Mozambique
Full Access Member
Hi all,
I replaced my radiator at 220k km a couple of months back. Couldn't find much in the way of a write up online, so thought I would provide some tips learned here.
I had put UV dye into the coolant tank to try and trace the source of a significant leak, and in the process realised that the plastic sides of the radiator were weeping fluid. Apparently its quite common for the plastic components to delaminate from the metal over time resulting in leakage.
I looked online for a replacement radiator. Figured this is not one of the replacement parts you want to cheap out on. OEM was aroound $CAD800 but seemed to be universally on back order with no delivery date. Ended up going with a middle of the road aftermarket at $400.
I followed the workshop manual and got all bits and pieces out of the way to make room to get the old rad out. The plastic shroud is in two parts. Be careful when manouvering the lower half. I managed to over-bend it and it ended up snapping on the 'skinny' side. Quick fix with some metal strapping and a few nuts and bolts and all fixed
The rad is bolted onto the AC rad. The manual has you disconenct the metal AC union where it bolts onto the rad (figure below), presumably so you can remove both rads as a unit and then undo the 4 carriage bolts that hold them together. Standing in front of the car looking at the engine the top left, top right and bottom right 8mm (or was it 10mm?) carriage bolts are accessible from either within the engine bay or from outside of it using some extensions and bendy joints with your socket. The 4th one (lower left) is not accessible at all (hence taking both rads out together?). At this point I disconnected the metal AC union where it connects to the rad by undoing the two bolts. Some refrigerant lost. The metal union seemed 'welded' onto the plastic. I gently tapped it and then lost confidence and put the bolts back in.
What now?
The rad is held in place primarily by two (10mm?) bolts that attache it to a lug on either side that it sits on (figure below).
I undid these two bolts and then man-handled the rad upwards so that it came off the lugs. At this point you can lean the top edge backwards into the engine bay which gives just enough clearance to access that lower left 8mm carrage bolt (as you look at the engine) from within the engine bay. BTW - 3 of the 4 carriage bolts heads snapped off as I undid them. Odd I thought as they screw into the plastic of the rad. Suggest getting replacements ahead of time. They are M6 and of cource Home Deport only carried 1/4in. which is ~6.2mm. I did try one of these on the old rad and it went in pretty tight and head sheared off even with lube. You could drill out the plastic holes, but I opted to get self tapping M6 carriage bolts off amazon. Hard to find in the Amazon results listing, but finally did.
The rest of putting the new one back in was fairly uneventful...... mostly. Its tight, so getting the old one out and new one in takes a bit of fiddling to accomplish.
Connected all the old hoses back up. The purple plastic connector below had me temporarily flummoxed until I realised I could re-use the old one still connected to the old rad (probs should have replaced it). Filled the system up with coolant to hear that dellightful piddling sound of coolant leaking! Turns out the purple connector which clips onto a spigot on the rad was a loose fit. ***? The spigot dia. was marginally smaller than OEM. Panicky call to mechanic and he said coat it well with liquid gasket and all witll be fine. Let it cure for 24hrs and touch wood, no leaks to date.
That's it!
Oh....... cost me $CAD300 to get the AC recharged.......... DO NOT DISCONNECT THE AC!!!!
I replaced my radiator at 220k km a couple of months back. Couldn't find much in the way of a write up online, so thought I would provide some tips learned here.
I had put UV dye into the coolant tank to try and trace the source of a significant leak, and in the process realised that the plastic sides of the radiator were weeping fluid. Apparently its quite common for the plastic components to delaminate from the metal over time resulting in leakage.
I looked online for a replacement radiator. Figured this is not one of the replacement parts you want to cheap out on. OEM was aroound $CAD800 but seemed to be universally on back order with no delivery date. Ended up going with a middle of the road aftermarket at $400.
I followed the workshop manual and got all bits and pieces out of the way to make room to get the old rad out. The plastic shroud is in two parts. Be careful when manouvering the lower half. I managed to over-bend it and it ended up snapping on the 'skinny' side. Quick fix with some metal strapping and a few nuts and bolts and all fixed
The rad is bolted onto the AC rad. The manual has you disconenct the metal AC union where it bolts onto the rad (figure below), presumably so you can remove both rads as a unit and then undo the 4 carriage bolts that hold them together. Standing in front of the car looking at the engine the top left, top right and bottom right 8mm (or was it 10mm?) carriage bolts are accessible from either within the engine bay or from outside of it using some extensions and bendy joints with your socket. The 4th one (lower left) is not accessible at all (hence taking both rads out together?). At this point I disconnected the metal AC union where it connects to the rad by undoing the two bolts. Some refrigerant lost. The metal union seemed 'welded' onto the plastic. I gently tapped it and then lost confidence and put the bolts back in.
What now?
The rad is held in place primarily by two (10mm?) bolts that attache it to a lug on either side that it sits on (figure below).
I undid these two bolts and then man-handled the rad upwards so that it came off the lugs. At this point you can lean the top edge backwards into the engine bay which gives just enough clearance to access that lower left 8mm carrage bolt (as you look at the engine) from within the engine bay. BTW - 3 of the 4 carriage bolts heads snapped off as I undid them. Odd I thought as they screw into the plastic of the rad. Suggest getting replacements ahead of time. They are M6 and of cource Home Deport only carried 1/4in. which is ~6.2mm. I did try one of these on the old rad and it went in pretty tight and head sheared off even with lube. You could drill out the plastic holes, but I opted to get self tapping M6 carriage bolts off amazon. Hard to find in the Amazon results listing, but finally did.
The rest of putting the new one back in was fairly uneventful...... mostly. Its tight, so getting the old one out and new one in takes a bit of fiddling to accomplish.
Connected all the old hoses back up. The purple plastic connector below had me temporarily flummoxed until I realised I could re-use the old one still connected to the old rad (probs should have replaced it). Filled the system up with coolant to hear that dellightful piddling sound of coolant leaking! Turns out the purple connector which clips onto a spigot on the rad was a loose fit. ***? The spigot dia. was marginally smaller than OEM. Panicky call to mechanic and he said coat it well with liquid gasket and all witll be fine. Let it cure for 24hrs and touch wood, no leaks to date.
That's it!
Oh....... cost me $CAD300 to get the AC recharged.......... DO NOT DISCONNECT THE AC!!!!
