Boxster 3.2 S Intake problem when cleaning throttle body - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

RBrummer · 05-11-2014, 02:23 PM

Decided to cleaning the throttle body and in the process of removing it, I noticed a sloppy connection in the intake system just prior to the body. Here is a description, following the air flow from filter to throttle body.

Starting at the air cleaner, past the air sensor and just before the throttle body, there is a Y that attaches to a squarish box right at the back of the engine compartment. The connector is almost the same size as the main tube and is held in place with a hose clamp. If you take the box out- it has no obvious use- it is hollow with no connection other than to the intake.

The box has the male connection and the intake Y has the female. There appears to be a compression fitting bump molded into the plastic of both male and female. The male also has a metal ring inside the connection.

It appears it was intended to be a tight connection (esp since it is in the intake upstream from the air sensor). I cannot get the two parts to mate deeply enough to get past the molded compression bumps and get a good seal before putting the clamp back on. That is the way I found it- poorly connected.

Anyone else have this problem.

Thanks

RBrummer · 05-11-2014, 04:04 PM

By the way it s a 2000 S

Hopefully this will help. Connecting the box with the red arrow to the long runner is the issue.

It is such a tight fit, I cannot mate the two parts.

NewArt · 05-11-2014, 07:13 PM

Oh yeah! This fitting is a real SOB to get together! I did this same job just the other day. I used a wooden pry-bar (read "stick") with another long screwdriver and a lot of force and some very choice words to get that mother to snap into it's lodging. It does fit. You have to get the right angle and a fair amount of pressure and it will snap into place. Then you get to try to mate the screw with the hole in the support bracket. I ended up stripping the original bolt but remedied the situation with a ¼" tap and a standard ¼" bolt afterwards. Don't give up. There is hope!

rdass623 · 05-11-2014, 07:44 PM

what is that square-ish box, some sort of resonator to reduce the intake noise? seems to me like it world a prime target for weight reduction. with the weight savings you could pick up ypur 1/4 mile times by at least 0.00000002 secs.

RBrummer · 05-12-2014, 04:20 AM

NewArt

Thanks- that gives me hope and a sense that I am not alone in the Boxster universe with this problem.

RB

RBrummer · 05-12-2014, 04:22 AM

rdass632

I think that is its sole purpose in life.

I will weigh it and get you its exact weight so you can more carefully calculate its predicted net gain in the 1/4 mile

However, I would have to plug the hole with something else, so that might offset the gain

rdass623 · 05-12-2014, 07:33 AM

rbrummer, you are from florida, I am from Louisiana, there is Alabama and miss between, just take the advice of the neighbors in between...... duct tape. it would be a first, actually using it for the engineered purpose, but what the hell

RBrummer · 05-12-2014, 05:01 PM

rdass623

Duct tape was very high on my list, but I too am as German and as stubborn as my German car, so I pulled out the long piece of intake pipe, put both on the bench, borrowed my wife's hair blower, heated up the "female end", applied a little lithium grease and some elbow grease. Once "mated", I took them apart, stuffed them both back in and re-introduced the happy couple. I would only recommend this on inanimate objects.

Now waiting for Pelican to deliver some gaskets for the throttle body/intake runners and a new MAF sensor for the rough idle and we will see what happens.

Collateral happiness is that I now know exactly where the starter is and if/when I fails, that should be a piece of cake.

RB

rdass623 · 05-12-2014, 08:50 PM

RB as a fellow schnitzel eater and former helicopter mechanic, I also have a stubborn streak for getting things right, but I probably would have resorted to the band saw and some fiberglass resin for that resonator before resorting to a hair dryer. a little more intake note is always a good thing. on my Miata, I found the only replacement for the mentioned intake note was the whine of a supercharger. now all I need to do is make my boxy accelerate like my Miata...

RBrummer · 05-13-2014, 02:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NewArt

Oh yeah! This fitting is a real SOB to get together! I did this same job just the other day. I used a wooden pry-bar (read "stick") with another long screwdriver and a lot of force and some very choice words to get that mother to snap into it's lodging. It does fit. You have to get the right angle and a fair amount of pressure and it will snap into place. Then you get to try to mate the screw with the hole in the support bracket. I ended up stripping the original bolt but remedied the situation with a ¼" tap and a standard ¼" bolt afterwards. Don't give up. There is hope!

I had the same problem stripping the bolt
Thanks for the tip