Holy Cow! AOS replacement.... A test in patience.

Wow! AOS replacement on a 12 yr old Boxster S is an exercise in patience. As a DIY, be prepared to spend at least 3hrs in the garage.

It took me nearly 10 minutes and a lot of persuasion to get the clam shell in service position, before even removing any of the throttle body assembly or intake T's. Because it was fairly cool, I raised the top to service position in multiple stages, making sure there were no creases in my possibly original plastic rear window.

I have a maxjax lift, so I was able to raise the car to 24" and 48" heights to get at the lower spring clamp on the bellows piece. I worked on it on and off with multiple breaks for 3hrs, and I just now have the new AOS in place (a little bit of the red "o-ring" is showing out of the block. Don't know if this is normal. About 1mm or less of the oring is showing. I don't seem to have broken any of the clips for the connectors or hoses, so that's a plus. With the maxjax, I was able to get the car into a comfortable position for either working underneath it, or through the wheel well while sitting on a rolling stool.

The middle plastic tube connected to the AOS was a pain to get to. Hardly any room to work in there, and my fingers weren't strong enough to pressure the clips enough to get the hose disconnected. I finally was able to free the AOS into a position where I had better access to that clip.

Tomorrow, I've got the intake crossovers to clean up, and various wires to reconnect. I removed a wire clip from near the bellows to get a better access with my remote spring clamp pliers from below the car.

Luckily, the weather was very cool (ambient temp was around 5C or 40F tonight, so with long johns on and a sweatshirt, I was relatively comfortable in my garage. It's a medium difficult job, just cause u're working blind for most of it. At least I didn't have sweat dripping off my forehead.

Peter

... the next step is to try to do it on a 996.
Porsche recommends removing the engine to do it.
I replace it with the engine in place and it takes me 8 hours.
The Boxster's is a breeze compared to the Carrera's.
Happy Boxstering,
Pedro

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 311,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

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Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" ... Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney in "LeMans"

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" ... Ayrton Senna

Finally got the intake all cleaned up and put back together last night from my AOS repair. Installed a new airfilter as well.

I'll probably take a look at my MAF (1yr old) tonight before I put the engine covers back on. I might spray it with intake cleaner if it looks oily.

Given the amount of white smoke I had, and the puddles of oil I found in the intake T and crossover tubes. Would it be a benefit to run some sort of cleaning agent through the gas tank?

I didn't have white smoke when I put the Boxster away for the winter back in November. I only got white smoke this spring. It only went on the road last week, so far, just a 1/4 of tank has run through it this year.

Peter

use Techron.

However, i would say in the case of your car is reads like you do not use it much and when you do use the car you do not drive it for long. This is a type of usage that fuel system cleaner use could be called for.

No need to overdo it. Run a bottle or two of Techron following directions on the bottle then change the oil/filter afterwards.

It is very very unlikely the MAF got any oil on it from the AOS. The two AOS failures the MAF was not affected. The throttle body was oily at least the first time the 2nd time I never bothered to look at it and I never made any attempt to clean it.

I'd leave the MAF alone. Leave the throttle body alone. Use Techron to clean up after the AOS, that is to remove any deposits arising from the failing AOS and the oil that it passed through the engine, and the deposits that have likely built up from your use of the car.

but the coolant tank replacement was worse in my opinion. I still love this car but the access drives me crazy sometimes.

I agree.
The coolant tank replacement in the Boxster is a doozy.
Happy Porscheing,
Pedro

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 311,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

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Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" ... Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney in "LeMans"

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" ... Ayrton Senna

Make sure:

1. you get those silly spring/hose clips all back on snug and secure
2. you plug all the connectors back in, securely

I do hope you bought a remote hose-clamp pliers set

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com

I bailed on the spring clips and used old school stainless hose clamps for the replacement. It was easier for me to get them tight using 1/4" socket set and a long extension. Either way works. I did it almost 5 years ago and have had no issues since.