Todd B

Well I finally found a car and picked it up this past Saturday. The wife and I ran a couple of errands tonight and she noted that I hadn't stopped grinning . The car is a 96 guards red coupe with black interior. It had almost 49k miles when I picked it up, but the car is in excellent condition and it pulls hard through the gears. I've been reading the board for awhile now, but have never seen any mention about the reat spoiler. We noticed today on our runs that when the spoiler goes down, it's rather noisy, is this normal? I took a look at it and nothing seems to be binding. Does something need to be lubed?

Thanks

Todd

hobbes45

This is totally normal. I call it the "Porsche Gasp," for the car not wanting to slow down. I am not sure what causes it but I have heard it for three years running and have heard from others that this is normal.

1995 993 Adventure Green

Robin 993DX

The correct term for this symptom is call

"The coffee grinder"

Completely normal, part of the nature of the beast, there are lubrications and refitting procedures that can eliminate this noise, but I have heard that the noise will eventually find it's way back.

Edward

I heard of one person replacing the plastic gearset, though I don't know what he paid for it. He said it's much quieter, but who knows how long that will last? I just turn up the radio

Edward

tom_993

My car made the coffee grinder noise as well. I had the spoiler motor replaced, for about $100, and the noise is gone. However, to extend the life of both the motor and the spoiler wall (which is already starting to split), I always hit the spoiler button as soon as I start driving. This keeps the spoiler from going up and down at every signal I come to. Sometimes I hit the down button when I park, but that depends on where I park. In my own garage I just leave it up. On autocross or track days, I actually pull the connector off the motor (with the wing up) so I don’t have to worry about pushing the button. On my OBD1 ’95, this does not cause any warning lights to come on.

Robin 993DX

Tom,

The warning light didn't come on in your car had nothing to do with the OBD1.

Porsche engineers thought that it was more important to warn the driver if the tail was not extending out, but don't care about it if it was the other way around.

Try to unplug the wire to the wing motor with the wing retracted and drive up to 50 mph and see if you get a warning light.

Jack Esposito

Mine made lots of noise when I first got my car, tried lubing everything but nothing worked. Finally the drive cable from the motor snapped and I had to replace it - its part of the gear mechanism you can't just replace the little cable. Took apart the old gear mechanism and found it all rusted up inside, that's what was causing all my noise. Looked like water was getting into the drive mechanism causing it to rust and bind up. The new one doesn't make any noise yet six months later.

Jack
Black '96 C4S

Jason C.

My solution to the noise was to get the Fabspeed SuperCup exhaust. Now I can't hear a darn thing from back there, or the annoying windshield squeak or the radio or the person sitting next to me...but I love it!

Jason C.

Bins

Tom-993,

I always hit the spoiler button as soon as I start driving. This keeps the spoiler from going up and down at every signal I come to.

I tried this but then I find as soon as you go above 55mph and then stop again, the spoiler reverts back to norm and goes up and down again.

The only time I have found that this works is if you dont go above 55mph.

Does that mean theres something wrong on mine?

tom_993

Bins,
My understanding is that once you manually raise the spoiler, it stays up as long as the car is running. Once you turn the car off, it will reset (by going over the set speed, then coming to a stop), just like you’ve noticed. That’s why I hit the button every time I start driving, even though the spoiler is already up (I think you need to be faster than some minimum speed when you hit the button, like 8MPH or 20MPH or something. It’s in your owners manual). This prevents the reset that you’ve noticed.

Tom

Bins

Thanks. I will check for that.

Is it always better to put the spoiler up regardless of the speed you do?

How do you pull the connector off the motor. Is it very quick and easy to do? I actually wanted to keep the spoiler up all the time but I was advised not to as some vandal would likely do some damage.

tom_993

Bins,
I don’t know if it’s better or not, I just do it so it doesn’t go up and down all the time. Removing the connector is trivial. Open the lid and look underneath to the left. You’ll see the motor. Pull the plug. It’s that simple. It’s even keyed so that when you put it back, you can’t put it back wrong.
Worrying about vandals is why I lower it in some parking lots. I’ve forgotten on many occasions, though, and have not had a problem. Perhaps I’ve been lucky. On the other hand, if a vandal is going to get your car, what would he care if the spoiler were up or down?

Tom

Bins

True. But then this is UK!

I think I saw the cable. I'll try it out.

Thanks.

tom_993

I should clarify my post just in case it wasn’t clear: pull the electrical power connector. Do not try to pull cable that connects the motor to the mechanism that raises the spoiler (the speedometer type cable).

Bins

There are two cables theres.

One in front and the second couple of inches behind.

The front has just the one connector. I assume that is the power connector, that just slips off easily. I tried that and it seemed to work. But I havent driven the car yet.

The second has two connectors that connect together and slot into something like a clip. I dont know waht that is. I didnt try to disconnect that.