Power steering cooler leak.

[GeoGoGo]

Hi Everyone,

I have a pretty good leak that appears to be coming from the power steering cooler. Has anyone replaced the cooler? How big a job is it? Where is the best place to get a new cooler?

Thank you all in advance for the time!

Respectfully,
George D.

Forgot the specifics. 2007 LT 4X4. 4.2L.

 

[freddyboy61]

I replaced mine on a 2004 Envoy a couple of weeks ago. I got the cooler on Ebay, it was around $48.
Replacing it took awhile because you have to remove the grill and front bumper cover. There is a video on YouTube that shows some parts of the disassembly but nor all the details.

 

[Mooseman]

I replaced it with a small radiator cooler because they weren't cheap at the time.

 

[GeoGoGo]

Thank you for the input, guys!

 

[JerryIrons]

You might destroy some of those plastic bumper "screws", I would get some spares just in case. NAPA sells them, also I think I ordered some online by getting part numbers from a gm site. The job itself isn't that bad once you figure out how to remove the bumper stuff.

 

[GeoGoGo]

Thanks for the heads up, Jerry!

 

[GeoGoGo]

How big a deal is the cooler? What if I were to just bypass it? I need to get this fixed as soon as I can. It's my daily driver and my fiancée works 50 miles in the opposite direction

Is the cooler really necessary?

 

[Mooseman]

A lot of people bypass it. There weren't any in the old days.

 

[JerryIrons]

I almost bypassed it myself, I've heard of people just running a copper pipe loop in place of it. My guess, is that under certain conditions its needed, maybe like hauling a boat in july through the mountains in texas

 

[paul2005tb]

I replaced mine, wish I had seen the leak sooner. Happened during a very busy time of year for me.

After much analysis my conclusion was that the OEM design was not suitable, the cooler is too low and it catches the brunt of too much road debris, grit, dirt and salt.

My solution was to install a generic 5x10 smaller transmission cooler and place it up and in front of the AC condensor. I kept the bracket part of the original cooler that had the two uturn pipes (cut off the rest) and that made the job much easier. One advantage was that these small sized coolers are much cheaper than the OEM cooler. I am happy with my solution.

 

[Mooseman]

Basically what I did. I meant to say "transmission cooler", not "radiator cooler".

 

[GeoGoGo]

Thank you all for the input! I just needed up bypassing the cooler. All seems to be holding up well!

Happy Labor Day, everyone!

 

[Ilikemy3s]

Seems I got the same issue. The PS lines are also rusted and leaking where they usually rust out going over the fender well on the drivers side.