Radiator replacement

[Aussie Frontier]

I went ahead and bought a new rad from Natrad for $348 with 3 years warranty
So far all I have done is pulling parts off
Remove Air Inlet tube and Engine cover
Remove Airbox ( just to get some wriggle room
Remove belly pan
Disconnect lower rad hose and drain system
remove lower section of fan shroud
Remove upper rad hose
Remove overflow hose
Remove fan belt
Remove Upper fan shroud
Remove fan and clutch
remove thermo fan

Thats what am up to so far
Have also had the hose run through as much as I can of everything including overflow bottle
I pulled out the T/Stat and checked that in boiling water and yup its working fine.
I will take pics as I go tomorrow so it will show what goes where and how its attached

bottom line
Prick of a job

 

[Old.Tony]

I will replace mine with a racing unit sooner or later, now that my auto trans cooler is disconnected and a shiny new (and bigger) one sits out front. Be good to see what I'm in for.

 

[Aussie Frontier]

Oh its a heap of fun trust me and small hands are in order
I was going to go the bigger rad but at $1200 I said thanks but no thanks

 

[Old.Tony]

I'll need surgery to get smaller hands (can press ENTER and CAPSLOCK at the same time with one hand). Dammit, Jim, I'm a doctor, not a midget!

 

[Aussie Frontier]

Just unpacked the new rad and its a multi fit sorta deal as in manual or auto.
I was thinking I could run clean water through the tranny cooler to get hot water lol

 

[bods]

Could probably do, I don't know if you'd want to drink it, but should be ok for a shower or something...

 

[Old.Tony]

That'd work great as a shower. Throw in a 50% solution of chlorine (bleach) first to sterilise it, followed by a mix of baking soda and vinegar to get the stink out, then baking soda in water to finish up. Cleans caravan tanks and you can't taste anything in the water afterwards (it's also clear and untainted - as long as you don't leave any residue in the tank!).

 

[bods]

The only thing I'd keep in mind is the material it is made out of... if it's designed for atf, water may end up corroding it from the trans cooler side...

 

[Old.Tony]

^ very good point, and it's part of the reason why I've separated the two coolers.

 

[bods]

Yeah.. it would be ok if the internal material was stainless steel, but I don't like your chances of that....

 

[Aussie Frontier]

All very good points. But what if you used it as another heat exchanger. If you ran coolant in those lines to another exchanger and tat had stainless lines then it would all work perfectly

Anyway back to reality for a moment
i took out the T/Stat and gave it a run in boiling water and it works a treat so can take that off the list.I couldnt source a gasket so ill re-use the metal gasket with a smear of instant gasket on both sides

 

[bods]

Yep it would work for that.. just have to put a pump in, obviously...

Anyway, reusing the old gasket with goo will be ok.

Have you not got much room in them without removing the fan? I thought you'd be able to remove the radiator without removing that....

 

[Aussie Frontier]

There is bugger all room for anything in there . I couldnt figure how to get the fan shroud apart so I undid the fan and took both out at the same time lol.
I will put the fan back on and see how much clearance between it and the rad.
Havent quite figure out how to get the old rad out yet as its bolted to the AC Rad but everything is cleaned and flushed .
Getting the thermo fan electrical connections out was fun too and again small hands needed .
Good thing is nothing busted so far but have noticed tell tale signs of a white powder in the rad etc so am thinking thats whats causing the blockage
Looked at whatever pipes I could get to to remove to make sure there was no old fluid left

 

[bods]

Sounds like a fun job... can tell they're built by people with small hands hahahaha

Definitely not meant to be worked on by Australians lol

 

[Aussie Frontier]

Ok well jobs done and temps are down so thats good. It still takes a few days for it to settle down but so far so good
Ill try to elaborate on my earlier work

Remove Air Inlet tube and Engine cover
Remove the 2 x 10mm bolts from the front of the main engine cover and then pull the cover up off the 2 push fit mounts.

Remove Airbox ( just to get some wriggle room)
Remove the 3 x 10mm bolts holding the air box in place. Disconnect the MAF sensor connector and unclip the cable from the housing.

Remove the tube from the air box to the throttle body
Undo the 2 x 10mm bolts holding the air tube to the mounts then loosen the spiral bands on both ends of the air tube. Now it can be set on top of the motor or if you like take off the crank case breather and then the tube can be removed from the engine bay

Remove belly pan
Remove any under body protection from under the front of the motor as in forwards from the cross member

Disconnect lower rad hose and drain system
Loosen the clamp and gently remove the pipe from the rad lower tube.I slip the clamps back up the pipe so they dont go walk about

Remove lower section of fan shroud
Reach up from underneath on the sides of the lower section of the shroud and gently pull down to undo the clips. On the bottom of the shroud squeeze the 2 clips together to get the shroud section out of the way

Remove upper rad hose
Remove the clamp and gently pull the tube off the top hose connector

Remove overflow hose
Loosen the clamp on the overflow tube next to the rad cap and slide the pipe off and unclip from shroud.

Remove fan belt
Using a 3/8 drive ratchet loosen the belt tensioner and slide the belt of any pulley. Let off the tension on the pulley but be aware its got some strength so not so easy.

Remove Upper fan shroud/remove thermo fan
Remove the 2 x 10mm self tapping screws holding the top shroud section in place. Move the shroud as much as you can to the engine.On the drivers side reach down and disconnect the thermo fan connector. Once disconnected lift the cable connector from the fan so it comes off the shroud . I had to cut the cable tie holding the cable to the shroud but easy to repair later Remove the 10mm bolt holding the thermo fan in place at the top of the rad. A bit of a shuffle but the thermo fan and shroud can come out in the same process but its a bit of a juggle to get it all out.

Remove fan and clutch
Remove the 4 x 10mm nuts holding the fan clutch to the pulley then carefully remove the fan from the engine bay. There is enough room to get it out fairly easy

 

[Aussie Frontier]

Radiator removal
Remove the 2 x 10mm bolts holding the top of the rad in place and remove the brackets. Gently move the rad towards the engine so you can get to the 2 x 10mm bolts ( 1 per side) holding the A/C coil to the rad.Small fingers needed here
Drivers side

passengers side

.
Once you have the 2 coils seperated then the juggling act really begins. there are steel brackets on both sides of the rad that actually hold everything to the chassis.At the bottom of the rad are 10mm bolts on either side that hold the rad to the bottom of these brackets.Take them out and be careful not to bump the rad. With a bit of a wriggle you can get the rad free by moving the passengers sie towards the engine . Be aware the A/C coil sits into mounts on these steel brackets as well so you have to lift that coil gently to get the setup seperated.hard to take pics cos not much space but when you see it you will know what im talking about. Anyway gently remove the rad and your all done.

Coolant flush
I ran water through everything I could find/easily get to. I ran water backwards to the overflow bottle and ran the hose through the top rad hose. I disconnected the coolant line off the oil cooler and again ran water through that. Turned the ignition on and turned up the temp on the heater and ran the fan so the valves would open.Opened the bleeder near the firewall on the passengers side and run the hose through this too

Install the RAD
Basically its the reverse of everything above and take your time
I mixed the new coolant in a bucket in the 33% ratio and filled the rad and half filled the overflow
I started the truck once full and ran it till I got some temp in the coolant but didnt want too much pressure. I bled the air using the bleeder described above untill I only got coolant coming out of the line.
Took the truck for a run and brought up the revs so the pump ran a little harder than usual.
So far so good no leaks and everything is going well
I will run it up to temp tomorrow and then do an ECU reset just for shits n giggles as I have found that after doing work on the engine a reset seems to do well
All Done

If I missed out anything feel free to ask.I just tried to do this from memory. I Just worked through everything methodically and took some hints from the manual. Just remember this is for the V6 Petrol so the oiler will be different

 

[Aussie Frontier]

Ok took it gor a 30km drive with the outside temp at 31
Going up hills in 6th the temp crept to 93 but would stay at 91 in 5th
Did a full reset ( disconnected battery ) and did the same drive coming home
best it got to was 92 with the A/C on this time.
Houston I think we fixed the problem

 

[camo.b]

Good to hear mate...does the temp match what it use to be?

 

[Aussie Frontier]

Pretty much yeah. It fluctuates way more now. It was always 89 to 91 now it drops down to 86 and under normal conditions up to 91 so pretty happy with everything ,,,other than the price and the fiddle ass job itself lol

 

[camo.b]

Im guessing cooler the better.Mine is pretty much 87 (idle) up to 91 (flogging it)..diesel tho.