Oip Separator

I took my 1999 996 to the dealer because the Check Engine Light came on. Replacing two sensors did not solve the prolbem. They them found that the oil filler tube was cracked. They replaced it and solved the Check Engine Light problem and informed me that the oil separator was the cause of the cracked oil filler tube due to harsh vacuum. They say the oil separator needs to be replaced. They are charging me $300 for the oil filler and labor and are asking $1,200 labor and $125 parts to replace the oil separator. I think the engine needs to be removed to do this job. Is there a way to replace the oil separator without removing the engine?

Oil separator is a minor job, but in a tough spot. Parts cast $150 total and it can ge done in the garage w/o removing the engine. It took me about a day to do it and its not hard, just a bit tricky. The part is refered to as an AOS and if you search by AOS you will see lots of people have replaced thiers with success and post pics and how to's

BTW $1200 labor is a total raping! Having never done one it took me maybe 10 hours, a good shop can do them in about 5 hours. @ $120/hr that would be $600 MAX!!! $1200 is outrages!

If it's a Tiptronic the engine has to move to get the AOS out.

That's "move" and not "remove" right? And typical dealer raping b-stards...sorry, couldn't hold back. I also just finished reading another thread where the dealer replaced an oil filler tube & cap because it had white gunk on it from engine condensation - how the hell will that solve the issue??

Makes as much sense as changing the wheels because the tires are low on air?

I haven't had to R&R the air oil seperator (AOS). I was told in the case of a tiptronic the trans is in the way going at it from under the car. I did see a discussion of removing a lot of stuff on to of the engine to go after it that way but I'd think it would be easier pulling the trans or dropping the engine to get at it. Never done it so what do I know I do know tiptronic trans have that draw back of being in the way for an easy cure.

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Most of that is the engine R&R........... and yes getting to the AOS on a tip equipped car is said to require removing the engine..even by some indies.

Thanks for all the good information. The bad news is that this car has the Tiptronic. I usually do all my own work but this car is my friend's daughter's car and I have done very little work on a 996. I have had 928s for the last twenty years and know them quite well. I really don't want to lean how to pull an engine on a 996 so will find an Indy to do the job for a better price that the dealer. I have read quite a bit about the AOS on the form and think I understand the failure mode now. If I got it right, crankcase vacuum is controlled by a pressure controlling diaphragm that is located inside the AOS box. When it is working right, the crankcase is purged properly for imission control. Failure of the diaphragm causes a high vacuum which resulted in the failure (a crack) in the oil filler tube. The crack in the filler tube allows enough air into the AOS box that results in too little vacuum. The loss of vacuum sets a check engine. Now, I have just picked up bits and pieces of information on the form, so this is my guess. If anyone would like to set me straight, I would appreciate it. Thanks, Ern

i would find out what the flat rate book allows for this repair and just do the math for the labor rate. i would guess that in ca. the labor rate would be in the $140/hr. area. i would also find out what bust out retail is for the parts, just to keep the stealer honest. failing all that, maybe a call to PAG would be in order.

I see I spelled emission wrong, sorry. I would guess that running the car with the failed diaphragm and the high vacuum is a bad deal for the engine. It might be less dangerous to run the car with the crack in the tube and the check engine light on. A little less vacuum would be better that too much. Ern

On evacuating the crank case gasses it is good to eliminate the corrosive byproducts cooked up by the hot oil as much as possible. I'm not sure about synthetic only oils but regular oils have some nasty by products. I can't imagine synthetic being completely immune to cooking up nasty stuff.

Well I thought I would post an update. I contacted some folks from the PCASB as I live in Camarillo. I learned about Kundensport. They are in Camarillo. I talked to Mike Schatz. He was very knowledgable on oil separators. It took two days and he did it for under $1K including parts. As I said before, I have always done my own work but this was not something I wanded to take on. I highly recommend Kundensport for Porsche issues.

sounds like a $300+ savings just for doing a bit of leg work WTG!