Because of those doggone cup holders that snap into the AC vents, my driver's side vent fell apart inside and the horizontal slats that direct the air up and down went every direction except the one I wanted them to go... mostly they just went flat and closed off when the AC was blowing full blast. Grrr.
I had time this morning so I fixed it. If this has happened to your boxster, here's how to fix it:
1. Key out of ignition, just to be safe.
2. Remove headlamp knob by pulling it out and pushing in on the brass colored latch underneath it.
3. Remove the two visible Torx screws on the outside of the vent, and one hidden screw inside the hole where the knob resides.
4. Gently pull the unit out of the dash.
5. Disconnect the smaller of the two plugs.
6. Disconnect the larger, round black plug, which simply pulls off the switch assembly. A flathead screwdriver helped remove it easily.
Now that you have the vent assembly out, go inside and sit down at a table where it's cool and you can clean it up and have a good look at how it works. Mine was absolutely filthy inside... lots of black dirt.
7. You will see that the vent has four plastic tabs, two on each side. Pushing in on the visible tabs will pop the side of the unit out. Getting the less visible tabs on the other side to release is a real chore and you'll have to use some force, but work with it and you'll finally get it off of the surround.
8. Once the vent is off, you will see a small plasic piece that snaps into the back of each horizontal slat. It may have fallen out when you removed the vent, or be partially attached. Either way, line up all the slats and snap each one back into place with pressure from your fingernail.
9. Now put the vent back on the surround, insuring that you line up the fork-like plastic bit of the middle slat to insure the left right adjustment can be made. The fork-like bit goes around the center vertical slat inside the unit. Snap all four tabs into place and insure it is back on tight.
At this point, you need to open and close the vent, move it up and down and also side to side to admire your handiwork. This would also be a great time to take the fully functional and clean assembly to your wife and tell her you saved a bunch of money by doing this repair yourself, so you should be rewarded in some way. I'll leave the choice of rewards up to you to decide!
10. Now head back out to your car... Re-attach both wire harnesses, and carefully slide the unit back into place on the dash. I wrote "carefully" because I twisted it a bit and moved it up and down a little too much and it popped the vent assembly off the back of the surrround and I had to go back up to #4 and start all over!
11. Put all three screws back into place.
12. Getting the knob back on isn't straightforward. You must use your fingers or gently grab the shaft with a pair of pliers and turn the lights on, then pull out until both the front and rear fog lights are on. Then you can put the knob back on slowly as you push in the brass colored pin at the bottom.
Viola! You just fixed your AC vent.
By the way, if you totally screw up your vent and you broke it properly (which means no amount of superglue is gonna make it work) I have an extra 986/996 driver's side vent in black that I will sell for $35, which is what I paid for it. PM me if you are interested.
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