Hi all, was just cleaning my 2013 XC90, and noticed that the power steering finned cooler line located just above the front stone shield is a bit damaged from stones on the road. This cooler line is fully exposed under the front bumper, not the best design in my mind. I was just wondering if anyone has constructed or used some sort of screening to protect this cooler pipe as well as the AC condenser that is also exposed. I want this car to last a very very long time and am thinking if I can keep debris away from this pipe and AC condenser it just may extend it's lifespan. Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

Blocking the cooler and condenser (not the evaporator) would prevent them from doing their job. I wouldn't worry much about it. Some fins being a little dinged or bent isn't going to cause any issues. It would need to take a pretty good hit to rupture either.

 

Thanks, I have made the corrections to the question. As for blocking the condenser and cooling line, I was thinking more in the line of a screen, or grate, that hopefully would not impede air flow too much, but would slow down debris.

 

Ah okay. Yeah, you could do something like that. But like I said, it isn't really necessary. They are pretty durable since they have to be located right up front like that. If you did it right, it could look okay but if you just zip tied some chicken wire in there, it would look pretty bad.

 

i wouldn't put a fine mesh (like a screen door) because that would block too much airflow. some wider mesh would not block much flow. on my 911 oil cooler I used a roof gutter mesh cover from lowe's to protect the aftermarket oil cooler. you can buy material for this purpose from pegasus racing or other racing suppliers.

 

If you are really concerned, then in the Honda Odyssey forum, we used plastic Gutter Guard (a few dollars at hardware store) to protect the Honda AC condenser.

You can use the idea posted below:
AC Condenser Area very exposed