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Spoiler warning light - won't retract

INWB

Well-known member
Joined
2 May 2016
Messages
248
Evening all.

Tonight I took the car out and the spoiler light came on along with the battery light and the oil light. I keep it at 3000 or below before it warms up but the lights persisted. After finishing my meeting I got back in and sure enough all the lights went out except the spoiler warning light.

Get home and have a brief look. No joy as it is dark and I'm tired. So I pressed the manual button and up came the spoiler. But it wouldn't go down again. Sounded a bit squeaky on way up but nothing really bad.

Whats going on and how do I fix it? I've spent £2,500on it in the last month or so and don't want any more big bills !

Many thanks for any assistance
 
How's the battery? That can give all sorts of weird electrical gremlins.

Very similar (but not the same, as is the nature of random electrical faults) happened to me when my ignition switch failed. Has yours ever been changed?
 
It is unlikely to be a battery issue. The hydraulic spoiler has microswitches that cut in at 75 and 35mph to raise and lower it. These (one for each function) may need replacing - the cheapest test and solution.

If not microswitches, the next most common is leaking rams - lift the bootlid and see if there is fluid on the black plastic tubes on either side Those are the rams. If its this, then you can mess around with a DIY fix with new seals off eBay and refilling them. Alternatively, source a scrap set of rams with wiring loom from a scrap yard. The alternative is a new spoiler mechanism from OPC - will be around £2k fitted.

These cars are aging well when you consider it is on its factory spoiler and rams till now. I'd try the microswitches first. Its relative easy DIY and take it from there. A good Indy should be able to sort it either with a scrap replacement or a replacement setup from OPC. Indys may either suggest a repair or a replace solution for the spoiler malfunction given the labour considerations of trying a repair and an unpredictability of if the solution will work or hold for how long.

The oil light might be a faulty sensor. The oil pressure drop and then comes back up. Check the oil level though. Non Mezger cars such as 996 4S have a wet sump (or as Porsche describe - 'integrated dry sump' - and if its low on oil, when going around corners or roundabouts the low level may make the sensor 'dry' triggering the light.

If car starts OK and horn and lights are fine, the battery is probably OK.
An Indy can read if any fault codes are triggered for the spoiler and the battery and oil lights and having an Indy look into it is probably the solution I'd take.
 
cheshire911 said:
is leaking rams - lift the bootlid and see if there is fluid on the black plastic tubes on either side

It's not a turbo? Does the 4S have hydraulic rams? I was under the impression it was just the TT?

cheshire911 said:
The oil light might be a faulty sensor.

It might, but it's an unusual fault to happen alongside other faults at the same time.

cheshire911 said:
If car starts OK and horn and lights are fine, the battery is probably OK..

Not in my experience.
 
The hydraulic ram mechanism is the same on 996 C4S and 996 turbo.
Oil light might be faulty sensor or low oil level which is why I suggested OP checks the oil level. Sensor faults are fairly common - most usually a flickering oil pressure gauge falling suddenly to zero and almost instantly returning back to pressure in a heart-stopping moment.

As the rams are hydraulic it is unlikely to be a battery issue but not impossible - which is why I stated battery is 'probably' OK. The microswitches could be affected by a poor battery - but that would affect other things such as central locking.The microswitches can and do fail over time and are relatively inexpensive to replace to see if it cures the fault.

Basically, it needs to go to a good Indy to look at this constellation of symptoms for a first-time diagnosis to minimise unnecessary spend trying this and that until a solution is found. Spoiler issues are more prevalent now based on the age of these cars and probably most out there are on their factory spoiler ram fitments.
 
cheshire911 said:
The hydraulic ram mechanism is the same on 996 C4S and 996 turbo..

Learn something new every day 8)
 
arry said:
cheshire911 said:
The hydraulic ram mechanism is the same on 996 C4S and 996 turbo..

Learn something new every day 8)

Yes you do......but it isn't the above statement.
 
As C4S shares many parts with the Turbo I'd be surprised if its different. If it is, then it can only be electric instead of hydraulic but still operated by microswitches but somehow not interchangeable to a Turbo when the hydraulics fail (for obvious differences due to intercoolers I'd guess).
 
It's a totally different mechanism. The turbo spoiler raises upwards in a straight direction on 2 hydraulic rams. The C4S raises up in a radial direction on an electronic motor, like every other 996!

Turbo:




C4S

 
I cannot open these links. Do you have an alternative URL link?
 
alex yates said:
Yes you do......but it isn't the above statement.

Lol, I wasn't going mad then.

It's an obvious one but I would still go with early signs of ignition switch failure. It has all the hallmarks and isn't massively different from the experience I had; a random light here, a random spoiler raise there, which gradually got worse and worse.
 
The spoiler fault on its own and i would be thinking the gears in the center part are stuck / faulty .. is kinda a plastic strip with teeth and there are 2 of them that move in opposite directions , its a cable system (turbo is hydraulic ).. basically if it was just that then its a wiring check and a strip and investigate .

Im not convinced though atm .. oil light and battery light saying no charge at the same time .. hmm .. a bit strange to say the least .

They may have gone out .. but they shouldnt have come on in the first place .. oil light is kinda scary shall we say .

I dont like coincedence but i have nothing i can think of atm so i will have to advise get it checked out .
 
I saw that bit about the oil light, too.

Can something to do with oil pumping slow the serpentine belt, causing the alternator to be too slow to charge?
 
I forgot to mention on my last post .. the micro switches are in with the gear rods .

EGTE .. the oil light / battery light makes me think its all related and not just a spoiler micro switch which im guessing is what your thinking ..

To slow the belt would mean a massive drag on the belt really .. partially seized alternator , idle pully etc but the belt would slip with the drag i expect so an awfull lot of belt squeel if it was something like that , good idea though .. i had to think about it :D

Im almost thinking mice damage to the wiring somewhere !
 

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