OK folks, I don't feel like giving my mechanic 550 bucks to swap my radaitor, so I may do it myself. I could use any guidance you all can give. Here are a few questions i have:
1. The oil and tranny cooler lines do not appear to have any special connectors that require special tools. Are there any that I am not seeing?
2. how do I fill up the new radiator? My filler cap is on the overflow container. Do I just keep adding and let it suck it in? I'm used to the radiator cap being on the radiator.
3. Anyone buy a new Radiator from ebay? was it ok?

I'll take any advice I can.
thanks,
danny

 

I repalced the radiator yesterday. It was not bad at all. All I used was a good socket set, screwdrivers, and large channel lock pliers. I bought the radiator for 258 bucks. Other expenses were 2 gallons of coolant, and radiator additive to lube the pump. Here are the steps in case anyone is interested:
1. drain radiator
2. remove small shroud under engine area. (i think this protects from crap flying up into the engine.
3. remove lower and upper hoses
4. remove two transmission cooler lines. You will get some leakage. I just propped them up to preserve fluid
5. remove air cleaner assembly. The MAF sensor is in this assembly, so you'll need to remove the wires (and be careful, you don't want to break the platinum wires in the MAF)
6. Remove the plastic shroud that covers the hood latch. It's the plastic piece that has the info sticker on it (serpentine belt, engine info, etc)
7. remove two screws that hold the fan shroud. Lift fan shroud from it's holding slots, and wiggle it back towards the engine (around the fan) to keep it out of your way.
8. remove the radiator holding brackets.
9. Lift radiator straight up and out. You'll have to angle it to get out, or, if you have a helper (i didn't) they can hold the hood up as far as it can to ease the removal.
10. Installation is in the reverse.

A van with rear heater (like mine) takes a full 8 gallons for the system. I was ready with 4 gallons of coolant, mixed 50/50 would have given me 8. I only needed to add 4 gallons of 50/50 mixture to fill it back up. When I checked my Auto Tranny fluid, it was still reading full. Tranny fluid loss was minimal (I had bought a whole gallon of tranny fluid just in case).

the whole job took me about 2 1/2 hours. That includes set up and clean up. My mechanic said the labor charge would have been 2 hours.
Let me know if you have any questions.