Radiator Replacement
10-09-13, 06:02 PM
#3
Moderator
Oh Oh, the steps are ..
remove the top cover.
drain the coolant
remove electrical connectors to the fans
remove the top and bottom hose
remove the overflow hose
remove the temp switch.
disconnect the trans-fluid pipes.
remove AC condenser.
then pull out the radiator (there might be hold down bolts).
The problem is the cooling fans. Radiator cant be pulled out without creating room, thus condenser has to be removed. If you can disconnect the plastic shell .. attached to the radiator ... then by tilting the condenser you will be able to slide the radiator out .
If you remove the condenser then you have to charge the AC again and replace dryer.
Salim
remove the top cover.
drain the coolant
remove electrical connectors to the fans
remove the top and bottom hose
remove the overflow hose
remove the temp switch.
disconnect the trans-fluid pipes.
remove AC condenser.
then pull out the radiator (there might be hold down bolts).
The problem is the cooling fans. Radiator cant be pulled out without creating room, thus condenser has to be removed. If you can disconnect the plastic shell .. attached to the radiator ... then by tilting the condenser you will be able to slide the radiator out .
If you remove the condenser then you have to charge the AC again and replace dryer.
Salim
Last edited by salimshah; 10-10-13 at 07:15 AM.
10-13-13, 09:29 AM
#4
Intermediate
Thread Starter
Is it possible to remove the radiator by tilting the condenser without discharging the a/c and removing the hoses from it??
If the system must be discharged and condenser removed I may try to squeak by with this original radiator for one more winter. It has lost a good deal of its cooling fins but even on a hot, humid day does not seem to run hot....
If the system must be discharged and condenser removed I may try to squeak by with this original radiator for one more winter. It has lost a good deal of its cooling fins but even on a hot, humid day does not seem to run hot....
11-01-13, 01:48 PM
#5
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I replaced the radiator on my girlfriend's '06 RX330 yesterday. I didn't take enough pics to post an entire DIY, but did take a few that I will attach here, and I can provide a few tips. Also, you can check the DIY for coolant flush, as it has some tips there as well.
The radiators on these vehicles have a known issue of cracking at the bottom. There is TSB for it, although that won't necessarily get you a free replacement from a dealership. There is a range of VIN numbers that they will cover, but sadly, I think they have left out a LOT of affected vehicles.
If you do decide to replace the radiator yourself, be careful ordering since there are different radiators for Japan-made versus North American-made vehicles. I finally received the right one on the FOURTH try! The first three I received (via Advance Auto Parts and one on-line) would not have fit upon visual inspection, and they were all identical to each other. My gf's vehicle was made in Japan in 11/05, so I guess the first three radiators were meant for NA made versions. I finally got the right one at partsgeek.com, where one brand had choices of Japan vs. NA, and manufacture date. The differences in the radiators are extended plastic tanks on the side, holes for mounting bolts on the far right and left, and placement of the bleeder valve.
Once you have the right one, the first step is draining the coolant. Go ahead and remove the splash shield underneath and behind the bumper cover, but again, go the DIY for the other steps on draining the coolant. Here's a link: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-...ics-rx330.html
Remove the plastic cover on the top and left side of the engine bay, and the one on top of the radiator by pressing the little plastic rivots in the middle, popping those out, and lifting the covers off.
The next long-term objective is to remove the cooling fans and shroud. You have to remove a lot of other stuff first, but getting those fans and the shroud removed has to be done before you can remove the radiator itself. Removing the fan shroud will also make it easier to remove the lower hoses for the tranny lines and big coolant hose, which of course have to be done before pulling out the radiator. You can remove the upper coolant hose whenever you want...probably best do it after draining the radiator, and before draining the engine block. Btw, the A/C condenser does NOT have to be removed in order to remove the radiator, so yay for that. At this point, go ahead and unplug the wiring harness from the fan shroud, and slide the harness out from the slots in the shroud as well.
Again, before removing the cooling fans and eventually the radiator, there is a bunch of other stuff that has to come off first. Air-intake tubes: there is a wiring harness to disconnect, and two vacuum hoses to pry out of a clip, but after that, remove the two bolts holding the top tube to the front bracket, and gently pull the whole thing out - it just slides off of the air intake box. Then for the intake resonator tube, remove the single bolt up front, and gently tug on the bottom bend of the tube to get it loosened from the air box; the resonator chamber also attaches at the bottom of the bend in the tube, but the tube will lift off easily.
Now it's time to get serious taking off mounting brackets and such. Most of the bolts have 10mm heads, with the exception of four 12mm head bolts at the top and bottom (2 each) of the radiator. You'll also need a Phillips head screwdriver for two screws, and a flat-head screwdriver for prying out the plastic pop-in clip on the front bumper cover.
There are basically two brackets - one on top of the other. With proper planning and patience, both can removed in tandem, wiring harnesses left intact, and the whole assembly flipped back to lay on top of the engine. I am including a pic to prove it at the bottom of this post.
The top bracket is T-shaped, with several bolts on the top, a plastic pop-in clip attaching it to the bumper cover, and one PITA bolt at the bottom of the T. Remove the bolts on top first. If you have already removed the splash guard underneath, you can pull down on the bumper cover to gain better access to the bolt at the bottom of the T, where you are limited to using a 10mm box-end wrench that has to be tilted at a certain angle. Did I mention it is a PITA? At the intersection of the T, you will notice a funky rivet-type connector just below the hood latch. Don't even try to remove it, but instead, remove the 10mm bolt just above it. Then you can pivot the arm of the T, which will allow you to move it and pull the bracket out-and-away from the bumper cover; just pull back on the bumper cover (after removing that clip), and pivot the arm as needed until it is free. Now lift the T-bracket up and tilt forward to gain access to the flat bracket underneath and directly on top of the radiator. Btw, there are two rubber grommets on top of the T-bracket where stubby little posts from the radiator fit for cushioning. Just lift the T-bracket straight up to slide them out. At this point you have not had to unclip any wiring harnesses from the brackets...right?
On to the next bracket, which is fairly flat on top of the radiator itself. There are two 12mm head bolts at either end, two 10mm bolts on the back holding the fan shroud, and two screws in the front holding the bracket onto the A/C condenser coil. Be careful with those screws; there could be corrosion, so maybe use WD-40 or equivalent before attempting to loosen; otherwise, you might strip the screwhead slots. Once all that is done, you should now be able to lift both brackets up, and then flip them backwards onto the engine and out-of-the-way. The hood latch cable and wiring harness will keep everything tethered, but you can work around those. See pic for how it should look at this point, with the brackets upside down laying on the engine.
Almost ready to lift out the fans and shroud, but there are two more bolts to remove on the bottom first. These are tackled laying on the floor, and pretty done much blind - feeling by touch. For the one on the tranny line side, I recommend removing the two bolts holding the tranny lines to the sub-frame and moving them out-of-the-way as much as possible. It's practically impossible to access the shroud bolt on that side any other way. Once both of these bottom shroud bolts are removed, you should be able to carefully lift the fan shroud assembly up-and-out.
Before removing the radiator, there are two more tasks: 1) disconnecting the tranny line hoses and bottom coolant hose; 2) removing two final pesky bolts at the bottom of the radiator. The tranny line hoses aren't too bad. For the coolant hose, full disclosure is that I did not slide the hose off the fitting, but rather removed the elbow pipe directly from the radiator. The replacement radiator had a plastic elbow pipe, but I just reused the aluminum elbow pipe from stock. You decide which is right for you. The two remaining 12mm bolts at the bottom of the radiator are another PITA. There is not much clearance down there, and you really need a flat wrench with a built-in ratchet, although a regular box-end wrench works, albeit slowly. When the bolts are close to being clear, be very careful not to let them drop into the hole in the sub-frame; there are holes that go through the sub-frame that almost line up with the bolts, but not quite. There are two rubber pads on the bottom on the bracket itself that sink into the frame, so you can lift those out to make some room, but obviously you don't want to move things too much due to the refrigerant lines attached to the A/D condenser.
Okay, that's it! Now you can lift out the old radiator and drop in the new one. I've attached a pic of how the space looks after removal of the radiator. You can see the A/C condenser is still in place. Installation, as they say, is the reverse of removal. Please look for coolant refill information, including how to properly bleed (burp) air from the cooling system after refilling.
As mentioned, these radiators are known to crack at the bottom, so if you hear your cooling fans running a lot, and/or see pink fluid dripping underneath, look under the hood for signs of leakage.
The radiators on these vehicles have a known issue of cracking at the bottom. There is TSB for it, although that won't necessarily get you a free replacement from a dealership. There is a range of VIN numbers that they will cover, but sadly, I think they have left out a LOT of affected vehicles.
If you do decide to replace the radiator yourself, be careful ordering since there are different radiators for Japan-made versus North American-made vehicles. I finally received the right one on the FOURTH try! The first three I received (via Advance Auto Parts and one on-line) would not have fit upon visual inspection, and they were all identical to each other. My gf's vehicle was made in Japan in 11/05, so I guess the first three radiators were meant for NA made versions. I finally got the right one at partsgeek.com, where one brand had choices of Japan vs. NA, and manufacture date. The differences in the radiators are extended plastic tanks on the side, holes for mounting bolts on the far right and left, and placement of the bleeder valve.
Once you have the right one, the first step is draining the coolant. Go ahead and remove the splash shield underneath and behind the bumper cover, but again, go the DIY for the other steps on draining the coolant. Here's a link: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-...ics-rx330.html
Remove the plastic cover on the top and left side of the engine bay, and the one on top of the radiator by pressing the little plastic rivots in the middle, popping those out, and lifting the covers off.
The next long-term objective is to remove the cooling fans and shroud. You have to remove a lot of other stuff first, but getting those fans and the shroud removed has to be done before you can remove the radiator itself. Removing the fan shroud will also make it easier to remove the lower hoses for the tranny lines and big coolant hose, which of course have to be done before pulling out the radiator. You can remove the upper coolant hose whenever you want...probably best do it after draining the radiator, and before draining the engine block. Btw, the A/C condenser does NOT have to be removed in order to remove the radiator, so yay for that. At this point, go ahead and unplug the wiring harness from the fan shroud, and slide the harness out from the slots in the shroud as well.
Again, before removing the cooling fans and eventually the radiator, there is a bunch of other stuff that has to come off first. Air-intake tubes: there is a wiring harness to disconnect, and two vacuum hoses to pry out of a clip, but after that, remove the two bolts holding the top tube to the front bracket, and gently pull the whole thing out - it just slides off of the air intake box. Then for the intake resonator tube, remove the single bolt up front, and gently tug on the bottom bend of the tube to get it loosened from the air box; the resonator chamber also attaches at the bottom of the bend in the tube, but the tube will lift off easily.
Now it's time to get serious taking off mounting brackets and such. Most of the bolts have 10mm heads, with the exception of four 12mm head bolts at the top and bottom (2 each) of the radiator. You'll also need a Phillips head screwdriver for two screws, and a flat-head screwdriver for prying out the plastic pop-in clip on the front bumper cover.
There are basically two brackets - one on top of the other. With proper planning and patience, both can removed in tandem, wiring harnesses left intact, and the whole assembly flipped back to lay on top of the engine. I am including a pic to prove it at the bottom of this post.
The top bracket is T-shaped, with several bolts on the top, a plastic pop-in clip attaching it to the bumper cover, and one PITA bolt at the bottom of the T. Remove the bolts on top first. If you have already removed the splash guard underneath, you can pull down on the bumper cover to gain better access to the bolt at the bottom of the T, where you are limited to using a 10mm box-end wrench that has to be tilted at a certain angle. Did I mention it is a PITA? At the intersection of the T, you will notice a funky rivet-type connector just below the hood latch. Don't even try to remove it, but instead, remove the 10mm bolt just above it. Then you can pivot the arm of the T, which will allow you to move it and pull the bracket out-and-away from the bumper cover; just pull back on the bumper cover (after removing that clip), and pivot the arm as needed until it is free. Now lift the T-bracket up and tilt forward to gain access to the flat bracket underneath and directly on top of the radiator. Btw, there are two rubber grommets on top of the T-bracket where stubby little posts from the radiator fit for cushioning. Just lift the T-bracket straight up to slide them out. At this point you have not had to unclip any wiring harnesses from the brackets...right?
On to the next bracket, which is fairly flat on top of the radiator itself. There are two 12mm head bolts at either end, two 10mm bolts on the back holding the fan shroud, and two screws in the front holding the bracket onto the A/C condenser coil. Be careful with those screws; there could be corrosion, so maybe use WD-40 or equivalent before attempting to loosen; otherwise, you might strip the screwhead slots. Once all that is done, you should now be able to lift both brackets up, and then flip them backwards onto the engine and out-of-the-way. The hood latch cable and wiring harness will keep everything tethered, but you can work around those. See pic for how it should look at this point, with the brackets upside down laying on the engine.
Almost ready to lift out the fans and shroud, but there are two more bolts to remove on the bottom first. These are tackled laying on the floor, and pretty done much blind - feeling by touch. For the one on the tranny line side, I recommend removing the two bolts holding the tranny lines to the sub-frame and moving them out-of-the-way as much as possible. It's practically impossible to access the shroud bolt on that side any other way. Once both of these bottom shroud bolts are removed, you should be able to carefully lift the fan shroud assembly up-and-out.
Before removing the radiator, there are two more tasks: 1) disconnecting the tranny line hoses and bottom coolant hose; 2) removing two final pesky bolts at the bottom of the radiator. The tranny line hoses aren't too bad. For the coolant hose, full disclosure is that I did not slide the hose off the fitting, but rather removed the elbow pipe directly from the radiator. The replacement radiator had a plastic elbow pipe, but I just reused the aluminum elbow pipe from stock. You decide which is right for you. The two remaining 12mm bolts at the bottom of the radiator are another PITA. There is not much clearance down there, and you really need a flat wrench with a built-in ratchet, although a regular box-end wrench works, albeit slowly. When the bolts are close to being clear, be very careful not to let them drop into the hole in the sub-frame; there are holes that go through the sub-frame that almost line up with the bolts, but not quite. There are two rubber pads on the bottom on the bracket itself that sink into the frame, so you can lift those out to make some room, but obviously you don't want to move things too much due to the refrigerant lines attached to the A/D condenser.
Okay, that's it! Now you can lift out the old radiator and drop in the new one. I've attached a pic of how the space looks after removal of the radiator. You can see the A/C condenser is still in place. Installation, as they say, is the reverse of removal. Please look for coolant refill information, including how to properly bleed (burp) air from the cooling system after refilling.
As mentioned, these radiators are known to crack at the bottom, so if you hear your cooling fans running a lot, and/or see pink fluid dripping underneath, look under the hood for signs of leakage.
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thaeleelyr
RX - 1st Gen (1999-2003)
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