Radiator replacement easy or hard?

[Mike Stitzer]

After flushing the coolant my ratiator now has a leak along the drivers' side seam between the plastic end caps and the aluminum core.
Stop leak hasn't worked so I'll probably replace it. Is this pretty straight forward or is it a bitch to do? I can get one off a junker for free so price isn't a concern. The car will leave a cooant stain about one foot in diameter after sitting in the parking lot at work for 8 hours, so the leak isn't terrible yet but it's bothering me. Any suggestions?

Mike

 

[BeatDaSHO]

the radiator isn't too hard to replace. just take out a few connections here and there and a couple of bolts and waalaa. it's out. it cost me about 70 dollars to get my leak stopped.

Greg

 

[Rob94]

It is quite easy to replace a radiator, but the first thing you want to do is flush that stop leak out of your engine. I replace my radiator with a new one in about 45 minutes. Not a difficult job in the least. Probably the worst part of the job was lining the "tabs" on the bottom of the radiator with the "slots" in the support.

 

[Diameg]

I agree with these guys, very easy to do. The hardest part for me with my very limited selection of tools was getting the lower rad hose clamp off. The rest was smooth sailing.

Of note, mine also started leaking a week after a full coolant flush. Someone posted the theory here that what is probably happening is that you (and I) had stop leak in there already, and the coolant flush took that out.
Sounds reasonable to me.
I didn't bother trying stop leak again, just replaced it with a new rad from Part Source here in Canada for about $100 U.S.

 

[SHONUT91]

The radiator is really pretty straight forward to replace.One question though? Have you tried taking it to a local radiator shop and asking them if they can try and re-crimped the side tank back together for you. The seals in the side tanks are prone to leak over time and a re-crimp fixed mine.That has been over two years ago and leaks as of yet and my local shop only charged me 10 bucks.good luck! thumbs_u