[Focus Is Art]

Sorry this is non Focus related but I need some help. My beater(91 subaru)'s radiator blow and I found one in the yard. It come with fan and coolant bottle, is it a simple swap(like take the old one out and put the used on in)? I did most of the standard car stuff myself but I have never work with a radiator before. I know I may need new hose and clamper, but anything else I need to look at?

[Clutch]

This is relatively straight forward. All you need to do is drain your coolant (if its not already spilt all over your driveway or garage floor. Disconnect your upper & lower rad hoses and swap the parts. If the fan shroud is bolted to your radiator, take both of them out as a unit if you can and put in your new ones. (make sure your wiring connections will work between your current part and the one you picked up from the salvage yard or where ever) It might be best to just swap the rad cores themselves, and put your old fan shroud & motor back into your car (cuz you know it works, and doing a job twice SUCKS!) While you have the rad out check your hoses for cracks or any signs of erosion and replace if needed.

Good Luck!

~ Clutch

[naz]

if this is a 91 loyale i have swapped a radiator on that before. it 'should' be a simple job but the fan connected to the crank pulley makes it a real bitch. there isn't much clearance between the fan and the radaitor, so if you take off the fan to get the new rad in its going to be a bitch to bolt it back on.

i had help from a buddy and basically we just rammed the new rad in without taking off the crank pulley fan. he was pushing from the top and i was guiding it under the car.. we bent a few fins on the side facing the block.. but whatever.. it was way better than the old rad that had almost all its fins rusted out

you need to just take the fan shroud off, the electric fan needs to come out of the car for clearance, and take the hose off.. ideally you'll take off the fan on the crank.. but that's up to you.

its sort of a PITA because of the tight clearance.. but maybe this isn't a loyale and i just posted for nothing

and how much are you getting that old rad for? it might be worth it get a new rad if you are planning to keep the beater for a while.. mine cost $130usd shipped from radiator.com

[Focus Is Art]

Mine is a Legacy. The funny thing is the yard radiator come with 2 fans and my beater only have one. Should I connect both fan or take the extra one out?
I pay $75 for the radiator, if it work for a yr or two I will be all happy. I don't plan to keep it for more than 2yr more.

One more dump question, whats the proper way to refill coolant?

[naz]

if the wiring harness for the 2nd fan is already there.. might as well put it in.. if not.. then i guess its up to you whether or not you want to bother cutting up the existing wiring harness, getting the right connector and wiring it up... my guess is that there's a slight model difference.. like.. AT v. MT, turbo v. non turbo, AWD v. FWD.. that sort of thing.. if the car came with 1.. then 1 should be fine.. if you can get the 2nd to work, its just a nice to have..

from what i've read you need to do like 3 or 4 fill, run engine and drain cycles to get like 90% of the old coolant out.. or you can use an exchanger machine that does the job in one shot.. but.. since its just a beater.. you could just do it the hack way like it did...

just hook up all the lines.. fill up the rad until you can't fill it anymore.. fill up the overflow tank.. run the motor, a bit.. wait until the coolant cools down.. see if you can stick more coolant into the rad and the overflow tank.. and like.. the first couple of times you drive just keep checking if you can stick in more.. don't forget to use 50/50 mix of distilled water and coolant.. distilled water's cheap.. no need to sub in tap water haha

[Clutch]

One more thought on filling the coolant. Depending on where the highest point in your cooling system is, I would advise raising one side of the car up, to help get any trapped air pockets out of the system. Just put a floor jack under the car while your filling the system. After it has warmed up and your t-stat opens, the coolant should begin to flow. With the car on the angle & the coolant flowing it should get you 99% full on your fill.

~ Clutch

[Paparoach]

Run the car with the coolant reservoir open too...before going anywhere.

*Burp*

[Focus Is Art]

thx for all that, will do it this weekend.