Recently my 1990 legacy wagon overheated and a friend of mine and me were able to find crack on the passenger side of the radiator. It's a very small crack sort of towards the top and on the front. It looks to be on the plastic. Were assuming that this is unrepairable, but if anyone has any ideas that would be great. Anyway, assuming I need a new radiator, I found a few places online to buy one. The cheapest I could find was http://www.carpartswholesale.com for $116.95. This seems like a really good deal compared with NAPA and others. I was wondering if anyone ever ordered anything from this place, because I hope that price isn't a little too good to be true.

 

I was also wondering how difficult it is to change a radiator on my own. I haven't done a whole lot of work on my own cars in the past, but I know how to change the oil and spark plugs and other simple things. If it's an extremely difficult procedure, I'd probably rather just take it to a mechanic.

 

This is my first post to this message board, and thanks for any help/advice that I could get.

The only thing hard about it is burping the system after you are done.

 

Im not sure on the price that seems good but make sure its not a Loyale one mis tagged.

 

radiators.com is usually pretty good too.

i used radiator.com for my 95 corolla, it was about a buck and a quarter.

failure of the end tanks are pretty common on the first gen legacies.

 

Radiators in that price range are goin to be copper/brass radiators. You currently have an aluminum w/plastic endtanks.

 

I did some research on the copper/brass radiators.....and it's just something I didn't really care to have the dissimlar metals

 

here's a thread with a lot of info in it

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2445&page=1&pp=10&highlight=radiator+copper+brass

can someone define "burping the system" i have the exact same crack on the exact same spot, i've tried both jb weild and something similar with a fiberglass patch, but nothing holds. i'm hitting the jy this weekend to look for a radiator, anything i should be aware of?

 

 

 

jared

some radiator shops can replace the plastic parts. just takes a special pair of pliers and a new end.

I just replaced my timing belt and found that pulling the radiator gave me the most room. I had it pulled and replaced in about an hour.

 

You have to drain the antifreeze, remove the top coolant hose, if auto trans pull the two auto tran fluid lines and then the bottom coolant line, disconnect the cooling fan(s) plugs and two bolts that hold it in and pull up and out. I thought it came out real easy. Have a nice long screwdriver to get the the drivers side hose clamps.

 

Markus

Thanks for the advice. I just ordered a new radiator from radiator.com. It's supposed to be here by saturday, so hopefully I'll be able to take out the old radiator and put in the new one without any problems. Shipping wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I'll let you all know how it works out when I'm done.

 

Ben

Changing the radiator is pretty easy, I think the last time I changed one it took me half an hour. Just drain the radiator, disconnect and remove the fans, disconnect the hoses, unbolt the radiator...

As far as refilling it goes, I just filled it slowly and squeezed the hoses to get a little extra air out of the system. Then I took my car for a spin, let it cool down and checked the coolant again.

 

~NanoSoob

I got the new radiator on Saturday morning and me and a friend of mine installed it later that day. It seems to be working fine with no problems. It only took us probably around an hour or so to do and we broke a couple of those fan bolts off in the old radiator but there wasn't any real harm done. Thanks for the advice on where to get it, because that was a very good price and it got to me in about 2 days which I think is very fast. And thankyou NanoSoob for your help to!!!

 

Ben

I helped install the radiator, and it went pretty smoothly. The only complaint I have for the radiator was that when they painted it they didn't bother to tape off the fan bolt holes. We had to clean paint out of one hole to even get the bolt to go in...

Other than that it was a smooth install.

 

Glad it worked out for you, zx456!

 

~NanoSoob