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Time to change the rads

Griffter

Well-known member
Joined
22 May 2016
Messages
696
It had to happen sooner or later. A slow drip from the front n/s rad and a puddle of coolant on the floor...

2001 996.1 C4

I'll DIY. Some questions if you please:

- Where's the best place to buy a pair of rads at the moment? Do I need any hardware or other fittings or can everything be reused?
- Do I have to disconnect the condensers to replace the rads or can I move them without evacuating the refrigerant?
- Do I have to fully drain down the system of coolant or can I for example put the front of the car as high as possible and top up and bleed the system once the rads are fitted?
- Is there anything else worth doing while the front is apart? Resistors for example? Condensers were new a couple of years ago and are fine.

Thanks.
 
eBay is best place but make sure its a proper rad seller. Also same rads as boxster so search for them too. Make sure they're the right 3.4 rads.
Everything can be re-used.
Handy tip - instead of trying to remove pipes from rads, remove them from the other end of pipe if you can, then get them off the rads once the rads are off.
Personally, if fitting 2 new rads, I'd fully drain the system and flush out with fresh water until it's clear, then refill with new stuff. The job can be done with aircon rads intact. They just pull foward away from the rads on their flexipipes.

The rads have to be removed fitted in their assembly bracket - think its just 3 bolts - then removed from the bracket offline.
 
Lots of current info on here at the moment Griffter. Have a mooch about.

You're correct though. Get the front end as high as possible to retain as much coolant in the rest of the system.

What parts you need depends on how fussy you are. You can get away with just the rads if your resistors and condensers are fine.

You will probably have a few seized fasteners though. Mainly under the front bumper etc. Your rad brackets will be tatty so replace or powdercoat maybe?
You may well have surface corrosion on the areas the arch liners don't cover, as they get a hardlife due to gravel rash, spray from the road.

I'm half way through this exact job (well more than half way now thankfully), but I've done a full inner arch clean, strip, derust, prep, paint, all hardware powder coated, every fastener replaced (£30 for stainless stuff, £70 for the Porsche ones I bought), plus new resistors (my second set as I lost the pair I bought last year), etc, etc.

So you might get away with it costing you sub £150.
I'll have spent about £350.






Here's how mine currently stands. The arch liners cover most of it anyway, but I know it's sorted in there now. :wink:



 
Thanks all, that's all good.

marky911 I fastidiously did the under-arches and under tray last year, replacing missing fasteners etc, and noticed the puddle after giving the car it's pre-winter wheels off wash. But I can still see a 3 hour job turning into 3 weeks a bit like I guess yours has!
 
When I did mine I also replaced the brackets which hold the radiators and condensers in place as well as all hoses. The brackets are not made out of the best metal and had gone pretty rusty on mine. No doubt they could have been saved by a very thorough clean an repainting, but it was much quicker easier and looked nicer to fit new ones. Whilst the front bumper was off I also spent £15 on some black mesh and fitted that across the front to keep the new radiators and condensers clean.







MC
 
MisterCorn said:
Whilst the front bumper was off I also spent £15 on some black mesh and fitted that across the front to keep the new radiators and condensers clean.

+1, I replaced the condensers and did the mesh later, I was amazed at how much cr*p had got in in quite a short period. The mesh catches quite a lot of leaves and fine dust will still get through so I will still clean them out from time to time.
 
I've ordered left and right rads off eBay. They've arrived and both look exactly the same! What's the difference? Is is just the rubber blanking plug (held on with a small jubilee clip) visible in the photos above? Presumably I can just swap it to the other small diameter pipe connector to reverse the 'handing" of the radiator?

I've contacted the seller but an independent point of view would be appreciated thanks!
 
I think that's the case Griffter but I haven't got them in front of me.

You'd think the lazy beggars would send a left and right though, or at least swap the blanking cap over before sending them out. See what they say.
 

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