Svaha

My spoiler is operational and working as it should, but it makes a grinding noise going up or down. In general the noise going up is covered by road noise as I am moving, but when I stop at a light the grinding noise as it retracts is bothersome. Can I spray WD40 or apply something else to the gears to help with this, is there some other solution, or is this noise just normal?
Thanks,
Mark

mike cap

Mark,

A certain amount of noise is normal - even with new gears and bearings. If it's loud enough to be annoying at idle, then the bearings or gears are shot in the little transmission (gear reducer) under the rear deck. There is nothing to lube that is exposed that will get rid of the 'coffee grinder' noise. This DIY shows more about repair or replacement:

http://p-car.com/diy/spoilerdrive/

There is a gear and pinion that is exposed under the plastic half-moon cover, you may want to lube with white lithium grease - but I don't think that would be the noise source.

FWIW, I replaced my spoiler drive gear reducer assy at about 20,000 miles - same squawk that you have. Many others have had the same problem. I also added the RUF spoiler control module that changes the 'up' speed to 85 mph and 'down' speed to 45 mph. Don't know if these are still available or not.

Hope this helps,

Mike Cap
1997 C2
Arena Red

ASH.PALIN

Hi Mark

This is a fairly common problem there is a bearing on the spoiler gear box which gets corroded and degenerates leading to the noise.There are three courses of action.

1) Remove the gear box, cut it open and replace bearing(preferably with a waterproof one), about 2-3 hour job, but kinda rewarding See www.p-car.com. diy section. bearing cost me about £2.00 ($3.50ish)
2)Live with the noise, Character Blah blah.........

3) Buy a new gearbox from porsche at a about $300 ish

all the best

Ash

Timothy Stewart

As a stop gap measure you can drill a small hole next to
the bearing, inject grease and reseal.
Once repaired or replaced, you may want to place an O-ring on the
flexible shaft to prevent water running into the mechanism.

tim

viperbob

When you fix it, just use a sealed bearing instead of the non-sealed one like Porsche uses. You know these spoiler transmissions are like $500? This $5 fix and a simple hours worth of time sure beats heading to the dealer.

Svaha

Thanks for all the feedback. Seems worth it to try fixing it myself.
Mark

AOW162435

In addition to the sage advice already given, I lubricate all of the pivot points regularly with Boeshield and manually raise the spoiler every time I drive the car. This prevents the constant cycling of the mechanism until I shut the car down.

Andreas

David Schiff

i use a syringe and a small needle, with thin oil and capillary action does the rest. helps and got quieter. I add acetone 3oz./10 gal, what a difference in smoothness, and my cel went out! lots of info on acetone on the web. i use it in the airplane too. IO520 A continental . DAvid Schiff

relisysxx

I have just changed the spoiler bearing following instructions on www.p car.com, dead easy and what a transformation, £5 for the bearing from my local supplier. rear blower next!

ToreB

I've got a DIY on this as well. Fixing the bearing yourself instead of changing the gearbox is definetly worth it's money.
Cheers,
Tore