Okay, another rear spoiler issue

[Arthur Q]

Okay, for my first post here, I have just joined the fraternity with a 2001 turbo, seal grey, 6 speed, carbon fibre interior. I love it, no questions - I have wanted a turbo since........1975!!!!! Anyway, one annoyance is that the rear spoiler will raise and lower both at 70mph and manually, but only about 1/2 way! It causes the dash light to come on (saying rear spoiler failure), but other than that, it works fine - it lowers on its own in automatic, and as I said, it works the same way manually. So, could it be short on hydraulic fluid? I have tried to "coax" it further, with someone manually operating the switch, but even though I can pull up on the rams, the spoiler will definitely not go further than about a 2 inch extension. Any thoughts? I have looked through the archives, but no one seems to have had this issue.

[r34dy2fly]

had the same issue. check your lifts on either side and see if its leaking or if it looked like it had leaked. if it is leaking, your gonna need new hydraulic lifts. if you do it by the dealer though, theyll make you buy the whole motor and lift together.

[Arthur Q]

Does anyone know if the hydraulic rams are available from Porsche as a separate new part?

[Loren]

Does anyone know if the hydraulic rams are available from Porsche as a separate new part?

Yes, but Porsche also recommends new lines/fittings.

The bleeding/adjusting procedure will also need to be performed.

[Arthur Q]

Thanks Loren

I have all winter to goof around with this, so I'll see what I can do.

[Dus10R]

Does anyone know if the hydraulic rams are available from Porsche as a separate new part?

Yes, but Porsche also recommends new lines/fittings.

The bleeding/adjusting procedure will also need to be performed.

This seems to be a pretty common problem; where do the lift cylinders leak from? Can they be rebuilt by a hyd. cylinder shop? I deal with expensive heavy equipment hydraulic issues all of the time and we can have almost all of our hyd. cylinders rebuilt. Usually the rod gets marred and causes the seal to leak and we can have the rode refinished and a new seal put in. I ask because I too have noticed that the bottom of my lift cylinders is a little wet with hyd. fluid so I know that it's leaking. It's still working for the time being but it's just a matter of time before I start to get the wing malfunction warning.

[Arthur Q]

As a layman, that is exactly what I was thinking - surely these hydraulic rams are no more complicated than those that actually have to lift something heavy! Or, would injecting some fluid (as described in another thread) using a syringe provide a temporary fix?

[Dus10R]

Well I dropped my car off at Porsche today and like everyone else has said before they don't fix the cylinders, they just want to replace the whole thing. Now I'm not sure if the "whole" thing also means the pump, I have to clarify that tomorrow. If they do want to replace the whole thing and my warranty does't cover it I'll probably just attempt to have one of my cylinder shops repair it. If it comes to that I'll let everyone know the results. Then again, even if they do replace it I'll ask for the parts back and I might see if I can fix them anyway.

[Arthur Q]

Well I dropped my car off at Porsche today and like everyone else has said before they don't fix the cylinders, they just want to replace the whole thing. Now I'm not sure if the "whole" thing also means the pump, I have to clarify that tomorrow. If they do want to replace the whole thing and my warranty does't cover it I'll probably just attempt to have one of my cylinder shops repair it. If it comes to that I'll let everyone know the results. Then again, even if they do replace it I'll ask for the parts back and I might see if I can fix them anyway.

Any results to report on this? I am curious what your cylinder shop says.

[Dus10R]

Well I dropped my car off at Porsche today and like everyone else has said before they don't fix the cylinders, they just want to replace the whole thing. Now I'm not sure if the "whole" thing also means the pump, I have to clarify that tomorrow. If they do want to replace the whole thing and my warranty does't cover it I'll probably just attempt to have one of my cylinder shops repair it. If it comes to that I'll let everyone know the results. Then again, even if they do replace it I'll ask for the parts back and I might see if I can fix them anyway.

Any results to report on this? I am curious what your cylinder shop says.

The dealer replaced the whole thing, including the pump, under warranty. I asked if I could have the parts but they said that they had to keep them for the warranty claim. So... no joy. But I would bet that a cylinder shop could fix them.