my actuator was not working...so before trying to do the agonizing task of taking it to the dealer and explaining to them that it wasnt working, i decided to take matters in my own hands....

i took both of the strut tower bars(oem and neuspeed) off...took the power plug off then unbolted the the lever on the back of the actuator...then unbolted the bolts on the left and right side that held the actuator to the car....i pulled the actuator out so i decided to call the parts department to see how much a new one would cost(i have 70K miles so not sure they would warranty me if i took it in)...the guy tells me $135ish.....i said fuck that and
tried to perform some surgery...i pryed the tabs that held the actuator cover...i then took the big gear out(be careful there is another spring loaded wheel inside the big gear...it flew right out)...here's how it looks with the inside removed...

right click copy properties and paste in new if it doesnt work



PIC LINK ADDED BY MOD: http://public.fotki.com/e8player/cl/dsc00443.html

i wanted to check if the motor was in fact turning...i plugged the act back without all the pieces in the pic...turned the car on and reved it using the throttle lever(under the plastic cover)...sure enough the little gear was spinning so i knew the act. motor was fine...so put in the rod then big gear and the parts that go inside the gear(spring, wheel holder, and wheel) back inside the act. housing...made sure all the teeth on gears lined up and turned them to make sure they were spinning properly...put the lid back on(did not bend the tabs back in place yet)....then did a reverse of the uninstall...started the engine and reved....BAM....the actuator was working!.... i let out a big .....took the act. back out to close up the tabs on the cover...and then put it right back in and tested again and it was still working....damn it feels good to fix things yourself!

 

Cool. Good job. Projects like that remind me of when I owned my Audi.

 

The question here is: Why did it begin to malfunction in the first place?

If you did nothing other than disassemble the device, reassemble, then "a reverse of the uninstall" -whatever condition present during the initial failure is alsmost certainly still present and another failure should be expected. I remember a post from a couple of days(weeks?) ago where someone had reason to believe that it was a physical obstruction causing these failures, from your post maybe we can hypothesize that it is in fact a matter of alignment? (Wether inside (gear?) or outside (mating surface/shaft?) the device) A simple check/fix for this would be delightful.

By the way, your pictures are not working for me. fyi

 

my guess would be since the motor was still working...it had to have been the gears misaligned or possibly the rod popped out of its groove(in the pic the half-circle groove) on the act. plate so that the big gear was not grabbing it to turn...

manic - try right-clicking on the x(pic)....properties...copy(control+c) the url...then paste in new

 

Pictures work now, most peculiar. How would you describe the performance difference?

 

Performance difference is ALOT. I would guess you lose upwards of 15-20 hp up top without the actuator. Mine went out and I took it to the track. Best I could run was 15.1. Got it replaced and I ran 14.5. This is with an Icebox and everything else stock. That is a HUGE difference.