honda-hardy had successfully replaced a Prelude PAS fluid cooler with one from a Ford Focus and eddie_squidd had fitted a Mishimoto cooler. I looked at many alternatives on eBay and was considering buying a specific shape cooler used in some BMWs. But then I went to my local breakers yard and saw a decent looking one in a 57 reg Hyundai Tucson GSi:
Here’s the part:
It’s not as long as the Prelude part but because of its shape, I reckon it’s maybe twice the capacity of the Prelude part. It has two mounting brackets, one I had to snap off the car as the bolt had seized up, hence the mismatch. That was the only one used, the longer one wasn’t needed.
I removed the bits of rubber tube, cleaned it up and gave it a coat of wax. It’s in perfect conditions, I guess it’s made of aluminium. I also trimmed off the jagged bits of metal from the mounting bracket that I had to snap off, cleaned it up and gave it a coat of gloss black Hammerite paint.
Here’s my old PAS fluid cooler with the bumper removed:
The Prelude PAS fluid cooler has two mounting brackets, both are stuck / welded on, they don’t just unclip. Also, the two metal pipes in the engine bay are secured by a mounting bracket. This can by unbolted from the engine bay (held in place by one single bolt), but the actual bracket itself seems to be welded or stuck on to the pipes, this can’t be removed either. So, slight problem, you have the Prelude PAS fluid cooler at one end which can’t be detached and at the other you have the metal bracket stuck to the pipes. Neither can be fed through the hole which the pipes go through so the only way around it is to use a hacksaw. A few minutes later, the scrap parts were free from the car.
Here it is after removal:
Quite shabby after over 18.5 years of use. It was very brittle, the cooling vanes were falling off with contact.
I reused the Prelude PAS fluid cooler’s off-side mounting bracket, but to remove it, the hacksaw had to be used once again. I cut through the top and bottom arms. The then freed remaining part was cleaned up and given a coat of gloss black Hammerite paint. The trimmed down Hyundai Tucson’s PAS cooler’s mounting bracket was secured to this by a nut & bolt, but I had to drill a hole through both parts first for the bolt to slide through. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pics of this, but I’m sure you can work it out, The Prelude PAS fluid cooler mounting bracket is just an arm which secures to the car / chassis / whatever and the Hyundai bit bolts on to it.
I purchased 1 meter of nitrile braided rubber hose through eBay, inside diameter of 10mm. This was used to connect the Hyundai PAS fluid cooler to the PAS fluid reservoir and the hard metal pipe which I assume leads off to the steering rack. This had already been cut into next to the PAS fluid reservoir last November by the garage working on my car who sorted the PAS fluid leak. It was quite tight at all four ends, especially sliding it on to the Hyundai’s PAS fluid cooler was quite a mission. But, as it was tight, it’s less likely to leak. Small hose clamps were used at all four ends for good measure.
Here’s the end result:
It does look slightly wonky in the above pic, but I have straitened it out before refitting the bumper.
This shows the short hose disconnected which goes between the PAS fluid reservoir and the PAS pump. It makes access easier by removing it, but here’s a tip – cover your alternator first, otherwise you’ll splurge your alternator with PAS fluid.
I had bought 2x 1 litre bottles of Honda PAS fluid before I started this job (at considerable expense I might add), but I ended up using less than 1 bottle. Starting the car after replacing the PAS fluid cooler is a two man job. The PAS pump will be dry and even with the PAS fluid reservoir filled to its max line, the system will still be low as the fluid has not yet circulated, so there’s air in the system. Get someone to start the car, as soon as this happens, the PAS fluid level will drop so be ready to top it up immediately. The poor PAS pump may make some uncomfortable noises while this happens, but it quickly shuts up when the PAS fluid gets to it.
I did this 2 weeks ago and so far, there’s been no problems.
First generation Hyundai Tucson PAS Fluid cooler (used) = £3.00.
1 meter of nitrile braided rubber hose, ID 1.0mm = £3.75
1 litre of Honda PAS fluid = £16.39.
