Leaky Rad

[nik]

Happy new year, hope you are all enjoying the ice rink. I think the freeze over cracked my radiator :( I want to try to replace it myself, but need some pointers. How hard is it to get out? Do I need to remove the front bumper? Is Rogue systems the best place to buy a replacement? Any advice welcome

[boundsw]

Not 100%, but id hope that you dont have remove the bumper

About 874 bolts holding that on, well something like that when I took mine off....nightmare !

Id say rogue or eBay for spares

[Vlad_E]

no you dont have to take the bumper off. Its all straight forward enough, you have to access it from below. so take the undertray off (rusty bolts), then it all becomes clear on what to do, ie draining etc.. you will see the tap on the radiator...

id advise buying new lower rubber mounts as they will be probably perrished and can be a pain to remove from the old radiator.

I changed mine in the summer, and it was a pain, with the rusty bolts, then I had leaks everywhere, and the hoses were stuck . it took me 8 hours in total but thats because my cars a pain in the **** and I only had car ramps to work under it with. resting a radiator on your head while putting the hoses on isnt good :( .

oh and as for the rad, iirc they are £130 from rogue which aint bad but I got mine from here ;) say you are from imoc and get a discount

http://www.imoc.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11440&start=0

and you will need some decent coolant, I reccomend the proper toyota forlife stuff, but I hear halfords' will do the trick

[nik]

Thanks for that

[Bibbs]

I swapped my rad in about an hour ..

Take out the top two mounts, take off the fans and then just pull the bugger out.

Got mine from Rogue, new rad arrived within 24 hours ..

[downsy]

i did mine in about 2 hrs and i am not too good with the spanners! didnt need to raise car, its possible to get it in/out, just bit fiddly!

[Vlad_E]

it was generally the rusty bolts, needed to be drilled out, then the leaks! was a nightmare lol

[downsy]

make sure you get all the air out via the tap on the radiator top and the tap on the heater manifold (under the black plastic liner on the bulkhead) when re-filling system.

[nik]

Greatful for all the advice. Thanks much! :D