Question on Boxster Air Oil Separator

the test done with motor runing could not remove oil filler cap,huge amount vacume, may i loosen or remove oil filler cap to drive car to dealer 50 kms away or must i have boxster towed to dealer.

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This post was auto-generated based upon a question asked on our tech article page here: Pelican Technical Article: Boxster Air / Oil Separator Replacement - 986 / 987

[Wayne 962]

Yup, that's a classic air-oil separator issue. You should be okay to drive the car to the dealer, I would just keep the rpms low, and drive cautiously. The failure of the separator means that the engine may be sucking oil into the intake. You might want to have them change out the spark plugs too while the car is there. Or, you can simply perform the replacement yourself using my handy article: http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_Tech/09-ENGINE-Air_Oil_Separator/09-ENGINE-Air_Oil_Separator.htm

- Wayne

[JFP in PA]

Wayne, I’d err on the side of caution with this one, and flatbed it to the dealer. You are correct that the AoS can, and sometimes does, lead to the engine inhaling too much oil and a hydro locking engine failure, which is a larger percentage risk than most think. Having personally seen this outcome on more than one occasion, we now only recommend not running the car until it is fixed; the risk is simply too great.

[Wayne 962]

Okay, I hear you. If you want to be careful and still avoid the flatbed, then what you can do is disconnect the air-oil-separator hose from the throttle-body and block it off with some really good quality tape. Also block off the air-oil separator end too. I'm talking about removing the hose indicated by the yellow arrow below:



and where it's plugged into the throttle body here (green arrow):



If you disconnect the hose and plug both ends, then the oil can't be sucked into the intake at all. This is an emissions device, and it will not affect performance at all. Just make sure that your covers / blocks are firmly seated, otherwise you will create a vacuum leak (either manifold for the one on the throttle body, or crankcase, for the one on the air-oil-separator). If you follow this procedure, you should be pretty safe.

-Wayne

[Zeke]

Hey, are you "ant" of the VW world? I used to see your posts like 8 years ago.

Now doing Boxsters?

[Wayne 962]

Originally Posted by milt

Hey, are you "ant" of the VW world? I used to see your posts like 8 years ago.

Now doing Boxsters?

Probably not, this post was automatically created from a comment at the end of one of the tech articles.

-Wayne

[MY98Boxster]

Hi Wayne,
I found this old thread searching and trying to figure out what was wrong with my car. I took out the hose and plug both ends like you suggested and darn thing idles much smoother!!! I guess it was the AOS after all. Now, my question is, how safe is it to drive the car this way? It will take me a few days to get the parts and replace them. Can I drive the car in normal driving conditions with holes plugged?