997.1TT Hydraulic Wing Repair DIY
#1
03-31-2016, 11:57 AM
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Montreal
Posts: 267
Rep Power: 24 
997.1TT Hydraulic Wing Repair DIY
Hello,
As promised here: https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...ilure-diy.html , I am now making a DIY for repairing a hydraulic wing that does not go up all the way. Many thanks to all who sent me in the right direction. Total cost $30
This DIY is for the 997.1 Turbo and should be useful if you have one or more sides that do not go up, or need to replace one or bleed one.
In my case, the drivers side would only extend a short distance. The whole hydraulic mechanism was replaced by Porsche (or maybe just repaired...) two years ago under CPO. Last year,however it stopped going up much on one side. Unfortunately CPO was over.
Tools:
You need a spanner wrench. 34-36 mm. I bought mine on ebay for $15. I wrapped electrical tape around it to prevent marring of the hydraulic shaft. You also need a small dropper or syringe to add any missing hydraulic fluid.
You also need, 20, 27, 30 and 40 mm torx bits and a 12mm socket wrench.
The job is easy to do and it took me 3 hours which included time to go to the auto parts store for some hydraulic fluid and take the pictures.
The fluid I used was hydraulic fluid for jacks. The best would be the Porsche ($$$) fluid of course.
As promised here: https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...ilure-diy.html , I am now making a DIY for repairing a hydraulic wing that does not go up all the way. Many thanks to all who sent me in the right direction. Total cost $30
This DIY is for the 997.1 Turbo and should be useful if you have one or more sides that do not go up, or need to replace one or bleed one.
In my case, the drivers side would only extend a short distance. The whole hydraulic mechanism was replaced by Porsche (or maybe just repaired...) two years ago under CPO. Last year,however it stopped going up much on one side. Unfortunately CPO was over.
Tools:
You need a spanner wrench. 34-36 mm. I bought mine on ebay for $15. I wrapped electrical tape around it to prevent marring of the hydraulic shaft. You also need a small dropper or syringe to add any missing hydraulic fluid.
You also need, 20, 27, 30 and 40 mm torx bits and a 12mm socket wrench.
The job is easy to do and it took me 3 hours which included time to go to the auto parts store for some hydraulic fluid and take the pictures.
The fluid I used was hydraulic fluid for jacks. The best would be the Porsche ($$$) fluid of course.
Last edited by tomb18; 03-31-2016 at 12:44 PM.
#2
03-31-2016, 11:58 AM
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Montreal
Posts: 267
Rep Power: 24
Step 1: You have to remove the wing. I raised the wing as high as possible and pulled up on the side that was low. I then stuffed a pillow in there to keep it up. I then used the spanner wrench to turn the hydraulic cylinder. It was quite easy to do so, it really wasn't torqued down very tight. I repeated this on the other side. Piece of cake. Here's a picture of it partially unscrewed. Note that it screws in and out as normal so looking from the bottom up, you are turning the shaft counter clockwise to remove the spoiler.
The next photo show the underside of the deck.
The next photo show the underside of the deck.
Last edited by tomb18; 03-31-2016 at 12:11 PM.
#3
03-31-2016, 11:58 AM
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Montreal
Posts: 267
Rep Power: 24
Important!! Before you start removing screws and bolts cover the engine well to prevent any of the bolts from falling in!! I used a blanket with a plastic sheet on top.
On the 997.1, you may need to remove the fan to gain access to the bolts. I did but perhaps in retrospect it was not necessary. However, remove the 4 bolts (there are washers underneath the fan), and disconnect the power connector.
Next remove a single screw in each air duct. If the ducts had not been removed previously, there are a couple of pieces of two sided tape holding the ducts as well. You may need to pull a bit. I didn't, Porsche did not replace the tape with new tape....
Next remove the plastic plate above the fan. I removed all the screws but in reality you need to only remove the 4 outer ones. When this is complete you will see this:
On the 997.1, you may need to remove the fan to gain access to the bolts. I did but perhaps in retrospect it was not necessary. However, remove the 4 bolts (there are washers underneath the fan), and disconnect the power connector.
Next remove a single screw in each air duct. If the ducts had not been removed previously, there are a couple of pieces of two sided tape holding the ducts as well. You may need to pull a bit. I didn't, Porsche did not replace the tape with new tape....
Next remove the plastic plate above the fan. I removed all the screws but in reality you need to only remove the 4 outer ones. When this is complete you will see this:
Last edited by tomb18; 03-31-2016 at 12:19 PM.
#4
03-31-2016, 12:00 PM
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Montreal
Posts: 267
Rep Power: 24
You will now want to disconnect the truck light which is just above the pump in the above picture and cut the two tie wraps holding the wiring harness in place.
Next remove the two hydraulic rams. These are held with three torx bolts each. Let them rest on the engine, there is enough line when the pump is lowered to allow this.
If you now want to replace the whole assembly, you can just disconnect the main wring harness in the engine and you are able to take it out.
Now in my case, I wanted to see if the level had gone down so I did not remove the unit.
So I reattached the plastic plate back on to the pump to provide me a way to keep the pump vertical using tie wraps. It is important that the two bolts that hold the hydraulic lines are at the highest point in the system. I did this with tie wraps as shown here:
Next remove the two hydraulic rams. These are held with three torx bolts each. Let them rest on the engine, there is enough line when the pump is lowered to allow this.
If you now want to replace the whole assembly, you can just disconnect the main wring harness in the engine and you are able to take it out.
Now in my case, I wanted to see if the level had gone down so I did not remove the unit.
So I reattached the plastic plate back on to the pump to provide me a way to keep the pump vertical using tie wraps. It is important that the two bolts that hold the hydraulic lines are at the highest point in the system. I did this with tie wraps as shown here:
Last edited by tomb18; 03-31-2016 at 12:46 PM.
#5
03-31-2016, 12:00 PM
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Montreal
Posts: 267
Rep Power: 24
The bolt that holds the hydraulic lines in place is called a Banjo bolt. It has two holes in it that allow fluid to move in a specific direction. Thus it is important that you mark these bolts with a line that points to the hydraulic line so you can return the bolt to the same direction it was before you removed them.
Here is what the bolt looks like:
Here is what the bolt looks like:
Last edited by tomb18; 03-31-2016 at 12:31 PM.
#6
03-31-2016, 12:03 PM
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Montreal
Posts: 267
Rep Power: 24
There are two copper washers on bolt. One goes above the hydraulic line and one under it when you reassemble.
Once you have marked the bolt, remove it. In my case only one side of the spoiler was not raising high enough. There are two separate chambers so I only opened the side that had the problem. When you remove the bolt, the hydraulic ram will be free. Make sure that you keep the hydraulic line up so that it is higher than the Ram. You do not want fluid to leak out! You would then need to bleed the system. Just set it aside making sure the line it the highest point.
Next I added hydraulic fluid. From what I have heard, the volume is only about 6 ml total but in my case there were at least two ml missing! So I refilled this right to the top of the pump and then reconnected the ram and screwed down the Banjo bolt, making sure the line pointed in the correct direction. That's it.
The moment of truth: I went in the car, turned the ignition and then raised and lowered the wing. Twice. I went out, and took a look...perfect. Completely fixed for a total of $30. The dealer just replaces this and they tell you it takes 4 hours to bleed the system and they charge a couple of thousand $$.
I then just reassembled everything. The trickiest part of the whole process was putting the wing back on. Although it seems you can do this by hand, the tool is much easier. You also should not torque the wing down too tight. I would worry about the insert into the fiberglass stripping. I also left the ram bolts loose until the wing was reattached and then tightened them down.
It was really much easier than I expected.
Now, I can't say this will work in all cases. However, once you get this far, the actual bleeding (which I did not do) is described here:
http://www.renntech.org/forums/topic...ng-hydraulics/
As I said, I did not need to do this but I suspect that with this guide and those instructions, it can't be that hard.
I hope this is useful!
Once you have marked the bolt, remove it. In my case only one side of the spoiler was not raising high enough. There are two separate chambers so I only opened the side that had the problem. When you remove the bolt, the hydraulic ram will be free. Make sure that you keep the hydraulic line up so that it is higher than the Ram. You do not want fluid to leak out! You would then need to bleed the system. Just set it aside making sure the line it the highest point.
Next I added hydraulic fluid. From what I have heard, the volume is only about 6 ml total but in my case there were at least two ml missing! So I refilled this right to the top of the pump and then reconnected the ram and screwed down the Banjo bolt, making sure the line pointed in the correct direction. That's it.
The moment of truth: I went in the car, turned the ignition and then raised and lowered the wing. Twice. I went out, and took a look...perfect. Completely fixed for a total of $30. The dealer just replaces this and they tell you it takes 4 hours to bleed the system and they charge a couple of thousand $$.
I then just reassembled everything. The trickiest part of the whole process was putting the wing back on. Although it seems you can do this by hand, the tool is much easier. You also should not torque the wing down too tight. I would worry about the insert into the fiberglass stripping. I also left the ram bolts loose until the wing was reattached and then tightened them down.
It was really much easier than I expected.
Now, I can't say this will work in all cases. However, once you get this far, the actual bleeding (which I did not do) is described here:
http://www.renntech.org/forums/topic...ng-hydraulics/
As I said, I did not need to do this but I suspect that with this guide and those instructions, it can't be that hard.
I hope this is useful!
Last edited by tomb18; 03-31-2016 at 12:51 PM.
#7
03-31-2016, 01:16 PM
Very nice post, thank you!
Did you notice any fluid leaking on the hydraulic ram when you opened the decklid prior to the repair?
Did you notice any fluid leaking on the hydraulic ram when you opened the decklid prior to the repair?
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#8
03-31-2016, 01:20 PM
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Montreal
Posts: 267
Rep Power: 24
Hi,
Thanks. There was NO evidence of any leaks anywhere. Very strange.
It could be it came this way from the factory. I really didn't drive my car much last year and quite possible the number of times over 75 mph, were limited.
Thanks. There was NO evidence of any leaks anywhere. Very strange.
It could be it came this way from the factory. I really didn't drive my car much last year and quite possible the number of times over 75 mph, were limited.
