s faster and feels far more natural.
I just wish they had done something a bit better with that clamp.

 

[Wilko Jones]

I have a small gap on mine, and the wheel hasn't given me a problem yet but, I always wanted a reason to undo the collar and to look at the base-side QR1. I know what I am doing later today.

Thanks for the tip, everyone. That gap has to go!

:Edit:

I undid the U-collar and pulled the wheel side QR1 off. Surprisingly it took absolutely no force to remove or to reinsert the QR1. I understand why the direction pictogram had Ermin Ham-sandwich's bicep crossed out. The thing just slides right in. And I don't see how anyone can insert the QR1 rotated at 90º. 180º, sure but, 90º? Impossible!

Upon tightening the U-collar, I used feel as a reference. I remembered that the thread of the bolt slightly protruded out the bottom of the collar, and I turned the bold until it felt right. It's not the most technically correct way to do it, but it worked. The gap is still there though, but it is noticeably narrower, and that is fine by me.

This was interesting, cause now I have some idea on what to expect when the QR2 happens... Everything but the price of the parts. I have a feeling that it's going to cost a lot more than what I hope. But that is another topic on its own.

Once again, thanks for the tip.

And the Allen bolt was a PITA to turn. I had to break out the pliers to give me enough leverage.

 

[Trippul G]

Found this thread after experiencing very similar issues to OP. I, however, have not been as lucky. I'm about to initiate my 2nd RMA for the same problem.

I initially took receipt of my CSL DD back in August of 2021. Everything was amazing for about 5 months, until one day in early January when I noticed the wheel (McLaren v2) was missing some shifts. Popped open the Control Panel and the more I investigated, the worse it got, until no buttons were responding at all. I did the whole remove/reseat/retightening of the base-side QR and C-clamp, and it worked...for about a day or two. I then repeated the procedure, only this time, it didn't work at all and the buttons were totally unresponsive no matter what I did. I wound up RMA'ing both the wheel and base. Fanatec determined that the wheel was at fault, issued me a new one, and sent it back with my original base.

I got the wheel and base back after about three weeks, hooked everything up, and all was fine. For about two days, when it started doing it again. Every time I turn the base on now, I go into the Control Panel, and the buttons might report for 30 seconds or a minute or 5 minutes...but eventually they will stop working. Then the "F" logo will show on the wheel's display screen (like it does when it's just been powered up), the buttons might come back intermittently for a few more seconds, and then they stop working again. And so on, and so on, this process repeats itself. Again, I've tightened every screw in the wheel-side QR, gone through the whole process with the base-side QR and C-clamp retightening, I've checked cables, tried different USB ports, reinstalled drivers, updated firmware...nothing works.

I am absolutely fuming at this point, having to RMA my gear for a second time for what seems to me like something that should've been handled the first time. Now it'll be approaching 2 months or more since I was last able to use my gear, and now when I get it back again, I have absolutely ZERO confidence that it's all going to work the way it should.

I have half a mind to just ask for a refund and be done with Fanatec. Seriously unhappy customer right now.

 

[DomB_Fanatec]

@Trippul G I'm sorry to hear about this. It is frustrating for an issue not to be fully solved the first time. It's possible that the problem is different to what was initially diagnosed. Please give the support team another chance to get this sorted.

 

[JasonZBell]

Hey All,

I’m having the same issue and it’s causing a clunking sound when the base is powered off or when it’s powered on and I’m driving.

I followed the instructions to reseat the shaft, but it made no difference.

Here’s a video to show what I mean. It’s very very frustrating! Especially after waiting so darn long to get this CSL DD! Argh!

This isn’t the only issue, but it’s the first one I’m hoping to find resolution to.

Thank you all in advance,
Jason

 

[THK84]

The only thing I can tell from that video is that the clamp should be forward away from the base as fare as possible.

I have about the same gap just (about 2 mm) between the black socket on the base and the raise in diameter of the shaft. I have just a tiny bit of 'clonking' if I try hard (with a trim attached), without a rim I hear nothing at all.

 

[Trox]

Just for reference, going by the Fanatec forum there should be no gap and the inside coller correctly aligned.



Mine is as per the photos showing the correct install method.

The photos came from here...

Sudden loss of connection to CSL DD and wheel

Hi all, first post from a very new customer. Hopefully this helps someone as I had many hours of frustration before I figured it out: Symptom:

forum.fanatec.com

This is my base for reference, I've never touched the clamp it came like this.

Hope it helps somewhat

 

[THK84]

Just for reference, going by the Fanatec forum there should be no gap and the inside coller correctly aligned.

Yeah, I followed that, this was how far I got without exerting too much pressure and it works great. If I ever loose FFB again or have any issues I'll push the shaft in further as you posted.

 

[THK84]

This is my base for reference, I've never touched the clamp it came like this.

BTW, mine came loose from Fanatec, so lost FFB after 2 corners as a first user impression. There was no documentation available yet from Fanatec and I sorted it through finding this solution by searching forums and finding someone here who already RMA's it wise without Fanatec even suggesting anything like this. I did find it just before that on a different fourm amongst some other solutions. (amongst things, H-shifter calibration not working in H-pattern mode when it is mounted on a non-grounded rig or stand with a CSL DD). But I didn't torque it down enough the 1st 2 attempts.

It's a bit annoying, but luckily it worked out.

 

[JasonZBell]

Just for reference, going by the Fanatec forum there should be no gap and the inside coller correctly aligned.

View attachment 560094View attachment 560093

Mine is as per the photos showing the correct install method.

The photos came from here...

Sudden loss of connection to CSL DD and wheel

Hi all, first post from a very new customer. Hopefully this helps someone as I had many hours of frustration before I figured it out: Symptom:

forum.fanatec.com

This is my base for reference, I've never touched the clamp it came like this.View attachment 560095
Hope it helps somewhat

This is how it came from Fanatec. I made sure to take a before and after picture to ensure the clamp was in the same location. I did just slide the clamp to where you and another in a Fanatec forum thread showed it should be, but there's still this same issue.

On my CSL DD, it's physically impossible for the shaft to go further into the base. It can only go in as far as the USB connection will allow and on my case, this is it.

 

[DomB_Fanatec]

Hey All,

I’m having the same issue and it’s causing a clunking sound when the base is powered off or when it’s powered on and I’m driving.

I followed the instructions to reseat the shaft, but it made no difference.

Here’s a video to show what I mean. It’s very very frustrating! Especially after waiting so darn long to get this CSL DD! Argh!

This isn’t the only issue, but it’s the first one I’m hoping to find resolution to.

Thank you all in advance,
Jason

Hi Jason,

This is not normal, unfortunately it looks like you have a defective unit. Please open a support ticket via the My Products section of your Fanatec account and the team will sort this out for you.

 

[JasonZBell]

Hi Jason,

This is not normal, unfortunately it looks like you have a defective unit. Please open a support ticket via the My Products section of your Fanatec account and the team will sort this out for you.

Thank you Dom! I appreciate your help and support. I’ll open up a ticket with Fanatec and hope for the best.

Just to be fully transparent, this isn’t the only problem I’m having with this particular unit. I’m not sure if it’s related to this initial issue with the shaft, but after X amount of time (could be 5 mins or 15 mins after starting to use), I start to get a weird, intermittent high frequency vibration from within the base. Once the high frequency vibrations start, they won’t stop unless I power it off. And once it starts, I can even feel it when the base is static, with no load. For example, it’ll still do that when I’m in the menu, setting up the car in ACC. It happens whether or not I use my McLaren GT3 V2 or WRC wheel.

This is not really audible, so I can’t show it on video and there’s no pattern I can put my finger on, but I’ve done a few tests and it seems like the base is possibly overheating. The base isn’t obstructed and the room never gets hotter than 72-77 degrees F, so it’s not caused by the environment.

This is with just the 5Nm power supply being used. I can’t imagine how bad it might be if I were to upgrade to the 8Nm power supply I was hoping to get down the road.

Not sure if others out there are experiencing the same issues, but I figured I’d note it here, just in case others do and don’t know what to do.

 

[JasonZBell]

Thanks again for your help Dominic!

Now I have a 3rd issue with the CSL DD. About 10 minutes into a 20 minute race on ACC, my McLaren V2 wheel stopped working. I was stuck in 2nd gear, couldn't shift and the display stopped working on the wheel. I swapped to my WRC wheel just in case it was the McLaren wheel, but no luck. The base no longer detects any of my wheels. I confirmed this in the Fanatec software and made a video to document it. So frustrating!

I opened up a Support Ticket on Wednesday (Support Request: 171411/CRM: 000000700330394), so now it's just a matter of how long until I get a response and resolution.

After patiently waiting almost a year to finally get my CSL DD to replace my V2.5, it's a bummer so many are experiencing issues like I am with the CSL DD.

I've never had to ship anything back to Fanatec, so I'm not sure where it'll have to go. Do you know if I have to ship it all the way back to Europe (from California) and wait for Fanatec to do whatever with it, then ship me a new one? With these being "Out of Stock" on their website, this doesn't seem like it'll be a fairly quick replacement.

Again, just curious how long I'll have to wait before I'm back in action. I'm itching to race!

Thanks again Dominic! I appreciate you!

Jason

 

[British Dragon]

Hi Rasmus, I've checked the pins and associated allen bolts and all look fine, solid and connect properly. The plastic QR felt really solid so I can't work out what has happened. It died mid lap on ACC after about 2 hours of driving with it.

I'm in the wonderful world of Brexit Britain so I can see this being a bit of nightmare.

I know! Isn't it great! The British Working Class are a stupid lot. They need the Middle Class to think for them. What a price to pay to get the country back. Nutters, the lot of them!

 

[JasonZBell]

Now a 4th and officially terminal issue with my CSL DD. Opened a support ticket with Fanatec about it 10 days ago and still no response.

Went from the CSL DD not detecting my wheels to now my CSL DD itself not being detected. Driver 439 in use, all possible troubleshooting done on my end.

Now I’m wishing I never sold my Clubsport V2.5 or purchased an Alpha Mini instead.

Another video to document my issues and experiences with the CSL DD.

 

[THK84]

I hope nothing got bricked during firmware flashing.

When I got my previous CSW 2.5, it freaked out after a couple of minutes. After days of messing round, I fixed it by using another usb port on my pc, lol.

Every now and then I still have to reseat the CSL DD when it loses connection. As I have my brakes set heavy and my chair has some flex, I tend to pull on the rim when braking hard. At least I'm back in business in a couple minutes.

 

[RasmusP]

Hey All,

I’m having the same issue and it’s causing a clunking sound when the base is powered off or when it’s powered on and I’m driving.

I followed the instructions to reseat the shaft, but it made no difference.

Here’s a video to show what I mean. It’s very very frustrating! Especially after waiting so darn long to get this CSL DD! Argh!

This isn’t the only issue, but it’s the first one I’m hoping to find resolution to.

Thank you all in advance,
Jason

In my "engineering" opinion without knowing the internals:
That sounds like the shaft would be bent/manufacturing error.
Or one of the bearings is damaged.

It's the only explanation why it only happens at certain rotation degrees.

After days of messing round, I fixed it by using another usb port on my pc, lol.

Yeah if anything doesn't work like it should, always use another USB port first.
And more importantly:
Try to use a different internal controller (USB 2 instead of USB 3 is definitely a different controller for example. Using a red USB 3.2 port instead of a blue 3.0/3.1 port should be a different controller too).

Sometimes one controller doesn't like a certain combination of devices.

Or one port has an issue and your mobo is a bit "faulty". But that's quite rare!

 

[THK84]

Yeah if anything doesn't work like it should, always use another USB port first.
And more importantly:
Try to use a different internal controller (USB 2 instead of USB 3 is definitely a different controller for example. Using a red USB 3.2 port instead of a blue 3.0/3.1 port should be a different controller too).

Sometimes one controller doesn't like a certain combination of devices.

Or one port has an issue and your mobo is a bit "faulty". But that's quite rare!

Yeah, I tried different ports of 2.0 to 3.2. Wasn't an issue anymore once moved to new pc. No reports of anything from the guy I sold the CSW 2.5 to.