Protect that AC condenser

I don't know if this has been an issue on the 2nd gen Tacoma's but I figure it couldn't hurt and thought I'd share on here.

This started on my wife's 2011 Accord. AC went out still under warranty so off to the dealer I went. Long story short a rock supposedly went through the huge opening in the front bumper and hit the condenser causing a leak so it wasn't covered under warranty. Honda wanted $900 to fix it! But that's a whole other story that I'm not gonna vent on at least right now.

So the condenser is replaced and as I understood and researched online that it is a very common issue with this model Accord. A bad design imo. So I looked into a fix for it and copied a quick, simple, and cheap fix I found on the net which I also went ahead and did on my Tacoma also as a preventative.

Went to Home Depot and picked up some black gutter screen. About 3 bucks each if I remember correctly.


I used 2 of these since 1 is just a few inches shy of covering the opening in the the bumper. I cut them down to length and put the seams in the middle hidden behind the center piece in the grill. Zip tied them in and done. That simple although I would like a better way to attach them. Didn't even have to cut the height down since there was room to fit it, but could be cut down if you feel it's needed. I actually left the ridge that is on these, if for no other reason but to help with the strength of them.



My wife's car was a bit more involved and was much more of an issue but figured I might as well do the truck too just to be safe since the opening in the bumper was fairly big. Not nearly as bad as the Accord but still. Cheap and simple preventative for anyone that wants to do this so I thought I'd throw it out there.

 

The 2012+ have big gaping holes in the grill. I too was a bit worried what a well aimed rock might do so I added these.





They look good at night too.