[XJR40]

My radiator let go on me this morning, I was filling up at the pump when I noticed a pink puddle emerging from the front of the car. I had a closer look and found the leak coming from near the bottom of the rad.

It's probably been on it's way out for a while, I've noticed the temp gauge rising somewhat when in traffic.

So, are rad's expensive of difficult to fit? I assume they're fairly cheap and relative easy to fit but I've not had the chance to look yet.

Thanks.

Kieran

 

[Leitrim155]

Hello Kieran, I recently replaced the rad on my 156. Despite advice telling me that I could do the job with the bumper in place it was easy with the bumper off.....that is also easy to remove but you will need an extra pair of hands. Alfashop supplied me with a genuine alfa rad....(Valeo if I am correct). You might also check out eb spares and alternativeautos.....prices vary but not by much. Don't forget to use the correct coolant....I use the red stuff mixed with distilled water 50-50. Let me know how you get on.

 

[Spider95]

The 156 rad is well known for corroding along the bottom of the rad. As Leitrim suggests make sure when refitting you use the red coolant - blue and red don't mix well in the system, and use a 50/50 mix as this gives you better protection.

 

[XJR40]

Thanks for the comments guys, sounds like removing the bumper is a good plan.

I'd not long replaced the coolant with the red stuff as I changed the thermostat a month or so ago, I'll just put the same type back in.

 

[XJR40]

I managed to get the car home okay yesterday afternoon, put some rad weld type stuff in there and it held okay for the journey back. I'll probably just get a decent looking used rad of ebay and fit that.

 

[Rockhopper]

Got my rad brand new of Ebay for about £55 i think it was. Fitting is fairly easy if you can get the bumper off (i couldn't!!).

 

[XJR40]

Yeah, I saw a few for around that price, I'll probably go for one of those. What was the problem with removing the bumper?

 

[Rockhopper]

My torx bit snapped off in the first fixing i tried so that was game over for me! Couldn't get the end of it out.

 

[XJR40]

I managed to fit my new radiator yesterday, it was fairly painless but did take quite a while. I went for one of these £57 jobs from ebay, it seems decent enough and went straight in. The main difference was that it had bolt holes for the lower fixings rather than small pilot holes for self tappers, so I just used a couple of suitable nuts and bolts.

I had a quick go at removing the bumper but couldn't figure out how to get it off so I didn't bother, I found I just needed to remove the airbox to get the rad's in and out. Anyway, I'm pleased with my handywork, the car's driving nicely again with the temp gauge sitting on 90