Hi guys!

I'm dealing with a problem I can't seem to figure out. Read a bunch of similar threads and not sure what to think. So essentially the area under my spoiler (not the spoiler itself) was cracked and started peeling. The spoiler itself was also slightly faded so a body shop painted spoiler and the area on the body of the vehicle the spoiler retracts into. Now the spoiler won't retract all the way. It's always in the up position now. When I press the spoiler button, the spoiler retracts but stops short of "all the way in" then moves back up into the up position. When I do that a few times, the spoiler switch will start blinking red and won't work.
Now, I know people had a similar issue and found the up/down position switch on the spoiler motor to be at fault. And that could very well be the case here as well but something makes me wonder if by painting the spoiler and the area on the body underneath the spoiler, something was covered up, making the car believe there is a hand or an object between spoiler and body and therefore it won't retract all the way. How does that work? Is there a motion sensor somewhere? Could the problem be the actual spoiler assembly itself that it wasn't put back together correctly? Do you suspect the up/down switch like other have found to be faulty?
Thanks for any advice!

 

That would be my guess.

 

Where to start in fixing this? I need help lol.

 

First of all, the body shop should be responsible to fix this since they last touched it. Did they actually remove the hatch trim from under and completely remove the spoiler assembly? Or did they just spray everything installed on the car? When the spoiler is raised the exposed portion of the spoiler assembly was never painted from the factory (when the spoiler is completely raised)

If it is the spoiler high limit switch, that is discontinued and nobody has found a replacement that I am aware of. Your best bet will probably be to buy a complete used spoiler assembly from eBay and hope it is functional and completely replace what you have.

Download the service manual and do the troubleshooting is another option. You can remove the inside hatch trim while the hatch is raised and see if anything looks out of place or loose plugs etc.

It is a tough one, good luck.

 

Looks like they sprayed the assembly as well (see picture) so that could mean they actually didn't remove the spoiler. If that switch was the culprit would that cause the wing to stop just short of all the way in before it retracts again? It's weird, it lowers, lowers, lowers then stops about a couple of inches before it's all the way in.
Can the spoiler be retracted manually without breaking it?

Let's assume someone has his hand in between the body and the spoiler how does the spoiler realize that and stop from lowering to avoid injury? I still wonder if they painted over a "sensor" (for lack of better terms) and now the wing things something is blocking the wing and therefore won't allow it to go all the way down.

PS the assembly was painted in the same color as the body so that makes me wonder if they left the spoiler up when painting without actually removing it.

 

The spoiler assembly probably should not be painted and I doubt they took anything apart. There is a cover on each side of the linkage below the spoiler, are they still there and secure? That is one way to check to see if they took it apart, those covers break easily. You can still remove the hatch trim from the bottom and take a look.

I am not aware of any way to manually raise or lower the spoiler. One positive thing is since your spoiler is raised you will be able to remove it and replace it if needed with a used complete assembly from a salvage vehicle. Otherwise if it is stuck closed you can't do anything to raise it.

 

Sorry been mia had a family emergency. All good now and hopefully I can figure this damn spoiler issue out..so where would those cover pieces be exactly? You are speaking on the spoiler assembly, not the spoiler motor under the trunk hatch right?
I'm starting to think they just left it in the up position and painted it and that has something to do with my issue. I just wonder why or what lol.

 

I am wondering if they sprayed everything with the spoiler up and got paint dried in the joints of the arms that could be gumming something up at some point and if the spoiler motor detects any type of resistance along the way it probably halts retraction immediately for liability reasons so some little kid's hand couldn't get caught in it while trying to retract. Maybe that is why on manual retraction it goes down in stages instead of smoothly all the way as it is measuring any form of resistance? Maybe try spraying all joints on the arms with some WD40 or better yet, hit them with some penetrating oil. Then try working it with the manual power switch up and down and see if it eventually closes all the way. Just a thought.

 

 

Will Penetrating Oil cut through paint...if that is the issue?

 

It can but isn't as harsh as Brake Fluid and it will help loosen things up. I'd try penetrating oil before using Brake Fluid. Brake Fluid would cut right through the paint but it would run all over and make a mess of everything that has been painted. I'd save that as the last resort (if it is paint that when sprayed on penetrated and gummed up the joints that is causing the problem). The OP isn't sure if it is paint in the joints that is causing the problem, it's just quite a coincidence that it was working fine until everything got sprayed with paint.

 

Another thought... Have you tried to retract the spoiler all the way with the switch on the dash while someone else GENTLY pushes on the spoiler for that last few inches to get to full retraction? If that works you know it is a physical resistance problem somewhere the mechanism may be recognizing and shutting down. By adding a little pressure to the spoiler while retracting that would counter the level of resistance the mechanism is sensing. May be worth a try. If you were to get it fully closed by this method it may break lose whatever is causing the resistance. I can't guarantee but I highly doubt if it were to fully close with a little pressure applied that it wouldn't open again. That is a risk to be considered though. When my spoiler started acting up due to ABS/BAS issues that are totally different from yours it would deploy and then get stuck in the extended position and wouldn't retract except with the manual switch on the dash after a shut down and restart. I retracted it fully with the switch and then pulled the fuse to it as I'd rather it be fully retracted permanently than keep on deploying and stay that way going through that BS over and over until I got the ABS/BAs fault fixed that turned out to be a wheel speed sensor gone bad.

 

Maybe this has been asked before but was the spoiler up or down when you got the car back?

 

I really appreciate all the help with this. It's been bothering me like crazy but with the shorter days now I get off work when it's already dark outside so haven't really been able to do a deep dive. I'm gonna see if I can press button to retract and gently push on it. That might actually work and then I'll go the oil route.

@onehundred80 The spoiler was up when car was returned. No problem beforehand and looks like they just kept the spoiler on to spray spoiler, spoiler assembly as well as the area on the car the spoiler retracts into.

The mystery continues but at least you gave me a couple of leads I will check first before taking any other action.

 

Just a quick update. Went out last night and had my gf retract spoiler by button and I would push in at the end and voila...heard the *beep* on the dash signalizing spoiler is all the way in. Did it a few times and so far it has not fixed the mechanism but next up I will order the oil from the post above and let that penetrate into the joints and keep using the button to retract. For now spoiler is fully retracted at least (like that look better).

Will keep you guys updated but I definitely appreciate all the advice.

 

Does it go up on its own?

 

​​​​​​YEs it does. It's in right now because I had my gf push the retract button and I pressed on the spoiler the last two inches so it retracts all the way. If I don't press it down, it stops just short of all the way retracted and then extends out again.

 

That definitely sounds like it is detecting a slight restriction that you are eliminating by adding a little pressure those last few inches. I'd bet the penetrating oil followed by cycling the spoiler over and over will fix it over time. If not there's always the next resort being brake fluid dropped into those joints with an eye dropper that will dissolve the paint on and in them but that comes at the price of dissolving all other paint it comes in contact with and the parts of the mechanism it runs down or drops on if not protected. As an absolute last resort if even brake fluid fails and if you don't want to pay for a total replacement mechanism, you can always retract it fully and then pull the fuse to it and it will stay retracted permanently. Obviously that isn't the preferred final fix but it's gonna cost $ and take some time to replace that entire assembly. At the end of the day that little spoiler really doesn't do that much in terms of additional high speed stability. The additional downforce it provides is minimal and you can tell by the weak apparatus that deploys it in the first place (at 60+ MPH to boot!). Sit 100lbs on that spoiler and see if it holds up... I wouldn't try it. It's a fancy mechanical and problematic gimmick in my opinion (but other's will disagree). Want more weight in the rear at high speed? Drive it with a full tank of gas!

 

Still waiting to try the oil option. I think that might just work. But what I noticed is that towards the top of the wing, it seems like when all the way in it's not flush against the body (see picture). I wonder if that is due to the paint clogging up the joints also or maybe it's always been like that and I just haven't noticed? Lol

 

It's not normal.