These pages are devoted to the 1991 3000GT VR4
Images can be clicked on to show a larger view
Spoiler Repair
Preferably finding a workbench where you can place the spoiler upside down on a towel or blanket to
protect it once you have removed it is the only way to go. If not the kitchen table will work
This is the heart of the spoiler and where most of the work is done
First things first, write down the position of the spoiler. Is it up or down? This will be important later and
you don't want to question your memory
You will notice there are six screws on the plate, remove them to get at the motor. At the same time
remove the 2 screws on the actuators on either end of the spoiler (pictured below)
This will detach the entire unit from the spoiler. You can set the spoiler aside till we finish with the
motor/actuator assembly. When you remove the actuator above lift it up and look at the position
of the plastic drive piece that connects the cable to the actuator slot below it. Remove them and set
them aside for re-assembly As you lift the unit off the spoiler, take care to unplug the rear third
brake light from the wire loom Remove the three screws that hold the motor assembly to the cable
guide / mounting plate below it The picture below shows the motor detached and turned 180 degrees
to it's mounting position. The mating holes can be seen. One on the cable guide and two on
the mounting plate
You will notice the motor stator
housing bolts to the gear frame with two Phillips head screws
These screws have locktite on them and do
not break free easily so a high quality screwdriver is
needed of the correct size to avoid stripping
if the motor assemble is disassembled A word of caution
is that when the screws are removed and you
pull off the stator, the armature of the motor will come
with it allowing the brushes and springs to
shoot toward the middle. While the brushes are attached
with a wire, the springs are not attached
to anything and can fly out and be lost, so if you disassemble
the motor, take care not to lose the springs
for the brushes. Another advisement is to have the
motor point upward when the armature/stator
is removed and keep it in that position as there is a ball
bearing at the bottom of the shaft/gear housing.
There is also another ball bearing at the top of the
armature shaft positioned where the bump is
on back of the stator. This is the location you have heard
of as far as using a straw to put the ball
bearing back in the housing and getting it past the magnet.
I have found if you place new grease on the
end of the armature shaft and put the ball bearing on the
end of the shaft, it is recessed enough to
hold it in position along with the grease when passing the
magnet in the stator. If you do not have this
luck, use the straw method. The only purpose to
removing the armature and greasing the gears
is to try and make the operation best lubricated.
This does not say that removing the armature
and re-greasing is absolutely necessary, so keep
this in mind. You will need a little ambidexterity
to get the armature back in with springs, and brushes
in their proper places. The way I did it because
I didn't have my allen wrenches handy was to install
the armature in first. Then while holding
the top rotating nut in place with a crescent wrench which
also holds the armature down in its housing,
I installed the stator. If you don't hold the armature in
place it will shoot into the stator and you
will have to do the brushes thing all over again and also
stand a chance of losing the springs again.
Next we will check the continuity of the Switches shown in the above Photo. If you do not have an Ohm
meter, for heavens sake go buy one. The little tiny ones are about $10 at radio shack. They will tell you
voltage from 12 volts to 220 volts in AC or DC and also tell you continuity. This means that electricity
will pass through what you are checking or it won't depending on if the needle moves or it doesn't.
It is handy for more than just the car but also around the house. Learn to use it,, it's simple. The guy at
Radio Shack will even show you in two minutes what it does. The reason we check the switches is so
we can tell if the malfunction is due to a bad switch.
These are what you call "Normally Closed Switches" What this means is that at rest when the switch
is not pressed, it will pass electricity. You will see that one is pressed by the eccentric on the gear
and one is not.
The one that is not pressed should make the needle move or if you bought a digital, the number will
be higher than zero. (I prefer the one with the needle) To check the other one you will need to push
on the middle of the lever to release the switch to check continuity. (don't bend it too far)
Next is to check the continuity of all the wires in the loom at both ends. The wires going to the motor
are more difficult to check unless you take apart the motor. If you have a total failure of the spoiler working
this could be tried but making a small hole as close to the motor as possible with a straight pin and
checking continuity using the pin will allow you to check most of the wire. All that would be left is the wire
inside the housing going to the brushes and it is rare for that to break because of very little stress. Other
than that, the brushes could have lost contact with the armature. To check that, place the meter across
the two leads of the motor. If there is any reading it should be OK. No reading at all could indicate a
malfunctioning brush or an open in the armature wiring across those two points of the armature
Now lets move to the cables. In the picture above it is shown that there are 4 screws. These screws
do not hold in the cable, but rather the tubes the cables run in. You will see that the tubes are flared and
the plates that are screwed down hold this flare and tube in place. It is not necessary to remove these
screws. Cleaning up of the area of any dried grease or gunk is advisable. This is a graphite based
grease and sometimes dries out and causes the cables to bind.
Moving ahead to this area you will see the cable coming out of the tube. If you grab a hold of the cable
you can pull it all the way out, at which time you can clean it up and regrease it. You will want to pay
attention to the location of the cable before you remove it. This position you see is the down position
of the spoiler with the cable extended out nearly to the end of the assembly. If you removed the spoiler
in the up position, re-assembly will want to be in the same position, because that is the position of the
motor and switches. If when you removed the motor, the spoiler dropped to the down position you will
have to re-assemble it in the up position. This will come in to play when you replace the motor back on
the gear assembly in the previous photo. It is not the motor that decides which way to turn, but the
switches that reverse the direction of the motor by reversing polarity. This is why you must reassemble
it in the same position because the motor will say it has to go down when you plug it back in because
of the position of the switches, but the spoiler will already be down if you re-assemble it that way. The
motor will then try and force it down more and will fail and possibly damage something
(probably the plastic gears)
In the spoiler half of the photo above you can see a brass plate with a U shaped part at the front.
This is the connection to the cable via the plastic white part with the pin you see in the foreground.
Below that the assembly rides on a slanted passageway to raise the spoiler. You will want to grease
this slot also on both ends of the spoiler and work the grease in by moving the spoiler up and down
and checking for areas that are binding
Now we are into re-assembly. There are two things to make sure of and they are the cable position
VS the spoiler position when re-assembling and also, reference the photo below, take care that all
wires are clear of the nut guard. If you get a wire in between the nut on the motor and the guard in the
spoiler, the motor will bind as the nut tries to turn with the wire pressed between it and the guard and
also maybe shorting out or breaking the insulation on the wires.
Now that we have completed the service on the spoiler, hopefully after re-assembly you will see the
two photos below.
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Photos and text Copyright John
C. Adams Use prohibited without authorization.
For questions send e-mail. Last Update
8/28/98
