aowolf

Well that day I have been dreading has finally come and my rear spoiler has stopped working automatically. I can raise and lower it manually but when I start the car and drive off the spoiler warning light does not go out.

One mechanic told me that the computer has a resistance test on the spoiler motor and if the current draw is to high it will disable the spoiler function. He said the nylon gears tend to strip slowly over time.

Is this true and if so how to I began to troubleshoot to make sure its the gears. If it is the gears does anyone have a supplier for new ones? I know the dealer just sells a new spoiler cartridge but I'm all for trying to MacGuyver it first.

Macster

Not sure about that gears strip over time comment.

Maybe my car has super titanium spoiler gears cause that spoiler's been up and down more times (over these ahem last 250K miles) than just about any spoiler I guess and it still goes up and down and while it is a bit tiny bit noisier when I listen to it in a closed in place with the engine off it is not that much noisier

Anyhow, in all these years, all the miles, never a hiccup, save once: I washed the engine and a week or so later the warning light came on and the spoiler remained up. I was unable to lower it with the button. Left the car sit. At lunch drove the car on city streets a few miles and when I got back from lunch I noticed the warning light was off and the spoiler was down. The manual raise/lower button worked.

The spoiler was possessed. Briefly anyhow.

(Might mention that since then the car was tapped from behind by an SUV (approx. 5mph impact) which damaged the rear bumper cover, a taillight assembly, even bent a piece of sheet metal that spans the width of the rear of the car and was up near the spoiler. However, the spoiler was unaffected by the collision.)

That you can apparently raise/lower the spoiler with the manual button suggests to me the basic hardware is ok, unless you hear gruesome noises from that area when raising/lower the spoiler.

I looked through what I have on the Boxster spoiler and it ain't much. Just instructions on how to remove/reinstall it. Nothing on diagnosing non-functionality.

Anyhow, my thinking is given what you report is there is a marginal connection between the DME and the spoiler. The signal to raise/lower the spoiler is not getting through to the spoiler raise/lower control unit. The warning light arises from the DME sensing something wrong with the wiring.

You might try tracing the connector and unplugging it and reconnecting it the idea being some surface corrosion has formed just enough to interfere with the signal.

If playing with the connector doesn't help then look for another connector or consider the wire's insulation has been compromised or the wire is broken.

It might even be the DME's output that controls the spoiler is damaged but that's a long shot.

Sincerely,

Macster.

jittsl

I have the motor and gearbox out of a 98. Removed in the conversion to SpecBox. You can have it if you need it. Let me know.

meirschwartz

The spoiler will go up and down from the switch but not when driving. It was like that from the first day I got the car.
I also thought about the option of the DME failure or wire disconnected. That is excluded since I can activate the spoiler thru the Durametric software.
Maybe I should upgrade to the super titanium spoiler like macster has

meirschwartz

i also bumped an old post on 986forum.com
lets see if someone can help.

insite

does the light on the dash function properly? a malfuction in the instrument cluster can cause this issue. basically, the cluster tells the spoiler when to deploy. if the output fails, the spoiler light will stay on & the spoiler will not deploy.

Macster

Given the additional info, I agree. I like the idea the root problem can be due to a bad instrument cluster as a reason the spoiler doesn't deploy automatically more than I like my idea it is a connector or goofy DME.

Sincerely,

Macster

aowolf

When the problem started a few days ago the light would go out if I drove the car with the spoiler in the UP position. The spoiler would even retract properly but would not deploy. As of today the light just says on the whole time and the spoiler will not go up or down automatically. Should I try disconnecting the battery for a little bit to try and reset the computer?

I am getting rid of a titanium wheelchair soon...maybe I can make gears out of it

Macster

If you are careful in disconnecting/reconecting the battery I see no harm.

Be sure the key is off (and removed just to be sure) and all electrical systems are off.

While the battery is disconnected depress the brake pedal to remove any residual electrical power from the car.

I do not expect the disconnect will help but I would like to be wrong.

Sincerely,

Macster.

RollingArt

I'd guess malfunction of the spoiler's control module.

"It's the control module". That's become the joke @ my buddies' work shop.

And it actually almost always IS the control module !




Phil

aowolf

For whatever reason the spoiler just needed some time to sit and think about what it was doing. (That is it suddenly is working fine again)