C6 A6 3.0T JHM Heat exchanger installation.
Finally installed my JHM Heat exchanger, figured id post some pictures and process! Keep in mind you WILL have to drain coolant and power steering, along with cutting some lines. The kit comes with everything you need, and if you reuse, a few extra hose clamps too.
Step one is of course to remove your front bumper, and drain the coolant. Best way to do that is disconnect the lowest forward radiator hose for the supercharger heat exchanger and get the hose out of the way.
Step two is to remove the OEM power steering cooler + sensor at the front. It may be a crash sensor? So be careful! They're the lines running the length of the front of the car, there should be a single bolt either end that decouples them from the car. You can see the loop where the sensor is held in at the front.
Once that's loose, here's where things get a little tight and tricky. Follow the PS cooler lines on the driver side of the car where they head back past the radiators. You should be able to find where the two hoses turn from metal line to rubber hose. You can either disconnect the hose clamps, or as we chose, cut the lines. Be warned, you're draining the power steering reservoir and pump, which you'll have to be conscious of when you start the car.
Here's where the lines go from metal to rubber, as seen from above to the side and front of the driver side valve cover:
You can even save and resell the cooler, should you wish, if you cut it at the rubber.
Once you've cut that, you'll need to let the PS fluid drain. Now we prep the new cooler and lines by cutting in half the long hose that came with the kit, and with a little WD40 or applicable fluid, working the shouldered (brass?) inserts into each cut hose, and putting on/tightening hose clamps before moving on.
Now, take the end with the inserts and connect them (With hose clamps) to the OEM lines where you've cut. It helps to have a friend thread them in through the front bumper while you try and connect them from either up top or below, as they can be a tight fit. You might have to cut some of the protective wire loom as well.
Now's another tricky, or sketchy part. Center the aftermarket power steering cooler, hose connections facing down on the right side by the horns & above the crash bar. We used a flashlight to shine through the front of the centered cooler, and take a look in the engine bay. Using that you can figure out where you have to do the following:
Its a little sketch, but from what I gathered you have to punch through the radiators from inside the engine bay (in front of the radiator fans) with the included black cable ties. Put the included foams on the back of the power steering cooler, where it's held against the stock condenser. That was my guess at their use at least. You can probably piece it together from the following pictures:
Once that's done, you can again use some WD40 or applicable lubrication to work the two cut hoses onto the power steering cooler! As far as we could tell, it's not directional/it doesn't matter where the hoses go. (I recommend cutting them a bit shorter to keep them out of the way for later.) Be careful so as to not move the new PS cooler around too much while doing this, as its held in by the other coolers and heat exchangers/condensers. Wiggle it too much and you'll damage more fins than we already have.
And now, the heat exchanger itself. Use a sharpie, marker, or scratch on the crash bar to mark out the holes for the heat exchanger as you line it up and center it with the bleeder screw at the top on the passenger side of the car. Keep an eye on those power steering hoses, if they're too long you'll have to move them up and away. We sat it on two jack stands after that, for the following.
While you can do it by hand, power tools help SIGNIFICANTLY here. Use the self tapping holes to drill through the bottom of the crash bar/heat exchanger bracket. As far as we could tell, or couldn't, while the bar is hollow, we didn't encounter anything inside of it (electrical or otherwise). It might take a while, the crash bar is THICK, as it should be. Once that's mounted, were almost there. Connect the sensor we disconnected from the OEM power steering cooler earlier to the new point on the JHM HX
Almost done! Now, use the black hose insert to attach to the OEM hose with a clamp on one end, and the other end to the thicker, straight hose included in the kit. Clamp and trim as needed.
All that's left is to connect the U hose from the lower point on the JHM HX to the OEM connection point, clamp, and then the extended end to the top point on the new HX, and clamp.
(Image provided by JHM)
(My image)Now, all that's left is fill the coolant reservoir (also note the bleeder screw on top of the OEM core, which should be at the passenger side.) and power steering reservoir.
NOTE NOTE NOTE, the power steering will make a NASTY noise due to being empty, even if you fill the reservoir. Shut the car off as soon as you hear it, and add more fluid to the reservoir. Start, shut off, repeat. Once the noise goes away, turn the wheel side to side, listening for more noise, and monitoring fluid level.
Once the coolant is filled and air-free, and the power steering is quiet and smooth, you should be good to go!
Let me know if there's any other questions or anything I might've missed!
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Originally Posted by ewmin3m
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