Quantum random access codes (QRACs) are key tools for a variety of protocols in quantum information theory. These are commonly studied in prepare-and-measure scenarios in which a sender prepares states and a receiver measures them. Here, we consider a three-party prepare-transformmeasure scenario in which the simplest QRAC is implemented twice in sequence based on the same physical system. We derive optimal trade-off relations between the two QRACs. We apply our results to construct semi-device independent self-tests of quantum instruments, i.e. measurement channels with both a classical and quantum output. Finally, we show how sequential QRACs enable inference of upper and lower bounds on the sharpness parameter of a quantum instrument.Subsequently, we apply our results to self-test a quantum instrument. is the task of inferring physical entities (states, channels, measurements) solely from correlations produced in experiments i.e. identifying the unique physical entities that are compatible with observed data. Self-testing is typically studied in Bell experiments where notably methods for self-testing quantum instruments have been developed [15,16]. Recently however, self-testing was introduced in the broad scope of prepare-and-measure scenarios [10], and was further developed using QRACs to robustly self-test both preparations and measurements [10][11][12]. Notably however, prepare-and-measure scenarios do not enable self-tests of general quantum operations. In particular, it does not enable self-tests of quantum instruments since the quantum system after the measurement is irrelevant to the outcome statistics produced in the experiment. We show that our prepare-transform-measure scenario overcomes this conceptual limitation. We find that optimal pairs of sequential QRACs self-test quantum instruments. However, such optimal correlations require idealised (noiseless) scenarios which are never the case in a practical implementation. Therefore, we also show how sequential QRACs allow for inference of noise-robust bounds on the sharpness parameter in a quantum instrument. This is makes our results applicable to experimental demonstrations. Finally, we discuss relevant generalisations of our results. New J. Phys. 21 (2019) 083034 K Mohan et al