When I bought my 2011
Cayman
Base 6MT back October 2022 and thoroughly cleaned the engine bay, I noticed oil residue on a 3" section of the plastic vent line from
AOS
to the intake tube and also on the plastic vent line the spans the front of the engine. The
AOS
/intake tube vent was an easy replacement so I did that first and when I inspect the old vent line, sure enough, there was a hard to see hairline crack in the area of the residue. Which then confirmed the oil residue I saw on the front of the engine vent line also likely had a crack. Since this vent line was in a much more difficult area to access, I put some heavy duty electrical tape around the oily area of the line (cleaned it up first), hope for the best, and decided to research what I'd need to remove to get the thing out.
The front vent line in question is part No. 9A1-107-515-01 ($115) and it's the vent line that attaches to four
points
on the front side top of the motor. Two
points
are just in front of the
AOS
on the driver's side front side/top of the motor (connections #1 and #2), a point just below the intake manifold towards the front top middle of the motor (connection point #3), and at a point passenger side top of the motor (connection #4). This job is not easy and a lot needs to come out and a lot of care needed when getting the new line back in. Given the age of these cars, one must be very careful when moving, disconnecting things, etc.
Things that have to be disconnected and/or removed are noted below. I could have done this job a lot quicker if I did all this first. All of it is required to get the new vent line in. It's impossible to do it otherwise unless you want to bend the living crap out of the new vent line and risk breaking it.
1) Disconnect the
battery
2) Remove the intake manifold assembly. It is MUCH easier to remove/install the intake manifold with the shifter cables completely out of the way.
3) The main 12V power line harness assembly needs released from it's mount just above the A/C compressor which is held on with two 10mm nuts. You need to release assembly this to get more access to get the vent line out/in as
Porsche
routes the line through this harness (why!?!?!?).
4) Main power line needs to be removed/unclipped from it's plastic clip/guide on the front of the engine. The shift cables runs in this guide as well. Unclipping the wire from the guide will help create more movement with the 12v wire/assembly and aid in creating more room to get the vent line out/in.
5) Disconnect the shifter cables and push them back through the firewall hole and back into the cabin. You need the cables completely out of the way as they impede careful install of the new line.
6) Remove
AOS
. This needs to be done to create more room for vent line access/movement on the install.
Once you have all that stuff out of the way, you can remove the old vent line. Three connection
points
are the difficult to squeeze press connectors with orange o-rings and the connection point is a dual O-ring press in pipe (connection #1) affixed with a E10 bolt. This dual O-ring connection is super tight into the motor. I had to use a zip tie formed into a loop wrapped around the vent to line so I could grab/twist/compel the thing to come out. In the process, I broke the vent line to connection #2 and passed the point of no return. Connection #3 was definitely leaking at the O-ring based on all the oil reside in the area and on the line. Connection #4 hardly was connected and required little effort to get out. Not much oil residue was observed in this area which seemed odd since the line didn't seem too well secured. Once I got the old vent line out, I found a tiny hairline crack in line about 2" up from the connection point. The vent line was extremely brittle after 14 years of life. I cannot imagine what
Porsche
would charge to do this job.
Was was very happy to see that nothing else appeared to be leaking in the area under the intake manifold. The intake manifold rubber seals were full of oil because I think the prior owners kept the oil levels too high. But otherwise, everything looked good and was a good time to clean up the area.
I took me the better part of 8 hours to do this job. I could do it now into about 3-4 hours. It's something that can't be rushed because of how tight everything is and everything that needs to be removed. If
Porsche
would have made the engine bay just 5% bigger, things would be much easier. It really is 10lbs of crap in a 5lb bag. Attached are pictures of the old vent line (it's broken at connection #2, see my note above). Other photos show connection #3, routing of the vent line through the 12v harness, etc.
The real kicker though is I notice no change in driveability so the vacuum leaks must have been insignificant. LOL. But, I do have comfort that there's a new line there and the risk a major crack is low now.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/********.com-vbulletin/2000x1242/20240526_175223_1__74f8601cfa57c720afa22a0b586cfe3ee7464dfd.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/********.com-vbulletin/2000x1124/20240525_131819_1__e5542116cb14c70fdc5014fb99a7551fc8219399.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/********.com-vbulletin/1120x2000/20240525_131901_1__89af440b6df9e0fffd835fb247a0343591f8d4b6.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/********.com-vbulletin/1120x2000/20240526_175231_1__95be3ea8d2440c2af931457b78c3664b28d1e2ec.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/********.com-vbulletin/2000x1124/20240525_163659_1__62ff93098a01db60e896496bf139a5bc9c977750.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/********.com-vbulletin/2000x1124/20240525_163835_1__8d9f02dd04a177ab7fe49a9a72613766e608fa84.jpg
Awesome job,
@XuTVJet
- Sorry it was so painful. Almost the same damn connectors that were in my wife's 2010 MINI. You looked at them, and they cracked. Just garbage. I fear having to deal with that at some point in the future in my 2010 987.2, TBH.
German polymers are not high quality. I'd like to think it's due to German restrictions on polymer chemicals because if not? Comon
Porsche
for the bank you need to at least match up with lesser brands in plastics and right now you certainly do not.
Looks very familiar. I had to replace the crankcase breather hose in my 2009
Cayman 2.9L
, but it was a different part and thankfully not nearly as involved as what you had to deal with. I had to deal with the same crappy clips and brittle plastic, but I was replacing 9A1-107-
520
-01, which was much easier to do.
Next
time I'm in there, I'll take a look at the other hose.
Porsche Crankcase Vent Hose Genuine Porsche 9A110752001 9A1.107.520.01 9A1 107 520 01 9A1-107-520-01 | Pelican Parts
Genuine Porsche Crankcase Vent Hose InStock Ships Today!. Call (310)626-8765. May Qualify For FREE SHIPPING. Parts# 9A1 107 520 01 9A1-107-520-01 9A1.107.520.01 9A110752001. Cayman, Boxster.
www.pelicanparts.com
Yep, I had to do that one over a year ago has it had a hard to see 1/2" hairline crack in a corrugated pipe section.
If you see oil residue on the corrugated pipe sections of these types of plastic vacuum lines, you've got a crack in the line.
I also think the orange o-rings give up after 14+ years of use. At least mine showed evidence of that in the 4th picture noted above.
Recently quoted $3k to replace crankcase oil breather hose at dealership
