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Prelude PAS Fluid Cooler Replacement.

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CARRisma
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Prelude PAS Fluid Cooler Replacement.

Post by CARRisma » Sun Aug 05, 2018 4:44 pm

My 2000 Prelude's PAS fluid cooler along with the metal pipes in the engine bay which lead to it, were looking quite rusty. Apparently, while my car was in a garage getting an ongoing oil leak investigated last November, the metal pipe from the PAS fluid cooler to the steering rack had sprung a leak. They fixed this by bypassing it using a rubber hose but left the rusty pipes in-situ. As a leak from my rusty PAS fluid cooler or the metal pipe between it and the fluid reservoir was pretty much inevitable, I decided to replace the parts.

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:

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Here’s the part:

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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:

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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:

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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:

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It does look slightly wonky in the above pic, but I have straitened it out before refitting the bumper.

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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.
2000 Honda Prelude 2.2 VTi (H22A8 / BB8).
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Post by wurlycorner » Mon Aug 06, 2018 12:48 pm

Nice work.

I didn't realise the UKDM 5g's had the same power steering cooler as 4g's?

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Post by CARRisma » Mon Aug 06, 2018 1:48 pm

wurlycorner wrote:Nice work.

I didn't realise the UKDM 5g's had the same power steering cooler as 4g's?
Some do, not all. H22A8 powered Preludes have the one shown. H22A5 preludes have the smaller simpler style.
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Post by Merlin » Mon Aug 06, 2018 2:40 pm

Nice work!

Yeah the H22a8 has a different PAS pump to the H22a5 as well.
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Post by honda-hardy » Thu Aug 09, 2018 9:31 pm

My type s just has a simple u pipe. Very short too.

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Post by CARRisma » Sun Aug 12, 2018 1:09 pm

I took my front bumper off yesterday afternoon just to adjust it's height as there was a gap between the bumper and the front wings. While doing so, I took a photo which better shows my PAS fluid cooler mount:

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2000 Honda Prelude 2.2 VTi (H22A8 / BB8).
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Post by CARRisma » Wed Aug 15, 2018 9:20 am

I overestimated how much rubber hose would be needed so purchased 2x 1 meter lengths of braided nitrile hose. I have 1 going spare, unused. If anyone is planning on doing this, if you PayPal me £3.00, it's yours.
2000 Honda Prelude 2.2 VTi (H22A8 / BB8).
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