Radiator bleeding to death!!!

[GHOST]

Pulled into my yard this morning after a 7 mile drive noticing the heaters hadn't warmed up much, then looked at the temperature gauge to see it over half way (panic stations), then got out to discover a fine mist/spray coming from the front of the car.

Looks like a hole in the radiator (I'm a genius obviously). I'm guessing it hasn't done too badly at 97k miles though.

Anyway, how much is a new one? Its not something I've had to replace before. Also, having a quick look underneath, is it a bumper off job?

I wouldn't care, but its survived the cold snaps over the last fortnight and it didn't even freeze last night!

What a time of year to have to fork out for car repairs

[JohnnyC]

Thankfully it's not a bumper off job

New radiator, anywhere from £50 to £200.
One thing that crops up occasionally is replacement radiators sometimes don't have the correct bleed point at the top - so be aware of that.

There's a couple of guides here:
http://www.imoc.co.uk/forums/kb.php?mode=article&k=83
http://www.mr2oc.co.uk/Knowledge_Base/o ... id=47.html

I've done this a few times ( ) and it's not the easiest of jobs, but then again it's not *that* difficult either. Most difficult bit is getting the hoses to the old radiator off, and back on the new one. Also bleeding the coolant is time consuming but shouldn't be rushed.

One thing the guides don't seem to mention is the state your old rubber mounts that the radiator sits on - you WILL need two new ones (from Toyota, around £5 each IIRC).

Oh, and it's probably a good time to renew the coolant (draining from under the car, and engine bleed point if you can find it!!). System takes around 13.6 litres - I used just under 10 as I didn't bleed from the engine.

Good luck

[cherdyboy]

i got a new radiator from Rogue a few weeks back, i think it was about £110, and they had them in stock.

[k-ro]

Got mine off ebay.. about 90 quid i think, order it in evening and it was with me next morning.

[GHOST]

Cheers guys, as usual - on the ball and informative as ever. I swear, if it wasn't for this forum I'd find my MR2 life very difficult.

Will be caling Rogue up this weekend by the looks of it, as Toyota have just quoted me £226 for a rad and that DOESN'T include VAT!

[blue2]

Got mine from Rogue too. They are a perfect fit but they are a pain in the ass to fit, only because there isn't much room to move, if there was its just a simple process of dropping the old one out and chucking the new one in.
Be really careful when replacing the coolant, there is a really good article on here in the knowledge base which tells you how to do it to the letter.