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New Radiator cures the drip

Seeing as though it was a bit cooler today I decided to fit the new radiator that's been sitting in my conservatory annoying my wife.

My old radiator had developed a slow leak from the left side and with it being summer I was seeing a larger and larger pool of coolant under the car after each drive. When I fitted the new radiator fan recently I had tried to see if I could spot the leak but the only recourse was to fit another.

It's a fairly straight forward job and took a little over an hour to do. I find the best way to drain the radiator is by removing the lower hose from the water pump side. The drain plug is in a fiddly position - pull that hose and it's a matter of moments and the engine is empty of coolant. Then it's just a matter of removing the other hoses and fan switch connector, loosening the two top bolts (watch out for the rubber grommits when you pull the rad out) and sliding the radiator out from under the car. Simples.

I have found in the past that refilling the coolant and dispersing air in the system can be a bother - this time I filled the expansion tank, obviously after connecting all the hoses, tightened the cap and pinched the overflow pipe. With the small bleed bolt on top of the engine loosened I ran the engine until just coolant flowed out of the bleed hole, then I tightened the bolt up while the system was pressurised. Seems to have worked a treat too.
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Comments

  1. Paul Jenkins13 July 2010 at 18:30

    Hello Nice Blog!!! I had a nightmare recently trying to rid my old girl (83 mark 1) of trapped air! after a recent rad replacement must have took me 2 days to get it sorted, your tip about the bleed is a good idea. Even now I'm still not happy, I still think my fan cuts in far to early and stays on too long!

    Paul

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  2. RetroSteve16 July 2010 at 14:44

    thanks for the feedback Paul. So far my cooling system seems to be working A-OK again, although after longer runs the temp gauge still does it's jumping jack performance, so I think a new temp sensor on the block is due.

    ReplyDelete

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