At 114K miles on my wife's 2007 Rx400h, I took her car to our trusted independent mechanic to have the timing belt, water pump, tensioners, and gaskets changed. I bought the kit from a Toyota dealer through eBay and my mechanic charged me $160 for labor and $40 for coolant. Unfortunately they found a major leak on the top passenger side end tank...apparently this is common for Rxs with 100K miles. I bought a Denso replacement on eBay for $100 and had my mechanic do the replacement. I was floored!

They laid out a blue tarp on the floor and started removing everything (20+ clips/fasteners, air intake duct, engine covers, cowls, AC condenser, transmission hose, bumper cover, steel bumper, inverter box, etc). It took about an hour to remove everything and the radiator had to be removed from underneath instead of from above. It took another 1.5hrs to finish the job, but I was amazed at how complicated it was. I was so glad that I didn't attempt to do it myself. In the end, the labor was $160 and $40 for coolant. I could not believe the radiator was as much work as the timing belt change.

 

Now you have me scared, from what I see the radiator should be able to be removed from top. I will post when I do mine. Just ordered from RockAuto . Mine too had a 3 inch split on the passenger side facing the front of the car on the plastic tank toward the top. I wonder if the the constant turning on and off of the engine with maybe a bad strut absorber could cause the upper hose to put strain on the tank. I might have to replace that upper dogbone engine mount......It looks fine but would control movement of the engine front to back.

 

I was able to remove radiator without removing the bumper. There is a pin looking device in the latch assembly that makes you think you have to remove bumper, but it has a plastic cap and there is the remaining nut hidden behind this cap that holds the latch assembly in place. There are four bolts that hold the radiator into the cradle assembly and the bottoms are only accessable when the radiators are lifted up about and inch. Sorry I did make a writeup, but hey $100 later and the new radiator is working great.

 

Boy , do i wish you had done a write up!!

 

 

About 3 months ago replaced radiator again after wife was hit on right side and insurance company refused to replace leaking radiator. Piece of cake. Put in another RockAuto Radiator...around $85.....

 

Agree it is an easy job. The pigs are the 2 top and 2 bottom underside bolts. The bottom ones were rust welded in. Thankfully released after soaking in penetrating oil. The top ones didn’t budge so I bent the top shroud slightly to get the rad and fan assembly out. It wouldn’t straighten on the way back in. So I zip tied it all snugly back.