Radiator Advice

[ilduce81]

ok guys, the right tank on my radiator is leaking. i have replaced the water pump on my car and other variopus things. however, im not sure about the radiator. i read if the "inlet pipe" is damaged the engine has to be removed from the vehicle to repair it. my understanding is the inlet pipe is what the lower radiator hose connects to. which is also connected to the timing cover. the hose will be very difficult to remove, im sure its hardened and vulcanized on the pipe by now. i need to know how fragile the inlet pipe and all that is. i do not want to try the repair if there is a good chance im going to do further damage. i would rather pay someone to do it if im going to damage it! im sure you all understand any informations would be great. the car has 180,000 miles on it if that helps with the advice i receive. thanks

[adallak]

You do not need to replace whole radiator, replace just the tank with an OEM part from Rockauto.com (some $40 plus perhaps a gasket). Nevertheless you will have to take out the radiator. I have same problem (a crack) but scared to do the repair on the street. If something happens, say one of hoses or God forbid the pipe goes down I will be in trouble.

[lacseville]

the whole radiator will come out without taking the car apart. The lower rad hose is not too hard to get off. The inlet pipe, i think is on the water pump, and you probably didn't ever damage that.

I got my replacement radiator on ebay. probably should go ahead a get one before your read goes bust. they're quite a bit cheaper than getting one from the auto parts store. but you can just replace the tank.