@ciaka Thank you so much for the kind advice. I relaxed thinking I should slow down per your advice. Just woke up from some sleep and I realized why I am rushing again:

Leaving the right front suspension up in the air when we got the car while the wheel was refinished seemed to eventually cause a strut leak two months later. (Ran out of jacks so the right front wheel is still dangling in the air, but that is the new strut bag local shop replaced so under warranty).

I used the Foxwell tool to deflate the strut. Not knowing what to do next regarding the connection I have left the tool connected to the OBD port, ignition ON, and a kind of smallish NOCO GB7200 connected to the jump points under the hood in AGM charge mode, hoping the battery won't die. Does anyone know if I can turn off the car at this point and not have the air bleed back/something go awry? Maybe get a better battery charger/maintainer on it?

Shrugs...

 

Did you turn off the suspension before you started any of this? Hate to ask, but have to. Do not leave the ignition on during the work - it's not required. Once the air suspension has been switched off, nothing you do will impact the system. There is no need for any fancy tools to deflate / inflate the struts - the car will do it for you, but you have to go about it a certain way.

 

Thank you for the input.

Yes, I did turn the suspension off by switching Ig-ON and then pressing the raise/lower button for 10+seconds. The right instrument cluster display showed "Control off".

I then raised the car on the outer lift points in front and placed jack stands on the front inner lift points. I used two jacks to raise the rear and left the wheels dangling as that is instructed when you follow the bleeding instructions. When I activated bleeding the left front strut car made a pumping noise about 4-5 times and then said completed. I assume it distributed the air to the accumulator as explained in the instructions but when I went to alleviate the dangling wheels (I have enough equipment for 3) I was met with significant resistance. I'll take a picture....

 

Here's a pic. Front left is deflated as instructed I could lift it up, rear left and right met with significant resistance. Ran out of lifts for the front right bag was replaced a little over a year ago I hope the 2 yr/unlimited mi warranty is valid at the independent shop.

 

If suspension is disabled, air will not be adjusted in shocks. It is very important to disable before any work starts. Some members had damage to suspension due to shop not disabling.
As said earlier, suspension disabled, if you want to remove shock, have both front tires off ground, remove brake line bracket,, remove caliper and rotor, disconnect elec. And air lines from shock, disconnect from sway bar,, lower control arm joint. Disconnect fro. Upper arm, careful with height sensor and elec. connection. Loosen upper shock mount bolts. Once all disconnected, can use a rachet strap to compress shock, so it's fork can get over axle. Then it just swings out.
That should be all you need to do, unless I am not clear exactly what else you need to accomplish.
Stick with it, it will get done some time. Don't worry about time.

 

What are those red pieces under rear tires? Do they adjust height Wise? Assu.e once lifted, you can adjust height and set car on them, so not left on jack. If so where did you get them. Something I may like for sure.
Are you trying to remove shocks, or are you already done, and car not sitting straight, after you put back on ground? If done, car will adjust itself for about 20 minutes, after you re enable suspension. Best have on level surface at that time.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about the rears being over-inflated right now. Your tool looks to have inadvertently re-activated the system and pressurized the rear bags. Once you are done, it should bring it back down. You probably will get a 'suspension too high' warning when you initially turn the key. FWIW, all I did to deflate mine was simple remove the air line from the strut hat and let it eat. The re-inflation without a tool is kind of specific, but simple. What I found worked best was put the car back on the ground but keep the full weight of the car on the jacks. Then lower the jacks to where the car is just slightly too low, but not on the bumpstops. Then blow in some compressed air into the strut-bag with a chuck, and quickly reconnect the air line. Then reconnect everything else. Then turn the system back on and start the car. The car will sense that its too low and inflate the bags properly, eventually leveling it out. It's a pretty smart system, you kind of have to work to confuse it or blow a bag out.

At this point, just focus on getting the strut out and completing the work you need to do up front. Everything else is fine just as it is until you get ready to level it out.

BTW - I like those rear stand/jack-things you have under the back tires. What are they?

 

Thanks guys. Gonna link the product and the store I bought from. They are motorcycle lifts but I used them to lower and raise the rear cross member on my parents' Prius when I was fixing the caster issue on it's alignment.:

https://econosuperstore.com/itm/1100...-center-floor/

They offer free shipping but I go directly there because it's faster and they don't guarantee the case condition upon delivery.

Gonna continue on as the TechInfo instructions show. I guess it's a preference like gas here in Cali highest octane fuel is 91 but I drive about 7 mi to fill up and mix 100 with the 91 for 93. In the suspension the suggested Nitrogen (5.0) purity is 99.999% per my research so trying to keep it in the system. I actually ordered the filling adapter set but won't pull the trigger on the gas pressure reducer unless necessary. It's around $500 so my wife won't be too happy unless necessary.

 

Got stuck on this and not sure I saw the solution here on this thread. This is a common motif for the electrical connectors I was at the dealer yesterday ordering a replacement cowl panel cover and picking up the new version of Optimoly TA, also ordered a replacement harness lest I break the connectors trying to disconnect them. In the pic you push the tab on top in the direction towards my fingers, or up. There are two the 2nd one in the middle same thing then release from the holder.

 

May anyone please tell me what kind of socket I need for that lower air strut bolt? I believe there are a lot more teeth than E-Torx.

To get this far I just wanted to report one tool I found very helpful:

HAZET 3317-T40
Available at Porsche dealer as 000 721 954 60
Should be available at porsche.snapon.com as 9546 but I can't find it at the moment....​​

 

Standard 12 point metric socket. Can't recall the size, but it is bigger than what the normal box sets come with.

 

If you go to post #1 of this thread, look at image number 1, you will see, 12 pt socket, 24mm.
needed tools are listed there and shown.

 

Thanks so much both of you.

Embarrassing to say I looked at all the tools you had in the first post and my mind kind of blanked out and my eyes glazed over...

I have a 15/16" combination wrench that I had left over from work on a Prius. I took it out with my ruler ready to sort out what size I need to run get at the store and the 15/16" although not ideal because the arm contacted the flared part of the strut, was able to hold the bolt in place while I loosened the nut on the other side!

 

This is ciaka's picture from the first post. (Sorry I lost the quotes in the process of deleting the rest). The metal brake line clip just above the front axle boot took me one day to figure out. Sigh, the ring surrounding the brake hose that is attached to the bracket is metal just insert a large screwdriver between ring and circlip and pry the circlip out. (In the picture orientation: then you would push inwards until it clears the bracket to get the line out).


Found Arnott front struts on Rock Auto and convinced the wife we should preemptively buy one. These are new ones with Eibach shocks and don't require a core to be returned. Our original is still functional so I will keep the original ~ 8 year old strut as a spare...

 

Sorry if my thread brought in confusion.
The image related to removal if brake line bracket, is image #3. The bracket is mounted to inside of steering knuckle, with a 10mm bolt. Small socket takes ot out, best if wheel turned as in image...maybe thus will clear up a bit more.