First of all I have been having a problem with the bolts holding the air filter housing down breaking. They seem to snap by themselves. Also last time I went to remove the unbroken ones, they break! There is an indention in them for washers and it makes for a good weak spot. They're only about 4 bucks each from the dealership but still... Also last time I had to replace these bolts I notice this..






Its not a vaccuum line.. Must be part of the PCV system??
Anyways my it isnt covered under CPO Powertrain warranty. The intake tube is about 25 bucks which isnt bad. Still trying to figure out how that happened.

I tried retorquing the bolts to 8.7 ft-lbs per the manual but it feels like I am gonna break a bolt again. So I think I may just put some anti-seize on the bolts and just use my judgement to tighten them. Anyone else have this problem?

 

 

8.7 ftlbs = snug with a 1/4" ratchet or regular/hex driver

The intake tube ripped at the throttle body because of overtightening.

 

I had the same break near the radiator clamp (this is fairly common). The problem is that the rubber that the intake tube is made from has gotten hard, and when it can no longer flex, it tears. When I bought a replacement intake tube, I was surprised at how much more resilient the new one was compared to the old one.

 

Check your engine mounts. Literally just today i noticed the plastic bracker that holds te intake filter case was broken. My suspicion is that before i replaced the mounts my engine was moving beyond specs, which caused it to break. This might be happening to you too. Good luck.

 

Nice observation. When I bought my TL, the motor mounts were shot. That's about the same time I noticed the air intake tube split..

 

Thanks for the input. The motor mount thing was in the back of my head but the mounts went bad on my old TL and u could really feel the engine move especially shifting under load.. Other than that and leaking fluid I dunno how else to diagnose a bad mount. Also not sure if thats covered by my powertrain CPO warranty.

 

I fully agree with the mounts being the problem. You don't snap off bolts, break the pcv hose, and break the intake hose without the mounts being bad.

Get that fixed asap, the air filter is the most important filter on the car. The tube that's broken off is the fresh air side of the PCV. It needs to be filtered. You're gettting unfiltered air not only straight into the crank case but into the cylinders as well.

 

I unknowingly took a road trip with that hole in my intake and got 26-28. After replacing the tube, Im getting about 30 mpg easy. If it happens again Im going to have the dealer look at engine mounts. I know on my 03 TL the mounts went bad. I thought it was another transmission problem due to hard shiting but it turned out to be the engine bucking from failing mounts. One was leaking fluid. I still cant figure out why such a massive vaccum leak didnt throw a code?