radiator replacement

[mick164]

..quick question to anyone who's done it;

..is swapping in a (166) radiator a Saturday-afternoon-driveway job, or do you eventually get down to one bolt that can't be removed without taking off the front bumper just as it's getting dark and starting to rain..?

[purple145]

HI Mick,

allow a weekend, just in case, it is an Alfa but took me just over half a (summers) day. Most screws are into plastic, so no real nightmare stuck threads to worry about.

The trickiest bit is getting the stupid quick release hose clip off as there is no room to quick release it. Also the new rad will not have this bit on it, so do not damage it in the process.

The DTE says take the bumper off, but I managed with out, however I did bend some of the mesh grille at the bottom out of the way to get at a couple of screws IIRC which saved me the bother, the mesh went back OK although a stickler may notice some slightly wobbly mesh.

Goes something like

Remove cross member trims
remove air intake tubing, MAF, air filter unit
remove nostrils
remove bonnet catch
take off fan and frame
unscrew air con drier or some other bit and move to the side
unscrew air con rad from rad and support
undo what ever fixes rad to car,
undo bottom pipe, try to catch antifreeze, undo top pipe
hopefully the thing will lift out.

It was some five years since I did it so I may have missed some bits out, but in essence that's it. You will be shocked at how crap the old rad will be, the fan covers up most of the damaged areas, I thought mine was 10% gone,nearer 30-40%

Good luck with it

[mick164]

..thanks a million purple, that's great info

you've added a note of realism to my weekend plans though.. two consecutive dry days in ireland in march, plus a pair of boxing gloves for hands.. hmmm

[alfaaddicted]

hi
it took me from about 10am to about 2 pm to replace my radiator on a TS.
For me the biggest problem was the bottom bolts that hold the radiator to the air con radiator but after cutting a small area of the plastic undertray underneath the offending bolts and a bit of swearing and knuckle skinning out she came.
To make reassembly easier i cut the air con radiators bottom mounting brackets holes into slots ,one cut sideways and the other vertically so as i could put the bolts partially into the radiator bolt holes and then slide it into place and just tighten it up, easier than trying to thread them from below.
Just had to be carefull not to damage the new one when refitting ,i protected the matrix by putting card each side and then sliding out when all is finished.
My radiator when removed was in a terrible state the full extent of which could not have been seen whilst it was in place

http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/alfa-...light=radiator (Radiator is an ex radiator)

[a17esh]

Not a too bad job actually.......Make sure you have a decent socket set, a HUGE pipe clamp mole grip things.....I actually jacked the rad up from underneath to help me do this.....

[niallmoran]

an ickle little 1/4" socket set is useful....i sheared several of the bolts into the plastic frame of the rad so they can be a pain. The lower elbow on the rad is much easier to get out when you have the radiotor out the car....just cut/bend/prise the old hose clips off as it's not worth the hassle of trying to reuse them IMO. It's not a difficult job and there's nothing technical to it so just bash on....worth leaving a bit of time to clean and paint the lower support as you'll be shocked at how rusty it is