Sram eTap rear derailleur sporadically stops shifting - then performs all queued shifts at once?

[bikeboy1tr]

I still use a light lube (Silicone spray) on the fd and rd just as I would on the mech components. The only difference is I have to pull the batteries and wipe the contacts off or it will give a red light for low battery. I would assume people are lubing and cleaning the elec just as they would the mech.

[sanguizola]

I had the same issue 5 months ago, sent the derraleur back to Starbike and they forwardet it to the factory, when I got it back two months later, I recieved a SRAM Red derraleur, so I had to send it back, after 3 months i finally got the right rd. Two weeks ago the same problem started to show on the new derraleur and i started the process all over again!. A local certified SRAM mechanic told me that they have being notified about the problem. What makes me mad is that they dont recall the bad ones as they should. Take into account that this is a 500-600 dollar part. So this time im buying one while the factory inspects the one that broke and my retailer is refunding the purchase if everything goes ok with the factory. Good service from the retailer, terrible service from the factory!

[azmio]

I am currently in Malaysia and few of us have the same shifting problem within the first week of purchase. I thought that the Sram Red products have the highest level of quality and workmanship but I was wrong. I regret spending a lot of money on this.

[Digger90]

I had this issue - mine being a WiFli rear derailleur. It was replaced with a new one by SRAM under warranty.

What worries me is what will happen if this occurs in future after the warranty has expired... as eTap rear derailleurs are horrrifically expensive.

[pulmark]

I recorded a short video clip of the problem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C91YOXn2fI

In the video there is no cassette/wheel so nothing external that should prevent RD from moving. I'm getting replacement part from Germany soon. The retailer just informed that the part number for replacement is 00.7518.085.001, the failed one had 00.7518.085.000. The warranty evaluation at SRAM Service took quite long, the part was sent from retailer to SRAM 16, November and they received it back yesterday 5, December, so around 3 weeks.

In my case, I didn't notice that shifting got gradually worse after I first noticed it. It was more like random, there was even some rides that it didn't fail at all and then there were rides where it failed at least once/5mins. Usually the 1st ride after cleaning the bike was the most worst. I cleaned the RD gently using water, brush, mild detergent. Sometimes I took battery off and put the red cover on and sometimes keep the battery in place but I didn't notice any difference. I first noticed failure mid-July and then stopped riding mid-October.

I'm also worried how the replacement works, the warranty evaluation takes time. I don't wanna buy expensive, "extra" spare RD just for the reason that I can switch to use it in case of failure and during warranty evaluation period and even that one can fail.

Collecting info from this thread, the failed RD based on package box label: WK 7, 16, 25 / 2017, WK 6 / 2018.

It would be nice to have some reference of "good" RD week ?/year numbers. Maybe possible to identify if you have bad one or good one if there is some connection into manufacturing time in that numbering and if failure is related to manufacturing process.

[Digger90]

I took a photo of the serial number on my rear derailleur cage before it was returned, but not the part number or week of manufacture...

The serial no was: 1533771584

Dunno if that helps anyone...

(To be clear, the above serial no was on the faulty derailleur, not the replacement).

[azmio]

Hey guys, I am just wondering on how soon SRAM gets it replaced? I checked with the LBS that I bought my set from, they told me that SRAM has not responded to the video that they sent to get it replaced under warranty.

[pulmark]

For me it took around seven weeks to get new RD. I had to send the RD first to dealer in Germany and then get it back there. So the processing time at SRAM was around 5 weeks. In the FB there is a SRAM road group, I send msg there and complained about long processing time. They responded that if the failure is clear, it should not last longer than one week.

[Rocketman]

Had the same problem after bikes sat for the winter. Many stuck shifting issues. As recommended in other posts, I sprayed silicone on RD pivots, oil to chain and the problem went away after the lubricants worked in. Perhaps when RD meets resistance it stops to avoid damage. Did a 35 k ride yesterday and it performed perfectly.

Anyway this worked for me. I will update again after a few more rides.

I also wonder if a slightly damaged or bent chainlink or masterlink could cause resistance to cause the RD to stop. I believe some masterlinks are not to be reused. Just a thought. Try lubing the pivots first.

[MeanMommy]

So I have a 1 year old SRAM Red etap (long cage) rear derailleur and mine starting doing the exact same thing two days ago. I read this post and was really discouraged because prime riding season starts now and I just started a cycling vacation in the Santa Monica mountains. Last thing I need is the rear derailleur giving up on me.
I decided to go to a local bike store and try my luck if they had heard of this and found the magic fix. First one had no idea since the mechanic was off for the day, the second one changed the shifter batteries (even though they still showed a green light). He also tried to repeat the error and he could not. But he was shifting by pushing the botton on the rear derailleur. He said all was fine and I took it for a spin and it did the same shifting BS again. Mechanic tried to repeat it by shifting with the button on the rear dearailleur and the issue never repeated itself. I am sure he thought I was insane. Anyway, I cycled back to my hotel room and sure enough the rear derailleur did not shift occassionally again (by now the problem is pretty frequent and I am losing all hopes for a nice cycling vacation). Looked up SRAM warranty and was ready to send the email but thought I need to see if I cannot understand it.
I found that the signal from the shifter was received at the rear derailleur (green light lit up every time you shifted). Also found out that the issue only appeared shifting up from the last three largest cogs. There was no problem when I tried to shift the way the mechanic did it (pushing the button on the derailleur). Realised then that by pushing the button on the rear derailleur I also gave the derailleur a little push every time. Also the rear derailleur extends in length the bigger the cogs get which means that the motor needs to work harder to move the chain in these positions.
Long story short: the rear derailleur needed to be lubed. The motor shut off because too much force was required to shift. I cleaned the whole derailluer and lubed all pivot points and the issue has completely disappaered. Done two long rides with lots of uphill riding in low gears and the issues is GONE.
Not saying this is the solution for all problems reported here but I would try that before I send a derailleur back and lose riding time.

[SkiRat]

So I have a 1 year old SRAM Red etap (long cage) rear derailleur and mine starting doing the exact same thing two days ago. I read this post and was really discouraged because prime riding season starts now and I just started a cycling vacation in the Santa Monica mountains. Last thing I need is the rear derailleur giving up on me.
I decided to go to a local bike store and try my luck if they had heard of this and found the magic fix. First one had no idea since the mechanic was off for the day, the second one changed the shifter batteries (even though they still showed a green light). He also tried to repeat the error and he could not. But he was shifting by pushing the botton on the rear derailleur. He said all was fine and I took it for a spin and it did the same shifting BS again. Mechanic tried to repeat it by shifting with the button on the rear dearailleur and the issue never repeated itself. I am sure he thought I was insane. Anyway, I cycled back to my hotel room and sure enough the rear derailleur did not shift occassionally again (by now the problem is pretty frequent and I am losing all hopes for a nice cycling vacation). Looked up SRAM warranty and was ready to send the email but thought I need to see if I cannot understand it.
I found that the signal from the shifter was received at the rear derailleur (green light lit up every time you shifted). Also found out that the issue only appeared shifting up from the last three largest cogs. There was no problem when I tried to shift the way the mechanic did it (pushing the button on the derailleur). Realised then that by pushing the button on the rear derailleur I also gave the derailleur a little push every time. Also the rear derailleur extends in length the bigger the cogs get which means that the motor needs to work harder to move the chain in these positions.
Long story short: the rear derailleur needed to be lubed. The motor shut off because too much force was required to shift. I cleaned the whole derailluer and lubed all pivot points and the issue has completely disappaered. Done two long rides with lots of uphill riding in low gears and the issues is GONE.
Not saying this is the solution for all problems reported here but I would try that before I send a derailleur back and lose riding time.

Interesting, What are you using to lube the pivot points? I am on my second RD and this one is starting to have problems after 1000 miles.

[Jugi]

Long story short: the rear derailleur needed to be lubed. The motor shut off because too much force was required to shift. I cleaned the whole derailluer and lubed all pivot points and the issue has completely disappaered. Done two long rides with lots of uphill riding in low gears and the issues is GONE.

Finally I got to experience this issue first hand, and I'd have to say I concur with this theory.

I have two short cage 1gen eTap rear derailleurs. I got the first one as a part of a new eTap TT upgrade set. I've had it for almost 2,5 years and it has been bolted on to my TT bike. That one has been completely trouble free. I got another one last fall as a slightly used 2nd hand item which has been on my road bike and up until today, it had halted during a shift very rarely. I can recall three times - two times during a single ride very shortly after I got it, and once while on a turbo trainer. I'd estimate I used it for 100-150 hours between those occasions, and another 100-150 hours after the previous occurrence until today.

Today, it happened twice in a time span of five minutes during an 80 minute ride. The previous ride ended in rain. I decided to investigate.

After getting home and putting the bike on my workstand, I proceeded to first blast the RD's pivots with some pressurized air. Then I added some drops of Shimano's regular PTFE chain lube on the pivots and started to cycle the RD through the cassette. For some reason in this instance lube actually made it worse, and I could reproduce the issue with almost 100% certainty. It seemed to concentrate on downshifts (going to an easier gear) on two sprockets of the cassette, 5th and 8th when counting from the 11T inwards.

I didn't have time to explore it further immediately, so left it hanging on the stand for a couple of hours. After getting back to it, it was still behaving exactly the same. Then it popped into my mind to nudge the RD gently with my fingers when it halts. And surprise surprise - after giving it a bit of mechanical help it completed the shift. If I commanded it to make multiple shifts after it halted, it completed all of those after a little nudge. After a little while cycling the RD up and down the cassette, the issue seemed to disappear on it's own.

So, at least in this case the issue seems to stem from dirt accumulation from a particularly dirty ride. Dirt may have accumulated during a longer period, but that one dirtier than usual ride may have ended up sticking the pivots so much more that the servo motor resorts to fail-safe mode rather than completing the most arduous shifts. It's most likely a mechanical issue, as electronically everything seems to work just fine.

This theory would also explain why some users have had multiple RDs with this issue and others haven't had one single issue. Most likely the general dust and small debris accumulation on the RD, typical air humidity (how well sh*t sticks to the RD) and air temperature are guiding the rate of occurrence.

[ChiZ01]

so glad i am still on the good old Red 22, this thing is bomb proof

[pdlpsher1]

This theory would also explain why some users have had multiple RDs with this issue and others haven't had one single issue. Most likely the general dust and small debris accumulation on the RD, typical air humidity (how well sh*t sticks to the RD) and air temperature are guiding the rate of occurrence.

I really don't buy this theory. I think it's an electrical malfunction and hence Sram is giving warranty support to the RDs exhibiting these symptoms. If there's nothing wrong with the RD other than just a little dirty, how do you expect eTap Red to survive even a short gravel ride or eTap Eagle survive a MTB ride?

[Jugi]

Yes, the position SRAM has taken on this is definetly intriguing. I’d say they may not have been able to isolate the issue, as it seems so sporadic in nature. Also, they may want to keep a low profile on this and just keep customers happy with warranty replacements. However, it is peculiar that this kind of an issue could be fixable with a firmware update, but that didn’t happen with 1st gen eTap.

Of course the RDs ”survive” in their intended use, but at some point they may start to exhibit this issue. I’ve been riding in the rain for multiple hours this fall and it has performed well until yesterday.

Although the base tech is same in eTap AXS and eTap Eagle, those are still different RDs. I wouldn’t be surprised if the fail-safe limits would be configured differently.