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Welp...it was bound to happen. blown rad :(

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Old 11-22-2011, 07:08 AM
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Welp...it was bound to happen. blown rad :(

This past January i had the radiator go in my 02-no biggie, happened en route to work. fixed 3 days later.

NOW my wifes 01 has followed suit. We went to Cabelas off 78 in PA on sunday, parked and i smelled coolant. Popped the hood and sure enough...deja vu.

So, went shopping for a few hours, picked up a gallon of Peak in the ATV section and nursed her home 70 miles.
New KOYO set to arrive tomorrow-not bad at $108.xx shipped from rockauto w/my coupon!

Not exactly how i wanted to spend thanksgiving. I guess there's always the weekend-heck shes off till tuesday and is driving mine

Times like these i'm so glad we have 4 vehicles. So i've been roughing in it the trail truck (95 land rover DI).

I'll be following the How-To/write up done by c-young. looks like shouldnt be more than an hr or two job...
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Old 11-22-2011, 07:20 AM
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It's not a bad job at all. Just be patient with it.
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Old 11-22-2011, 07:24 AM
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OEM radiators suck. I went through 2, before I realized Koyo was an option. Knock on wood, no issues.
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Old 11-22-2011, 07:27 AM
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knock on wood I am still using my OEM unit
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Old 11-22-2011, 09:10 AM
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Seems the stock ones are good for 10 years and then the plastic upper tank cracks. I've always replaced them with the cheapest ones I can find on ebay...about $60 shipped. Good excuse to change out your coolant.

BTW, wish there was a Cabela's near San Diego. What a great store!

Last edited by trooplewis; 11-22-2011 at 09:12 AM.
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Old 11-22-2011, 10:37 AM
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I'm at 98k on my 2k2. Might be a good idea to order a Koyo rad to have on standby.
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Old 11-22-2011, 11:14 AM
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Anyone running a Mishimoto radiator? I have a crack on my plastic top tank JB Welded until I can get the radiator replaced. Strong stuff, it's holding up well.
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Old 11-22-2011, 11:17 AM
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Originally Posted by trooplewis
Seems the stock ones are good for 10 years and then the plastic upper tank cracks. I've always replaced them with the cheapest ones I can find on ebay...about $60 shipped. Good excuse to change out your coolant.

BTW, wish there was a Cabela's near San Diego. What a great store!
Ditto.

Just replaced my radiator with one from eBay. Its really not a hard job, just dont forget the auto trans cooler runs through there so you need some extra ATV. The hardest part for me was "priming" the radiator so the trans wouldnt suck air.
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Old 11-22-2011, 11:24 AM
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LOL, the trans won't suck air, that line is filled w/ATF. It just runs through the radiator, and the water running over the metal ATF line helps keep the temperature of the ATF down. Just check your trans fluid when you are all done (in Park with engine idling) and add a little if you have to replace any that spilled out when you disconnected the lines.

Last edited by trooplewis; 11-22-2011 at 08:43 PM.
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Old 11-22-2011, 05:59 PM
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Originally Posted by nissandrvr98
This past January i had the radiator go in my 02-no biggie, happened en route to work. fixed 3 days later.

NOW my wifes 01 has followed suit. We went to Cabelas off 78 in PA on sunday, parked and i smelled coolant. Popped the hood and sure enough...deja vu.

So, went shopping for a few hours, picked up a gallon of Peak in the ATV section and nursed her home 70 miles.
New KOYO set to arrive tomorrow-not bad at $108.xx shipped from rockauto w/my coupon!

Not exactly how i wanted to spend thanksgiving. I guess there's always the weekend-heck shes off till tuesday and is driving mine

Times like these i'm so glad we have 4 vehicles. So i've been roughing in it the trail truck (95 land rover DI).

I'll be following the How-To/write up done by c-young. looks like shouldnt be more than an hr or two job...
How many miles on your wife's 2001??
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Old 11-23-2011, 07:33 AM
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good little tidbits there-i appreciate it guys. I did not do the repair to mine in january-too f'in cold and no shop available. with some decent weather this weekend and the rad 'out for delivery' as of 5am today, ill give it a go. i'm fairly competent but some of the more involved jobs i've never done can be slightly intimidating.
i'm feeling good though, just replaced the rusted out trans cooler on my rover last weekend w/o help and in less than an hr.

@sascuderi, my wifes now has about 179k.
when my 02 blew out this past jan it had 144k
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Old 11-23-2011, 07:43 AM
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advance auto coupons + radiator = best option period
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Old 11-23-2011, 07:50 AM
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Radiator is not too bad. I did my thermostat and water control valve as well when I had everything apart for my radiator. It took me 2 days to do it. I spent half a day trying to get the access panels off the water pump and timing chain tensioner because I wanted to replace that too while everything was apart, but gave up.
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Old 11-24-2011, 01:35 PM
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Its funny how something will break or need to be replaced right around your vacation. Just replaced my clutch last weekend (on vacation). Did the radiator 2 months ago, now the water pump is leaking!
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Old 11-25-2011, 08:00 AM
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so was lazy thanksgiving morning but by noon (had to be at family thanksgiving by 2:30) i dug in. got the old rad out and had hoped to get the new one at least seated in the bay but found the fan assy mount screws were coarse thread and the new koyo has finer threaded clips so its sitting until i get home later today.

need to pickup screw type hose clamps too-i hate the oem types. lost a little atf since i thought i had the one clamped but wasnt paying attn-it was seeping out so probably lost like an 1/8 quart. just over a gallon of coolant drained-should have her all buttoned up sat am.
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Old 11-25-2011, 08:17 AM
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Originally Posted by Brak
Its funny how something will break or need to be replaced right around your vacation. Just replaced my clutch last weekend (on vacation). Did the radiator 2 months ago, now the water pump is leaking!
That is true. When my g/f and I went on vacation this summer, the battery in my car died. Nothing like having to spend $100 of your allocated vacation money on car parts!
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Old 11-25-2011, 10:00 AM
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some minor surface rust prep-then later ill coat w/POR15


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