Engine tap at start up with oil light.

[john12312]

Took the car out yesterday and got the tapping sound with the Battery light on this time. Shut the car off and restarted and no tapping or battery light. After an hour, i ran it down a nice long straightaway with no cops, the rear spoiler light came on but no tapping. Pulled over but the spoiler was down and light still on. I manually raised the spoiler and one side went up while the other side was stuck and I heard the familiar tapping.The spoiler retracted ok and the light went off after restart. I'm glad the sound wasn't coming from the engine but now I need to troubleshoot the light issue and probably lubricate the spoiler mechanism to see if it corrects the uneven extraction.

does anyone feel the spoiler makes a difference? I thought they were more for front engine mounted cars where the back end was light. I would think with a mid engine vehicle it would not be as useful.

[Stl-986]

oh it is useful. You wont notice much at 70 but you will at 110. they aren't just for front engine cars, they are to push the rear end down, regardless of weight at the front.

[blue62]

Originally Posted by john12312

Took the car out yesterday and got the tapping sound with the Battery light on this time. Shut the car off and restarted and no tapping or battery light. After an hour, i ran it down a nice long straightaway with no cops, the rear spoiler light came on but no tapping. Pulled over but the spoiler was down and light still on. I manually raised the spoiler and one side went up while the other side was stuck and I heard the familiar tapping.The spoiler retracted ok and the light went off after restart. I'm glad the sound wasn't coming from the engine but now I need to troubleshoot the light issue and probably lubricate the spoiler mechanism to see if it corrects the uneven extraction.

does anyone feel the spoiler makes a difference? I thought they were more for front engine mounted cars where the back end was light. I would think with a mid engine vehicle it would not be as useful.

Spoiler:
Spoils the air.
The air coming over the car creates a little lift at the rear..
Makes the back end light at speed.
So "Spoil the air" to eliminate the lift.
They do not create down force.
You need a wing for down force.

[PaulE]

If you're lucky the spoiler mechanism will just need cleaning and relubricating. If you're not, the gears will be stripped and the mechanism will need to be replaced. A couple of years ago I had a similar issue and took mine apart, cleaned it all up and relubricated the gears and cables and put it all back together. It's still working perfectly.

The mechanism comes out easily and comes apart easily. There is a central pinion gear attached to the motor and two rack gears attached to cables that run through tubes to raise and lower the spoiler. Take a picture of where the gears are positioned before you take it all apart, the spoiler should have been either fully up or fully down and it has to be reassembled in the same position it was in before disassembly. The cables inside the tubes are probably gunked up with years of road grime, they will need to be cleaned and regreased. The cable ends are spring loaded which need to be compressed and put into slots at the end of the rack gears. These ends are held in place by the mechanism case when it is all assembled. It's a bit of a trick to get everything together and have it stay in place while you reassemble the case. If you have a large flat surface to work on, and something stable to push against when getting the spring loaded cable ends back into the rack gears, that will be very helpful. I used the base of my vise bolted to the workbench top for this. The ends of the cables also have sharp metal pieces. Wear heavy leather work gloves during this part and avoid cutting your fingers like I did before I put the gloves on.

Hope you find this helpful, good luck!

[john12312]

Originally Posted by PaulE

If you're lucky the spoiler mechanism will just need cleaning and relubricating. If you're not, the gears will be stripped and the mechanism will need to be replaced. A couple of years ago I had a similar issue and took mine apart, cleaned it all up and relubricated the gears and cables and put it all back together. It's still working perfectly.

The mechanism comes out easily and comes apart easily. There is a central pinion gear attached to the motor and two rack gears attached to cables that run through tubes to raise and lower the spoiler. Take a picture of where the gears are positioned before you take it all apart, the spoiler should have been either fully up or fully down and it has to be reassembled in the same position it was in before disassembly. The cables inside the tubes are probably gunked up with years of road grime, they will need to be cleaned and regreased. The cable ends are spring loaded which need to be compressed and put into slots at the end of the rack gears. These ends are held in place by the mechanism case when it is all assembled. It's a bit of a trick to get everything together and have it stay in place while you reassemble the case. If you have a large flat surface to work on, and something stable to push against when getting the spring loaded cable ends back into the rack gears, that will be very helpful. I used the base of my vise bolted to the workbench top for this. The ends of the cables also have sharp metal pieces. Wear heavy leather work gloves during this part and avoid cutting your fingers like I did before I put the gloves on.

Hope you find this helpful, good luck!

Yes, thanks very much for the great info PaulE! Since the car has a blank history, it's probably needing a good lube as you stated. In South Plainfield NJ today, probably in your neck of the woods.

[john12312]

Originally Posted by blue62

Spoiler:
Spoils the air.
The air coming over the car creates a little lift at the rear..
Makes the back end light at speed.
So "Spoil the air" to eliminate the lift.
They do not create down force.
You need a wing for down force.

Thanks for explaining the difference. Good to know.

[john12312]

Originally Posted by Stl-986

oh it is useful. You wont notice much at 70 but you will at 110. they aren't just for front engine cars, they are to push the rear end down, regardless of weight at the front.

Yes, since the top speed I've ever driven it is 85-90 on a straight road, I probably wouldn't have noticed a difference. The car had no maintenance records when I acquired it as it was an insurance salvage that was totaled from a rear end collision. Because of the spotty history, I'm reluctant to really put a strain on the engine for fear of damage. It's strictly a spring, summer, fall car for me.

[PaulE]

Originally Posted by john12312

Yes, thanks very much for the great info PaulE! Since the car has a blank history, it's probably needing a good lube as you stated. In South Plainfield NJ today, probably in your neck of the woods.

Not too far, I'm in Northeast NJ! Good luck with the spoiler mechanism, let us know how it turns out!

[john12312]

Originally Posted by PaulE

If you're lucky the spoiler mechanism will just need cleaning and relubricating. If you're not, the gears will be stripped and the mechanism will need to be replaced. A couple of years ago I had a similar issue and took mine apart, cleaned it all up and relubricated the gears and cables and put it all back together. It's still working perfectly.

The mechanism comes out easily and comes apart easily. There is a central pinion gear attached to the motor and two rack gears attached to cables that run through tubes to raise and lower the spoiler. Take a picture of where the gears are positioned before you take it all apart, the spoiler should have been either fully up or fully down and it has to be reassembled in the same position it was in before disassembly. The cables inside the tubes are probably gunked up with years of road grime, they will need to be cleaned and regreased. The cable ends are spring loaded which need to be compressed and put into slots at the end of the rack gears. These ends are held in place by the mechanism case when it is all assembled. It's a bit of a trick to get everything together and have it stay in place while you reassemble the case. If you have a large flat surface to work on, and something stable to push against when getting the spring loaded cable ends back into the rack gears, that will be very helpful. I used the base of my vise bolted to the workbench top for this. The ends of the cables also have sharp metal pieces. Wear heavy leather work gloves during this part and avoid cutting your fingers like I did before I put the gloves on.

Hope you find this helpful, good luck!

Yes, very helpful. What do you recoomend for the lubrication? WD-40, silicon spray, caliper grease? The Boxster service manual doesn't mention any lube recommendations in their breakdown instructions.

[Stl-986]

just regular bearing grease is fine or silicon. Doubt there would be any recommendations by porsche.

[PaulE]

I used wheel bearing grease on the cables that run through the tubes. For the gears, there was plenty of white grease still in there, I just made sure it was on the gears and free of dirt. Since Porsche only sells the whole spoiler lift mechanism as one part, not the gears inside or anything else, I doubt they specify a grease for it.