Last weekend I decided to tackle my leaking radiator, how hard could it be to replace? It only takes about 30 minutes to do my Commodore; two hoses, two clips and it's out. Rovers are built a bit differently...

My leak was in the top left screw hole in the tank that supports the fan shroud. The previous owner had the heads off and it looks like the mechanic cross threaded the screw when replacing the shroud and fractured the plastic. I first tried teflon tape which slowed the leak but not eliminate it. So I went and bought a new one for peace of mind. I am still repair the old one as an emergency spare.

Here is the offending hole:



And here is my new radiator, out of the box. So far so good...



I disconnected the top hose without and problems and the bottom hose came off with a bit of a struggle, mainly due to the lack of room to move. The RAVE CD does recommend removing the fan, but I found that this is not really require, especially if you are having a hard time getting to those bolts.

The RAVE CD indicates that you need to remove the front grill by undoing the top 3 plastic plugs and lift it out. Well this bit of plastic beat me...

To get the grill off I ended up removing the front bumper because the bottom of the grill was below the bumper and the two side strips that run under each head lamp were holding the grill in place as well. There is probably an easier way, just not apparent to me.

With the bumper off I could see the two screws that were securing the front grill.



With the grill out you then remove the two horns to get to the mounting bracket bolts. On the left side above you can see my socket extension on one of the bolt heads.

Here is the pesky bracket that lead me to removing the bumper:



Once access was sorted, I proceeded to unbolt the mounting brackets and both oil coolers. The "Quick" disconnects are not. I struggled to workout how they are supposed to release. With the radiator in place i could not get a good grip on the hoses, so i managed to remove the radiator with the oil coolers connected. Once the radiator was out it was then easy to disconnect the oil lines, just like a garden hose...

Here is the oil coolers being attached to the new radiator:



Below are the quick disconnects:



The transmission fluid that I drained out of the cooler, 300ml approx, was black with a hint of red instead of the other way round... So I have booked her in for a flush.

All up it took me the best part of the day to get the job done. And yesterday when I went to check to see how the water level was doing I found that the bonnet won't release anymore. No amount of bouncing, lifting etc will get it open. So another job while the transmission is getting serviced on Monday. May have another go this weekend...

Finally, proof that the fan does not need to come off, note the shroud needs to stay put around the fan: