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After picking up my new radiator from Toyota on Wednesday, it was fitted by myself on Thursday. I had to take my old one back to Toyota today, to get my £50+vat surcharge back.
The job is very easy, and only took me two hours to take out and re-fit. What took the time was to drain and flush the system, and give the area and parts a good clean. I re-filled it with Toyota Long Life Red coolant. I got 15lts for £30.
Basically, the job involves removing the top and bottom rad hoses, the two aircon bolts holding the pipe to the top of the rad, header tank hose (from rad) the two oil cooler hoses. Unclip the bottom fan shroud and pull out from underneath, undo the four securing bolts and withdraw the radiator from the top, complete with the top half of the fan shroud. I used mole grips to clamp the oil cooler pipes to stop transmission oil leaking out.
She now has plenty of pressure, and the coolant is now expanding into the header tank as it should. The old rad had a crack in the top tank, and was sucking air into the system.
To fill the system, I cut the bottom off a Buxton mineral water 1.5 ltr bottle, and taped it to the rad filler with electrical tape. I then filled the system until coolant started coming out of the block drain tap. Shut that off, continued to fill until the bottle was quarter full with coolant. Then started her up and ran her for half an hour, revving the engine now and again. You can see, when revving, the coolant being pushed into the bottle. I then let her cool down, removed the bottle and fitted rad cap. Run her again to pressurise system, checked for leaks, topped up auto trans oil level and re-fitted bash guard.
It didn't go that well however, as the hose I had on my kitchen tap moved while I was outside. When I came in to get a torch I was greeted with a jet of water spraying onto the kitchen ceiling. The whole kitchen was flooded, and soaked a quarter of my living room carpet. Bo****ks. I spent 3hrs mopping up the mess.
Here are some pictures I took on my phone. They didn't come out that well as I had greasy hands, and took them too quick. But you can see the old and new radiators, and the hole in the front end when removed.
Don't you just love that "brand new, just out the box" feeling!?
The job is very easy, and only took me two hours to take out and re-fit. What took the time was to drain and flush the system, and give the area and parts a good clean. I re-filled it with Toyota Long Life Red coolant. I got 15lts for £30.
Basically, the job involves removing the top and bottom rad hoses, the two aircon bolts holding the pipe to the top of the rad, header tank hose (from rad) the two oil cooler hoses. Unclip the bottom fan shroud and pull out from underneath, undo the four securing bolts and withdraw the radiator from the top, complete with the top half of the fan shroud. I used mole grips to clamp the oil cooler pipes to stop transmission oil leaking out.
She now has plenty of pressure, and the coolant is now expanding into the header tank as it should. The old rad had a crack in the top tank, and was sucking air into the system.
To fill the system, I cut the bottom off a Buxton mineral water 1.5 ltr bottle, and taped it to the rad filler with electrical tape. I then filled the system until coolant started coming out of the block drain tap. Shut that off, continued to fill until the bottle was quarter full with coolant. Then started her up and ran her for half an hour, revving the engine now and again. You can see, when revving, the coolant being pushed into the bottle. I then let her cool down, removed the bottle and fitted rad cap. Run her again to pressurise system, checked for leaks, topped up auto trans oil level and re-fitted bash guard.
It didn't go that well however, as the hose I had on my kitchen tap moved while I was outside. When I came in to get a torch I was greeted with a jet of water spraying onto the kitchen ceiling. The whole kitchen was flooded, and soaked a quarter of my living room carpet. Bo****ks. I spent 3hrs mopping up the mess.
Here are some pictures I took on my phone. They didn't come out that well as I had greasy hands, and took them too quick. But you can see the old and new radiators, and the hole in the front end when removed.
Don't you just love that "brand new, just out the box" feeling!?
Attached Files
) and the job was straight forward. Took me about 3 hours, and I'm well pleased with the end result.
Well thats my excuse!!
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