Radiator Exchange Instructions

[americanjebus]

this car is my pride and joy and i want to do as much of the work on my own as possible. the thing is my engine overheated in traffic where i couldnt move or turn off my car. end result radiator cracked and gave me a lung full of white smoke. if anyone knows where i can lookup the internal layout and explain the car to me or just an online manual for hte car i would more than appreciate it.

[Nick]

to change your rad, its about 6-8 bolts to undo the fan, about two that hold the rad in, 2 hose clamps for the coolant, and 2 hydrolic lines if you have an auto tranny

really straight forward

[americanjebus]

yea its been a bother for me cus now im just gonna take the whole head gasket off and put in a new one. and im missing something when i put int the coolant because air is staying inside wether i take out the 2nd drain plug or not.

[Nick]

if normal coolant bleeding techniques didn't work, i think you may have a blockage in your block...

try pressure flushing it or something

[bgrieger]

Supra radiator removal: see the 2 bolts and the little clips that go from the rad support member over the rad at the corners? Remove them. Take the hoses off, and unplug the electric aux fan. Pull the whole thing out the top. Quite easy. Unbolt all components (5 bolts and all are 10mm everything). Bolt to a new rad and slide it back in reverse to the removal instructions. The rubber feet the rad sits on are easier if you leave them in the car and insert the rad pegs into them when installing. A little push down to get it seated and you're done. Hook up the hoses and plug in the aux fan. You may have to wiggle the clutch fan around a bit if you have trouble getting it back in past it.

To bleed the air out, lift the front of the car as far as possible, fill the rad and start the car. Leave the heat running to clear the heater core. Fill until you see no more air bubbles. We call this burping the baby...takes 20-30 minutes. When complete, cap it, and drive it around some and ensure you don't hear a 'waterfall behind the dash'. If you do, lift and repeat the burping. Keep doing so until you stop hearing it.

BTW, what second drain plug...we only have the one on the rad....????
Bob

[americanjebus]

if u look in at the manual like thouraly the instructions they give you involve a 2nd plug on the rear right end of hte main block. it took me a while to figure out what the hell hte manual was talking about but eventualy i found it. it could just be on hte latter mkIII models but its on mine. realy hard to see but serriously thanks u just saved my problem w/ locked in air becuase i can remember hearing the churning water noise behind the dash and i couldnt figure out what in hte hell it was. now i know thats what was wrong but i'll know not to do it again. right now my block is being taken apart for the new gasket. ::::sigh::::, but seriously that realy helped thnx

[bgrieger]

Oh the block drain...nobody bothers with that one. More of a PITA to get to than it helps, as the entire system drains fine without it for fluid and rad/hose changes.

It is great come rebuild time though to get the last few drops out of the engine with, but almost useless when in the car. Drain **** on the rad is just peachy for average rad work.

The waterfall is the heater core, as the inlet and outlet are the highest points in the entire cooling system, hence the burp method to get the rad cap higher.

Bob

[americanjebus]

yea i'll make sure i do that once head gasket is changed. I know how to prevent a repeat of this BS.