Oil separator install

Since I will be doing clutch and ims - please advise - thanks

Start here: https://www.pelicanparts.com/techart..._Separator.htm

Thanks for info - glad it's going to be a long winter - looks like a fun tear down- my hand modeling days will come to an end after this job

lol. wish I could offer you come pointers but I replaced mine while it was out for its rebuild....so it was easy-peasy. All I can recommend is make as much room as you can in that engine bay.

Took 3 days of work, motor in car. Remove the rear bumper cap and heat shields. Drop the motor to the cross-member to gain enough room. The last intake bolt all the way in the back is a royal PITA! Wrap your left arm with a couple of Ace bandages because most of the work is going to be with your left arm going all the way to the back, and there are many sharp things along the left side. It's a doable job, but painful, so have lots of beer and advil at the ready. Take your time and be patient. A lot of stuff has to come out to get to it. Edit - if you are removing the transmission to service the clutch/IMSB, then I've heard it is a far easier job than going in from the top. Good luck!

Or just drop the engine, and make all of those jobs easier. It isn't that much more work, all things considered. Yes a little more time, but SOOOOO much easier to do work.

If you have the trans removed, you can remove and replace the AOS without removing the intake manifold. Just did it a few weeks ago. Still sucks, though. If it was not for having to drain the coolant, removing the entire engine/trans as a unit would be much easier (maybe still is).

Personally, I'd take draining the coolant and separating the AC/PS lines over contortions.

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Not sure why the bumper would need removal? I did mine without removing the bumper. I removed the mufflers, dropped the engine a few inches and stuck my arm all the way in there. Not fun and took me about three days too but had to get it done because mine had sprung a coolant leak.

That was the thing. I did not remove my mufflers. So dropping the engine would have bowed out the bumper cap and outer heat shields. Removing the bumper cap and outer heat shields enabled me to drop the engine to the bottom without hitting anything.

That would also make the IMS change easier- there's a lot to hmmmm

I just did mine while doing the IMS bearing. For the aft bolt (as viewed looking at the flywheel) I found a regular allen key (4mm I think) got in there better than an allen socket on a ratchet. To get enough leverage to break the torque I had to come in from the drivers side. I already had the muffler removed and I dropped the engine down a little further for this. That bolt was the absolute worst part of the job and probably took the majority of the time. There are some ground wires right next to the AOS, make sure they don't get caught underneath it when you install the new one.

You guys have my respect! I took out the gearbox to change the flywheel (from LWFW back to dual-mass), and figure I should replace the AOS since it is visible without the gearbox. Even trying to undo the bellow clamps with a vice-grip made me almost broke the crank sensor nearby, and bruised my fingers, so I gave up after an hour of trying. May be next clutch replacement time I�ll try again. I was also planning to replace the RMS and IMSB, both the original RMS is bone dry and the IMSB turns out to be not replaceable without splitting the case. So just the flywheel is replaced. I�m buttoning it back up this weekend.

You can do it with much less disassembly than some writeups. You can do it in the dark. You can do it while everything is covered in slimy coolany from a failure. Just be careful not to pinch any wires putting it back together. The crank position sensor is back there and you'll hate yourself if you pinch that lil guy.

^I think I can do it now....after I replaced the AOS 3 times. 2 times from the top and one time with the transmission removed. Agreed it's still not a walk in the park even with the transmission removed.

It will take patience ( I am not very good at that) Dropping the motor and Transmission at one time is a boat load of work, but it will make everything easier to see and get a wrench on properly- might have to hire extra set of hands for this!

sorry to hijack, but regardless of recommended change intervals, at what mileages are you guys seeing these go? Recently sourced an '03 w/ just under 100k and have replaced a number of pm bits given it's lack of service history (expansion tank, water pump, thermostat, several hoses, coils, plugs, etc.) and I'm dropping off the car in the a.m. for a clutch, RMS (currently bone dry) and IMSB. AOS was on my list to look into, and based on this thread doesn't sound fun. Perhaps i should have my shop replace the AOS while replacing the aforementioned? I'm not one to replace parts just to replace parts, but if these are failure prone -- I'd hate myself if it failed soon after getting the car back from the shop. It's not currently showing any symptoms -- passed emissions no problemo and does not smoke upon start up or otherwise.

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You might as well have them change it now as it requires no extra disassembly once the transmission is removed. I did mine myself, but when I called a shop to get a quote on getting the IMS done they told me they only charge an extra hour of labor to do the AOS. That seemed like a pretty damn good deal. My car has 51k miles on it and I changed it since I was in there doing the IMS. The oil cap vacuum test showed 6 5/8" of water which is within normal limits but I absolutely did not want to try and change it later.

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I had one go after 1000 miles. It seems that the more aggressively you drive the car, the more likely it is to go (they don't really like the track, which is why there is a motorsports version). Since they are cheap (as far as a factory Porsche part goes), I would plan to change it whenever you happen to be fixing something adjacent to it.