997.2 Vacuum pump replacement
 

I was getting worried about my vacuum pump cover condition and possible loss of assisted braking at a critical time. So I picked one up from my dealer and figured I would change it while I was doing my spark plugs.
Tools ----- torx sockets , flat head screw driver, 5/16 combo wrench as I do not have torx combo wrenches,

I removed a total of 3 screws on pump and 4 screws (2at rear of engine,2at front of engine) on the vacuum line. The most difficult part was getting pump separated from the vacuum line. Note... center muffler / cross pipe removal gives you more room to work in and makes this easier. I already had side muffler off as I was doing the spark plugs at the same time. The majority of oil is in the cover side of the pump, only a few drops came out during pump removal.

The car is definitely less noisy/ ticky at idle with new pump. Just the growl of the gundo hack and cross pipes


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Rusty vacuum pump cover

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3 torx screws removed on pump , one to left of pump holding vacuum line to pump , one not shown holding vacuum line to motor

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5/16 wrench on torx screw holding vacuum line at front of engine as there no other way to get at these. There are 2 of these that will allow front to back movement of vacuum line to aid in pump removal off vacuum line

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X pipe , or center muffler, removed , to give more room to rotate and pull pump out to right. Using a flat screw driver between pump and vacuum line , twist screw driver prying pump off vacuum line as you pull pump to the right while rotating it. There are 2 O rings on vacuum line holding it inside pump opening



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New pump installed, making sure pump internals line up with engine when mounting


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Old vacuum pump, engine side

Has any of these pumps actually failed? I don't remember seeing this happen. Symptoms?

Peace
Bruce in Philly

How are the voices...?

My SA did a search and they have only ordered/ replaced 2 of these previously. I cant recall why tho. I had a discussion with their porsche master tech as to if he would replace it and what would happen if it fails. For the cost , and the fact that I knew I could do this myself I replaced it. I know its most likely overkill but hey , why not, I feel better now and last night didnt even wake up once thru the night :roflmao::roflmao: symptom would be oil seepage/ leaking from around/ out thru the cover and would most likely not be a catastrophic event. Another RL MY 09 cover looked pristine but his is a garage queen, mine has seen the salt of winter

​​​​​​You are cruel. I just can't tell which voice is the real one. Right now the voices are in rare alignment to flush my coolant.... Will do this in two weeks.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

Failed Vacuum pump this week
 

My car is:
2011 997.2 GTS with 58K miles, PCCB Brakes daily driver that I purchased new in 2013....maybe half a dozen HPDE days over the last 4 years in beginner/ intermediate groups.

My car is at the dealership right now after being flat bedded there on Monday night. The diagnosis which I just received a moment ago from my technician is a failed vacuum pump....so I can tell you exactly what happens from my first hand experience!

It's scary as hell.....without any warning or indication of any type, my brake pedal became hard and completely ineffective.
It was as if someone had magically placed a brick underneath the pedal!
It would have been 100% catastrophic had I been coming up to a stop light or approaching a sharp corner or attending an HPDE or slowing on the freeway for a Jam....ie- any type of typical driving event that requires braking.
There were no indications of leaking oil on my garage floor or warning lights, or noises or anything that occurred before, during or after the experience that could have alerted me to the problem.

I wonder how many have perished as a result of a vacuum pump failure? There would be no indication at all after the accident of an issue with the brakes as there were no codes of any type. The brake pedal never relaxed even several hours later (waiting for tow truck)... it was still as if the brick under the pedal....so it was no like a come and go "temporary" issue... it was a permanent loss of braking capability.

The e-brake worked fine... but obviously only works on the rears, and it required a moment for my brain to process what was happening....it felt like an out of body/surreal experience.

I had no idea something like this could even happen!!! I know mechanical failures can and do happen to automobiles---but this was shocking!

Thank God when it happened I was on a back country flat road surface, and had a safe parking lot to pull into.
I am feeling extremely blessed, and have a newfound sense of vulnerability that had never been there before. I am curious to see how I feel about my car when when I come to my first stop light stop after it's fixed :(

^ Please, oh please, see if you can have that old pump returned to you. Lets dissect it and see why it failed.

YIKES!!! Yes we want to know why it failed.... actually ... we want to know if it failed because of the rust. That is something we can see and then take action.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

SB PORSCHE

Thank you for your post. Where are you from? was the car driven during the winter and was the cover similar to mine?
I have yet to take out my grinder and see how corroded mine actually was. Was it even a cover issue?

Most would think it would be a gradual loss of breaking, but I guess it depends on the pressures generated. Very interesting.

It was an instant loss of braking.... nothing gradual about it.
The car is stored in a garage and has never seen snow or salt roads. i bought it new and am in Southern California.
Porsche replaced the part under warranty, but would not return any parts to me as per warranty protocol, such that they engineers can study it. At this point I have contacted the entire dealership leadership team in request of something/ anything that would provide more clarity. My guess is that there is nothing about this online given the fact that few remain to speak about it.

I experienced this during an auto-x, and I had to come off the brake and try again, and it did work. I was spooked, and drove the car around slowly for the rest of the lap, but the brake pedal worked fine, and it's been working fine since.

When it happened, it felt like something was behind the pedal preventing it from being pushed fully in.

Very odd, but my brake booster must need replacing too!

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How much are they? And less ticking you say?

Sorry to resurrect an old thread. But i had my vacuum booster fail on my 987 Cayman R. Was at RA for a DE when it happened. Very scary and minimal warning. Car was working normally but at a braking zone it was subtly less brake per effort and I thought maybe brakes were hot but paradoxically there was more pedal resistance not less like boiled fluid.

I slowed and checked again at much lower speed and now it was very noticeably less brake force and a very stiff pedal. I was near pit out so slowly made my way out but with maybe 20% brake force possible. Checked simple things but nothing obvious except a stiff pedal that didnt ‘give’ after starting car which i believe is characteristic. Had it trailered home to shop and they diagnosed and replaced.
Could have been a disaster. Obvious advice is pay very careful attention to even a subtle change in a threshold braking effort (especially an increase pedal resistance) and shut things down fast.

According to the first post the pump is not directly exposed to the oiling system and the engine internals. I’m not sure how the shavings from the pump got inside the oil. Maybe someone in the know can chime in.