OK. ~2 hours start to finish. First timer. AOS replacement.
Removal of, I believe, the original (horizontal) AOS. Replaced with the updated part (vertical)
Removal was easier than I expected... having read many, many posts. The middle hose that snaps on... that took about 10 minutes. There is very little room, and I followed the advice of first loosening the 2 AOS bolts. I tried from the bottom (wheel removed and on stands)... I had no luck. I have large hands. From the top I finagled it out.
The bellows. I forget exactly how it happened... but I had my hand under there, from the wheel well, was examining the bellows with my fingers... moving caked oil out of the way... and the bellows just folded like butter. Literally I just pulled the bellows off and the top and bottom of it just pulled apart from the clamps... leaving the clamps attached to the engine, and the AOS.
Went to the top... remembered to, IIRC, pull up pushing to the right rear. The part that seats into the engine... the part that slides in... that was giving me a challenge so a little nudge with a pry bar... slipped right out.
I believe the AOS to be the original part. It was caked with oil. That said...
Before I began installing the new part I put a few drops of oil on the part that slides into the engine, and a little white lithium grease on the inside of the bellows... on only the part of the bellows that would slide onto the engine.
Got under the car... and the bellows was fighting me a bit. There's not much room. So... I sprayed some lithium on the metal part the bellows slides over... finagled it for a couple of minutes... slid right on. Made sure it was on all the way around... no kinks. Gold. Pulled the blue ring... clamp on solid.
Went above and finished seating the part that slides into the engine... and finally I got in enough to recognize it wasn't going to go in much further. I then returned below and installed the 2 bolts. That further snugged it in.
Now... and you may know this... the new AOS requires a new upper hose, as the old one is ~1" short. I sourced that new part at ~$40. I did a search about alternatives to the new $69 hose... and ran across a thread in which I participated... asking about the same thing... and found the answer.
Took the hose to Autozone. Measured the outside diameter: 7/8". They had none.
Went to NAPA. Purchased the 7/8" hose and 2 clamps. $16. I used ~3" of the hose.
With the hose connected, only to the throttle body, I eyeballed how much hose I would need... the ~3". I then identified where was the straightest part of the tube, as the hose wasn't really too flexible. I marked the middle spot... sawed the original hose in 2... cleaned up the ends... connected the throttle body part of the old hose... sliped on the new hose and a clamp... slid the AOS end of the original hose into the new hose, with a clamp... connected the hose to the AOS... pulled everything together... tightened the clamps. Boom. Done.
Read the codes again, which were resident in the car but the CEL hadn't yet popped... and erased them. Only they didn't erase. Tried that twice. Huh.
Now... the codes I had were 1124, 1126, and 0150. Do, I Drove the car for about 8 minutes... pulled over, car running... checked for codes: gone. Engine cover was off... top up... and I heard no air leaks. Got home and checked for air leaks: None.
Drove it home a few miles... checked codes again... none. Buttoned her back up.
All that said... with the hose modification... ~2.5 hours. If ever I have to replace the AOS... 1-1.5 hours.
The car idles very nicely. A definite improvement. Simply purrs. I'll drive it 100+ miles Saturday... see if those codes don't resurface... and I'll report back.
I could not have done this without the great advice, tips, and insight from the members of this board. It truly is an invaluable resource. I know I saved more than several hundreds of dollars in labor... and the new $40 hose.
Finally, the other pic is the battery voltage LED I installed.
Cheers!