Real quick question: do you need to drain the oil before swapping out the turbos? Or is there not enough in there to cause a catastrophe when removing the feed and return lines?

Thanks

 

KPG- All good points.

wross- I never said the manual was wrong. An example of an excellent way to do something which goes against the Porsche manual is connecting rod replacement without splitting the case (see Porsche PhD's thread). There are countless other techniques that all technicians use that you will not find in any offical Porsche manual or literature.

Zuma- Excelelnt points and nice photos. Great job!

jimmer- the oil will drain spontaneously when you remove the oil sump bolts.

 

How would you guys rate the difference in difficulty level between an exhaust swap and a turbo swap? My guess is it should be about the same.

 

It's more work than just doing the exhaust as it includes all of those same steps and more. You might be able to get away without removing the exhaust completely, but it's really in the way so it is easier to remove it. The work after the exhaust is the oil sump and its 2 lines, the turbo oil line, header nuts, inlet and intercooler hoses, wastegate line and the turbo hangar. It doesn't sound like much but all those nuts are heat damaged like Zuma said and at least one will give you a headache. I found the oil sump lines to be particularly painful. Mine were frozen and breaking them free caused the hard line to bend enough to prevent the aluminum nut from spinning freely. That's not a huge issue in removal, but during reinstallation there was resistance in turning the nut so it was difficult to tell if I was crossthreading or not (both male and female threads are soft aluminum). I was lucky. I mentioned it to a Porsche tech (I know, I know) and he said this (crossthreading the oil sump) is one of the common pitfalls to avoid. Unfortunately I did not ask how to prevent it. I think the answer is to only work on undriven cars.

 

take the rear inner plastic wheel liner out, then you have more access to the turbos. One word of caution the check valve for oil in on top of the turbo can be a *****, be carefull when putting them back on.
I have extra gaskets for the turbo exhaust and have reused the gasket many times with no leaks...anomoly? And quoting engineers about replacement of every screw, locknut, filter replacement, gasket replacement can be tediuos(sp). If you can't determine yourself if extra work/cost is beneficial then take it to the dealer to work on your cars. each car/parts are different some last long time others don't. Anyways, can I have all those used gaskets you are throwing away!

 

yeah i didint think this woulda been such a hard install... i might end up having it taken to the local porsche shop.

 

I'm in Hoboken and grew up down in your neck of the woods (CBA grad). I'd be happy to help you turn a wrench as I'm probably going to be installing a set of hybrids myself shortly, so it'll be good practice. Let me know if you want a hand turning a wrench. You can PM me with the details.

 

thanks for the offer. i just called the shop and they'll get back to my by monday for a price quote. depending on what they say, ill have to make my decision.