I then came through afterwards and blew compressed air through the condenser - this got the condenser and radiator pretty clean and see-through.ĩ. I sprayed several applications of Purple Power, let sit for 10 minutes each, and then hosed it down and through the condenser - yes some of it will probably get on the radiator, but the radiator is more likely to cook off the caked up tranny fluid over time than the AC condenser ever would be. Your AC condenser will probably be a caked up, oily mess like mine. When the opposite is released, the bumper cover will drop down.Ĩ. The bumper cover is really flexible so you can let it droop down and touch the ground while you move to the other side and repeat.ħ. You may want an assistant, but I did this on my own. It will unsnap from the two plastic tabs in the upper quarter panel section just behind the light - these tabs are in the circled area pictured below. Sort of hard to explain, but if you pull the wheel well trim back from the quarter panel, you can then pull the bumper cover corner outwards and up. Carefully separate the upper corner of the bumper cover from the front quarter panel here. If you have fog/driving lights, unplug them.Ħ. Remove the bottom bumper cladding/debris shield bolts and scrivets - one off to the left not pictured.ĥ. I didn't have a screwdriver short enough to do it without turning the wheels, so I put a Phillips bit into a pair of vise clamps. Remove the three screws from the bumper cover / wheel well trim molding. Start by removing the two screws and scrivets from the top of the bumper cover.ģ. If the plastic "grille" was easily removable on its own, this wouldn't be an issue - but it's not. Unfortunately this job really requires that you remove the entire front bumper cover and grille. Put the vehicle on ramps, it makes the job much easier to do.Ģ. Air compressor with a decent blow gun attachment setġ.
3ft or so of 1/2" clear flexible hose - we will use this to reclaim leftover ATF from the old cooler 3ft or so of 1/2" transmission fluid hose - DO NOT USE HEATER OR FUEL HOSE - ATF will soften these hoses over time and begin to leak. Probably a lot of degreaser to clean up the nasty gunk deposited all over the AC condenser as a result of the leak Small razor/hobby saw, or something you feel confident cutting plastic at odd angles in cramped space with These will be used to extend the length of the factory hoses another 10" or so to reach around the radiator, condenser, and attach to the cooler. You will need two 1/2 barb joint unions, available from Home Depot (or other h/w store). So I also ordered the Derale 1/2 NPT barb fittings with the cooler. The cooler comes with 3/8" NPT barb fittings, but you will need 1/2" fittings to connect to the factory cooler hoses, which are 1/2" ID hose at the barbed fittings of the factory cooler. This cooler is rated for 24,000lb GVWR - Taurus X weighs 5,379lb - so cooling will not be an issue after installing this. I purchased a Derale 13614 plate and fin cooler. RESULT: No leaks and good transmission temps - have not tested long term yet, but ran around town and highway today and hot running temps were between 140-160 depending on situation. Rather than pay a ton to replace the flawed factory AC condenser/transmission cooler combo assembly with one that would eventually fail in the same manner, I decided to bypass the leaking cooler completely. Mine started leaking around 90k, very little at first, but seemed to continue worsening until it was regularly marking its territory in the driveway. Here is a short guide on bypassing the factory transmission cooler, which is prone to leakage.