Removing Stuck Up Spoiler - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Hi Folks, I had issues with my instrument panel where it would fault and cause all the warning lights to come on and the spoiler to raise, I swapped the cluster, and it is now behaving. However, the spoiler has been stuck in the up position for several months now. The rocker does not work other than I can hear the relays clicking. I suspect the motor or maybe microswitches although I can't make a case for the motor since it was fine, but could for microswitches maybe. Either way, I am trying to remove to inspect and since the rams are up, can't get the assembly out. Any tips? I am trying to remove the motor, but it's virtually impossible to get to it since the assembly doesn't move much due to the rams being extended. If anyone has any ideas on pieces to remove or experience with getting this out with the rams up, it would be great to hear. Cheers, Paul.

You might be able to remove each piston...

I completely dismantled the thing months ago. Can you remove the motor and try to run it in manually? Maybe this helps as well,to remove the rear spoiler drive, the rear spoiler must be extended (!)

Thanks for the replies! I did try to loosen the motor to remove it, but nuts behind the motor started spinning and my spanners (wrenches) were tricky to get in place. I actually removed the ram casing bolts and was able to crack it open by prying some tabs on the top of the plastic shroud. This allowed me to disconnect the drive cable. Basically at that point, the whole piece fell apart and with some twisting and so on I got the other side out as well thus removing the whole piece. I think the manual solution would work with the motor removed too, so thanks for that suggestion 987_986. I did take the mechanism apart to see if there was an obvious fix, but nothing stood out and I have a used one on the way for a decent price., Thanks for the suggestions and I will post an update if I get it all back together. One caution when removing the assembly is that it is easy to bend and in re-assembling it I think probably did bend the mounts that the ram housing attach to. Also, I slightly broke the ram housing, but not terminally. 23 year old automotive plastic, not a surprise. Cheers, Paul.

Great, thumbs up! I recommend dismantling everything, then testing the microswitches, clean and relube. If you have a new one you are on the save side. But it's fun to understand the mechanism and give it a new life!

Plug just the motor in and see if it works. My failed spoiler was that the plastic sleeve on the cable wasn't as flexible as it once was and took a set in the shape of the bends in the metal tubes. This created so much friction that the motor destroyed the rack. There is a reason that good designers only pull on cables - and not push on them!