This morning I was pulling out of our lot at work to go to the bank and I spun the tires a bit, it was raining. My BAS/ESP and ABS lights on the right side of the instrument cluster come on and the spoiler decides to deploy. As I'm sitting in the bank drive thru fiddling with things I can't get the spoiler to retract. It finally did after I turn the car off and do it with the switch. Sounds to me like a short somewhere as the other ESP warning light has not come on, the car runs fine and there doesn't seem to be any problem with the brakes.
This scares me because if it is a short they will be tearing into my dash.
Anybody? Thoughts please.

Thanks - Pat

 

Wow Pat, that's a new one on me. It sounds to me that when you spun your wheels the on board computer (let's call it HAL) got confused and momentarily thought you were up to 60 mph, so it raised the wing.
Then when "Hal" realized the front wheels were hardly turning, it forgot that it had mistakenly raised the wing, and when you tried to put it down manually, "Hal" ignored you, because it still thought it was down. By shutting the car off, you reset "Hal's" memory.
Obviously I'm no computer wizz, but I'd rather think you simply confused "Hal" than to think you may have a short.
Like the song says, "Don't worry, be happy". Well at least until "Hal" starts acting up again that is.

Just don't get locked out of your car, with out your "space helmet".

 

Yeah, that sounds more like a random electrical gremlin than an actual fault. I wouldn't worry about it unless it becomes a recurring problem.

 

Is the red light on the spoiler switch flashing? if it is there is a problem with the spoiler, if it isn't the spoiler should be working fine.

 

Interesting gremlin. I went home at lunch and paged through the manual. By the way same thing happened on my drive home, EST, BAS light and the ABS light and the spoiler went up. Same thing happened on the drive back from lunch. The manual said the two were connected and yes the spoiler light was flashing. Mike I'm wondering if what you suggested is what happened and it needed time to reset because when I came out to go home at 5 no light and everything appears to be fine. I can't go out and run it to see if the spoiler is ok because we have about an inch and a half of ice on the streets, so much for 84 degrees the other day...I guess if everything checks out I can cancel my service appointment which is fine by me, the service writer said "I've never heard that one before". Thanks for the suggestions folks.

Pat

 

Our cars have so many electronic "gadgets" on them that are inter-connected with each other, it's a wonder the windshield washers don't activate when you put the car into reverse.
Then people wonder why I like the "Classics".

 

Are you telling me my windshield washers aren't supposed to activate when I put my car in reverse ???

 

I have to tell you this incident made me very nervous. The thought of someone taking apart the dash to find a short doesn't set well with me. We had a problem with our S-70 Volvo a while back and they had to go in through the dash to fix the problem and it has had rattles ever since, I'd hate to see that happen with the Crossfire.
I remember when my Z-28 dash used to rattle I stuck a towel up behind it, wedged it in and the rattle stopped, those were the days.

Pat

 

I totally understand your concern and am in no way making light of your problem. I know once you take something apart rattles are almost inevitable and believe me I hate rattles! I am pretty particular and I hate the thought of anyone else working on my vehicles, hard to do your own warranty work though.

 

Hey I also had this problem way back when I just bought the car, I had no idea what was going on...the only way I could get the spoiler to go back down was to re set the car...by that I mean turning it off and then on again. the light on the switch would remain on and pressing the button would do nothing ...
I as well figured it was a glitch and that it would correct its self...but it did happen to me many times...it was not till i took it to get it serviced that I told the dealer about the problem...once I got the car back the tech guy told me it was a glitch and that they had to re-set the computer...that turning it on and off would not fix the problem ...ever since then I have not seen my spoiler go up un less I am going 65 mph! ...hope this helps, I say go to deal and have theme re-set your computer to get rid of the glitch ! ...good luck!

 

The manual states that the spoiler will deploy if the ESP is activated at speed. In low traction conditions such as a snowy highway, I guess they feel that it will give you a little more grip. I suppose you fooled the ESP into thinking that this was happening.

 

Thanks guys - I haven't cancelled my service appointment, gonna see how it does this week. So far today everything is normal.
victor I did exactly as you, shut the car off and turned it on then I was able to push button the spoiler down. I guess (hope) that the computer reset itself because like I said when I came out last night all was well. The car even slipped a bit on the way home, the esp light came on like it should and went back out. I'm thinking I must have revved it to the point where the spoiler thought it should deploy and the esp kicked in at the same time. Who knows but thanks for the reset tip, I'm sure if I have to take it in that will save a lot of time and hopefully keep them away from my dashboard.

Pat