Coolant tank replacement query
 

It's official, my tank is leaking. I've been reading the various guides and posts and I'm a little confused.

Some of the guides say you have to access some of the hoses from below. Some seem to disconnect all the hoses inside the engine compartment. Others seem to disconnect all but one on the trunk / boot side, with just one from the engine compartment and none from below. Some people spent six hours, gave up and had the car trailered to a shop and charged $1,100. Others did it first time in an hour and a half.

In short, what the hell is going on?!

Also, can I do this on my own?

Its not that hard
you will access some hoses from trunk some from engine compartment
it took me 3 hours drinking coronas meanwhile

On your own without a helper?

Potty......
Changed mine last year and depending how supple or what tools you have makes a difference.
The removal is not difficult (I used 101 Projects for your Boxster manual) as you can loosen the old tank and pull it forward to loosen the connection hoses.
The installation is somewhat more difficult. Lots of people in the US buy the special tool that can remotely open / close the steel springs that retains the coolant pipes. Nowhere in Australia had anyone even heard of these tools, so I had to use pliars to remove the original clamps & then reinstall with screw type S/S clamps.
The only way I could push on the hoses and hold the clamps to tighten was from the bottom which means you have to remove the 2 x diagonal cross members and alloy plate under the gearbox. This was the knuckle grazing, sweat inducing part which took over an hour in 35 deg C temps just to connect the pipework.
Some people can get the clamps / pipes on from the boot (trunk), but I couldn't get enough play on the pipes to accomplish this.
Notes:
1) Be carefull with the oil filler and dipstick pipes - they become brittle with age & break easily.
2) You have to drill out the new coolant tank where the dipstick goes through - 20mm hole I think.
3) It may be a good time to check all the other coolant componants (pump, T.stat, coolant, drive belt etc) while the system is empty.
4) A helper is advantageous when replacing the pipework.
5) It took me over 5 hours to install & fill with coolant, but if I were to do it again with the right tool, maybe half that time.

I have that special hose clamp tool and I have to say it is worth whatever you have to pay to get one. My time on the job was a little over three hours to take the old one out, and about the same to put the new one back in. No helper. It's not really the kind of job you need a helper for. I did it from up top and used Pedro's guide mostly. If you're going to drain the coolant to do this then the Airlift vacuum tool is also well worth the money, providing you have a compressor to operate it. You'll also need a rad hose pick

This was a nasty, ugly, lots of bad words, cranky job. You need to be mechanically adept and have good tools to tackle it.

This was a nasty, ugly, lots of bad words, cranky job. You need to be mechanically adept and have good tools to tackle it.[/QUOTE]
+1
But it is DIY doable, just like everything else on the 986/996 platform. Read all the DIY instructions you can find, set aside a whole day, be patient, take breaks, and you will get it done right. If you can't get the clamp tool, be sure you have small vice grips or a long set of needle nose pliers. Put your favorite drink in a cooler full of ice. You'll need the ice for your knuckles. And some band-aids.

This is what is confusing me.

From another thread here, one guy removed three pipes from inside the trunk/boot connecting the the tank to the feed-through plate, attaching them to the new tank as he went along:

http://www.dhlpilotcentral.com/imgs/986/IMG_1839.jpg
http://www.dhlpilotcentral.com/imgs/986/IMG_1840.jpg
http://www.dhlpilotcentral.com/imgs/986/IMG_1854.jpg

I'm struggling to understand why you would disconnect them from inside the engine compartment. From what I can see, there's only one that you must deal with from inside the engine compartment. But obviously I haven't done the job yet. But am just confused by apparently contradicting advice that variously says you need to get underneath, you can do it all from the top, you need to drain all the coolant, you just drain the tank, you disconnect all the pipes in the engine compartment, you only disconnect one pipe inside the engine compartment.

There's usually more than one way of doing a job. You just need to dive in and figure out which way will work best for you.

You definitely do not need to drain all the coolant - just the tank. I replaced the sensor also.

I had a look from underneath, but the only thing I did under there was remove and replace the overflow tube. The rest I did from up top but, YMMV. I did not remove the braces and plate.

Here is Pedro's DIY: http://www.pedrosgarage.com/Site_3/Replace_Coolant_Reservoir.html

It's a topside job.

I had similar questions before I started the job on my car. Once you dig in, it will quickly become apparent which things you can do in the trunk and which are done in the engine compartment.

Don't fret too much, just dig in.