Sorry guys, thought I deleted the post. However, did the lock to lock thing as well without running, worked great. "Sometimes you just have to avoid everything the service manual suggest."

 

I remember, I think it was a Subaru or Toyota or Honda (I've had too many cars) FSM that directed a certain torque, maybe for valve cover bolts or something, that was totally false and an order of magnitude or more off, anyone who followed it was highly likely to break off bolts in the head. So while the FSM can be treated as gospel the vast majority of the time, always best to do a little more research, and if they're telling you to torque M6 bolts to 30 ft lbs...think twice.

Also, the FSMs won't typically tell you the tips and tricks that actual mechanics will employ...sometimes you don't actually HAVE to pull the whole dash to replace some little part, you just have to break your arm in 5 places to get to it--better than pulling the dash IMO.

 

Very True. Like with the radiator thing ... kicked back, looked, and looked, for alternatives. Considering the obvious ... I pulled out the cross-member the rad upper mounts connect to, was able to pull straight up and out without having to disconnect trans cooler and ac condenser supply/return lines. Just that alone, saved $$$ for (ac) reclaim/recharge, time at the dealer, trans flush/fluid. "Commonsense" works well.