Air Filter Removal on 1987 Porsche Carrera Targa

[REDRYDER911]

I can open the latches on the front of the air filter compartment but can't reach the back latches. Is there any way to reach the latches from underneath or is there a way to disconnect anything to reach the back latches?

[JRSIII]

You gotta have skinny arms and small hands, but it’s doable. For the top one, jam your hand between the air box and the sound pad and flip the latch with your fingers by feel. For the bottom one, reach under the A/C line and do the same. I seem to recall it’s easier with the oil filter removed, so you might want to align the timing of air filter changes with oil changes.

[John W.]

That’s always tricky. Try reaching in from the top and bottom. I always scape up my knuckles on that job. I know some people consider one latched in the back is good enough.

[GH85Carrera]

The really hard part, is putting the filter in place, and getting the snaps back on!

I tie a zip tie to the clip that I can grab easier. I also lube up my arm with soapy water, to cram it in far enough to get the clips on.

If you have a skinny 10 year old boy with strong hands, you are in luck. I believe it is one of the worst “easy” tasks on a 3.2.

[Spetrow]

Get the latch ready to lock then use your left hand. I find i get more leverage with left fingers to pull the clasp over and you can reach in further. Oil or soapy water on arm helps.

[almostordinary]

Drop the engine.

[boyt911sc]

I am surprised when some people get into trouble trying to figure out a simple task like unlatching the inner clip of a Carrera 3.2 air filter cover. Most adults would have problem reaching the inner clip using the left hand due to the limited clearance and could bruised your arm reaching it.

Fortunately, I have small hands and skinny forearms to reach the inner latch without any problem. But it did not stop me from finding a simple way to do this task and would like to share the trick to do it.

Find a similar long piece of steel rod and some strings shown in the picture below:





The rod shown in the picture has both ends with a 90° bend and used it to push the latch to release from lock position. To lock the latch, I simply use a long nylon string and pulled it.

Tony