Oi! My spoiler started to get weird on my 96' C4 a few days ago, like being raised when I got home and then lowered in place the next morning. And now its just stuck up and exposed to the elements. Any clues on an easy fix or am I off to the mechanic? thanks

 

Exorcism?

 

Does the switch work?

 

What do they say? If your spoiler stays up longer than 4 hours, see your doctor?

OK, now that we got that out of the way, I'd also be interested to know whether the switch controls the spoiler properly.

If not, based on what you're describing, I'd bet that the spoiler gear is stripped.

The other thing you might want to try is disconnecting the cable from the motor to the gear housing and try driving the gearing with a cordless drill. If the spoiler still doesn't operate correctly, something's wrong with your gear. If you can get the spoiler to work this way, then it may be something with the motor or the control unit.

Check out the spoiler gear DIY on pcarworkshop for more info.

- Dave

 

Another thing to try is to remove the plastic gear cover and see if there's any debris blocking the gears or switches. I had one of those rubber nut covers fall in there a jam the switch.

 

A known problem are the bearings in the gearbox that drives the spoiler. Try operating it with the switch and listening for a grinding noise if it does move. Noise usually means bearing failure in the gearbox. Do a search about it, the repair is not that hard.