Radiator support SuperTrick.

[Jurnietow]

Hey all,

 

I recently replaced the radiator support on my 2012 SXT, after a run-in with a deer.  The car has just over 200K miles and other than the stupid oil filter housing leaks, and a leaky radiator at 175K, I havent had any repairs other than expected maintenance items and consumables like brakes, spark plugs, coolant changes, and ball joints. 

As some of you may know, replacing a radiator support is an expensive repair if done by a body shop.  It serves as the front structural component that ties the sidewalls of the engine bay together and is the structure that all the components forward of the engine mount to.  It basically requires removal of all the exterior body parts forward of the fenders, and then the bumper structure, headlights, radiator, transmission cooler, AC condenser, radiator fan, and the associated wiring harness, all ofwhich then get swapped onto the new radiator support after it's installed.

It sounds like a big deal, but it's actually fairly straightforward.  Bolt off, bolt on.  I picked up my replacement radiator support at local a salvage yard for $125, and it came with the wiring harness (didnt need) and radiator air shields (needed these, $50 savings) attached.

All of it can be done at home in your garage with no special tools required other than about 6 hours of time if you're handy.

 

EXCEPT

 

The AC condenser normally has to be removed because the refrigerant lines have to be routed through an opening in the support.  The lines are not difficult to disconnect, but if you don't have a vacuum pump and the stuff needed to purge and recharge the AC system, you'll be on the hook for an additional $200 or so, and you'll have to take the car to a shop twice.  Once to have the system purged with a refrigerant capture system, and a second time after the repair to have the system purged of air under vacuum and recharged.

In light of all that inconvenience, I was scratching my head and looking at the whole thing and came up with a solution.  The radiator support's main attachment to the car is where it gets sandwiched between what we'll call the unibody "frame rails" and the bumper structural framework.  There is a flange on each of those components about the size of a somewhat rectangular dinner plate with a bolt in each corner.

In light of that "sandwich" construction, I realized that 2 strategically located slots cut in the radiator support would allow it to be installed without disconnecting the AC condenser lines and allowing the refrigerant to escap...I mean be properly captured by a certified freon recovery system operated by a licensed tech.  It takes some maneuvering of the whole support to get the lines directed through the slots, a second set of hand would be helpful, because the AC condenser like to flop around and you don't want that because it's somewhat delicate.  Also you DEFINITELY want to protect the paint on the fenders, because there are lots of sharp bits on the mounting ears on the radiator support that want to scratch paint when youre maneuvering the support around.

I've attached a picture of a Radiator support that shows the slot locations that will allow this to happen.  I have to say, that once everything was bolted back together, there was zero loss of structural integrity, and it's more or less impossible to even detect unless you know exactly where to look because the gaps are almost entirely covered by the mounting flanges.

 

This repair would normally cost thousands if you are also replacing things like the grille, radiator, headlight, bumper cover. etc.  I found a seller on ebay that is selling aftermarket bumper covers, grille, lower grille, lower bumper trim, fog lights, fog light bezels, and bumper fender brackets, as a package for under $500.  My repair came in well under a thousand, because I painted the bumper cover myself and gave up a Saturday to do the job. I was also able to do things like flatten out the radiator, condenser, and tranny cooler which were all bowed by the stupid deer, so I didn't have to buy replacements for those.

 

The savings made it well worth it to do it myself, in my opinion.

 

  

Edited July 12, 2021 by Jurnietow
addition and typos

[John/Horace]

Welcome to the forum. Cool diy. You could add a few small strips of metal or aluminum with rivets to reinforce the corner of support where slots are. In case there is flexing.  I've had some close calls with deer, just lucky I haven't made contact yet. Good thing airbags didn't trigger with the deer hit.