I have an 04 TT with extended warranty.
The warning light for the rear spoiler is coming on and the spoiler is eighter not going up and down all the way or it comes down unevenly.

The dealer says its not covered under warranty and wants $1600.00 for the repair.

Is this true? And what recourse do I have?

Thank you
Chris

 

Probably the motor assembly. Rear deck lids with spoilers and hardware seem to be selling for $500. I have a used motor assembly that I'd be willing to sell for less than that. PM me if interested.

Jon

 

My 03TT is doing the same. My shop says around 1300 dollars. I have been looking on Rennlist for more info. Will let you know....

 

For both of you, here is one thing to check:

You can activate the spoiler by pressing the button on the dash without the engine running. If you do that, can you hear the motor that drives the spolier running or not? If you hearthe motor and the spoiler isn't moving, there may be a relatively simple fix. Let me know, by PM if you like.

Jon

 

Yes, I can hear the motor running.

 

I used a little WD-40. Worked like a charm.

 

WD-40 on what - the metal tubes? That's a good idea if they are moving intermittently, but not if the spoiler isn't moving at all. I posted this to the guys who PM'd me, although I don't know why I asked them to do that.

Here's what I told them:

Mine started giving the light intermittently, and then gradually progressed into not moving. I ended up replacing the whole assembly, for a price similar to what you've been quoted. I later took apart the old one, and discovered that it was something really simple. Not sure this is your issue, but for $1300, it's worth a look:

The system works through a motor/pusher assembly that is a long metal tube bolted to the underside of the decklid. The motor drives a worm gear that pushes hydraulic fluid into the two tubes under the spoiler to raise it, and when the motor reverses, it sucks the fluid back in to draw the spoiler down. It's basically a pair of syringes with plungers driven by an electric motor.

The motor is connected to the worm gear with a tab kind of like a flat-blade screwdriver that is held onto the motor with a set screw. In my case, the set screw had backed out, and that made the motor slip. The warning lights come on at first because the spoiler isn't moving as fast as it should (I think). Anyway, tightening the set screw fixed the problem. Too bad I learned that after spending all that money.

It's not trivial to get to the set screw. It sits basically in the center of that long cylinder. One end of the cylinder is filled by the motor, the other end by the hydraulic reservoir. You need to take the cylinder off of the decklid, then figure out how to get it apart (it was a couple of years ago - I remember it was a little tricky to separate, but I don't remember why). Once you do though, you just tighten the set screw if it's loose and you've saved yourself a chuck of change.

If that isn't clear enough, I have the old one in a box and can send you some pictures.

I hope that helps. Let me know.

Jon

 

Yes, the tubes. But you're right. My wing was just raising and lowering unevenly.

 

Nice write up fast...

 

depends which extended warranty. I have the best one the offered and it was covered -- so they might be pulling your leg.

 

I've had a couple of people PM regarding the spoiler motor fix I described above. Here are some instructions with pictures. It's easier than I remember, probably because this time I knew what I was doing.

Tools needed are: 10 mm socket and star drivers as shown in picture 1 below.

Spoiler motor lives on top of the black plastic lid liner as shown in picture 2. You have to undo all the 10's holding the lid liner and lower it down to get to the motor assembly. Unplug the motor, then follow the disassembly in the figures.

Since I now have an extra one, I took the rest of the pix of the one that is in the box in picture 3 and 4. That's what you get from Porsche for your $1000. It is a nice box, though.

Unscrew the brackets on the motor end, and slide out the motor. (picture 5)

Continued in the next post...

 

Looking at the end that was in the tube (picture 6) you can sort of see the tab that drives the worm gear. Sorry it's out of focus.

Remove the three screws at the end, and you see the set screw (picture 7)

Tighten the set screw, reassemble. You need to align the tab with the slot in the worm gear. I did this by taking a big screwdriver and turning the slot so that it was vertical, then rotated the tab so that it would line up when I slid the motor back in. You could also put 12V on the motor terminals while pressing the motor against the slot until they align and it drops into place.

I really hope that this works for you. It shouldn't take more than an hour or two.

Jon

 

Also, if you see oil leaking out the bottom of the cylinders, this may indicate a different problem unrelated to the worm gear and tab referenced in the posts above. According to people I spoke with, if your cylinders are leaking your best bet is probably to source some used cylinders and motor to swap on to your existing decklid (that's what I did after buying everything from a member on the board). Good luck.

 

Thanks for that very detailed instruction. I am thinking of tackling that now with this information. I will let you know how it turns out.

 

Agreed. As you can see, I have a spare if somebody wants it...

Jon