How to Remove Grille 2008-12 Ford Escape

Hi. I'm Mike from 1A Auto. We've been selling auto parts for over 30 years.

What's up, guys? I'm Andy from 1A Auto. In this video I'm going to show you how to remove and reinstall a grille on this 2012 Ford Escape.

If you need parts for your vehicle, click the link in the description and head over to 1aauto.com.

We're going to open the hood. Just pull on that lever right there. There's a hood release over here. Slide it to the left and grab the prop rod. Put that in position there. Take a 10 millimeter socket. We're going to take these two bolts out on top, right here. Take this bolt out and then same on this side. Use the same 10 millimeter socket and ratchet.

I'm going to raise and support the vehicle. I'm using a two-post lift. If you're doing this at your house, you can use a jack and jack stands.

I want to take some of these push clips off. There's one missing right here, there, there. I'm just going to use this trim tool. We sell this at 1aauto.com. Just grab the center part of the clip. Pry it out like that. Get behind the clip and pull it out. Do that to the other ones. I'm just pulling the clips out of right here. From under here, I'm going to use a 10 millimeter socket in a ratchet and take these bolts out. Take that bolt out. Take these two out. Going to remove this bolt as well.

To make it easier, I'm going to remove this whole piece. It's not completely necessary, but it will be a lot easier, so I'll remove this bolt as well. Then there's a push clip on the backside, over here. It would be easier if you had the tire off to see this stuff. It's not impossible to do with the tire on. Just grab the trim tool and pull this clip out.

Now, from underneath on the front, there's some bolts right here. There's one here and one here, and we are going to do the same on the other side. We use the same 10 millimeter socket and I'll use an extension in a ratchet. Once that's out, we can grab this panel, and slide it down so that I can pull this inner fender well down a little more. I'm just going to take this Phillips head screw out right here. Pull that out. Just pull this push clip out as well. The little push tab in here it's there, if the bumper's never been removed it's probably still there. If it as been removed, it may not be there, 'cause it's not something that you would put back in.

I'm just taking a straight blade screwdriver. I just want to push it up. Let's see. Right there. Pop that out. When that's out you can grab the bumper and just pull it out. Just like that. Just release it, just like that. Now we'll do the same procedure for the other side. All right, these fog lights are still connected. We want to disconnect these, just push down on the tab, slide it out. Do the same for the other side. Just like that.

Underneath here, there's a push pin, just use the trim tool, pull that out. Be careful, that was the only thing left holding the bumper on and this side should have one, but it doesn't. Now we're going to grab the bumper, make sure both sides are released and just slide it off. Take these two fasteners off. I'll just use the 10 millimeter socket and ratchet. Take that one off. I'm going to take these two bolts off, one there and one right there. I'm going to use a seven millimeter socket and a ratchet and unscrew these.

I'm going to take a straight blade screwdriver and there's these little clips that are holding the bumper on right here. Just slide under here, release the clips. Sometimes it might be a little bit tricky. Right here as well. There we go. Get those out.

I'll take the grille and get these clips all lined up. You want to make sure these little plastic studs are lined up and then just press these in. I'm going to take these seven millimeter screws first, and you might have to adjust this a little bit to get the holes to line up. A seven millimeter socket and ratchet, get these started. Get the other one started and snug it down. Remember it is in plastic so you want to be careful, not too tight.

Now, we'll take the 10 millimeter fasteners that go on here, and use the 10 millimeter socket and ratchet, snug these down. Take the bumper, I'm just going to slide it in position. You could use a partner to help you. Get this side lined up, push it in. That little tab that we pulled out, we're not going to be able to get it back in, but it's okay, it's going to stay secure. Now, we'll do the same for the other side. This is one of those pins, but after you take this off you can't really get that back in. That's secure.

We're going to install push pins in here. Just get these lined up. One there and then also one over here. All right, I'm going to take this panel, slide this in position. The back part is going to go over the axle. This part is going to slide up here. Take the bolt. I'm going to stick it in my socket in the extension. Same with the other ones. Get this push-pin pushed in, in the back. Get these two bolts started. Once I have all those bolts started, I can go back with a ratchet and a 10 millimeter socket and extension and snug these all up.

Take the fog light. We're going to connect the fog light connector and just line it up and lock it in place. Do the same for the other side. I'm going to put these push pins in on this side, here. There was one missing here, so I'll put a new one in there. Put a push pin right here. Phillip's head screw right here; just use a Phillip's head screwdriver and snug it up. There's another push pin right under here.

Now I'm going to do the same procedure for the other side. I'll take these two bolts up top. One goes here and one goes on the other side here. Get those started. Take a 10 millimeter socket in a ratchet and just snug 'em up.

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