a65l
Member
On the advice of a buddy of mine, I decided to pull off the radiator shroud and have a look-see at what might be collected up in there. Turns out that thing is made of fiberglass, nice itchy fiberglass at that, and in my case seems to be missing a few bolts here and there. I can't imagine why it was out, I haven't come across any evidence that the car was ever hit. The fasteners may have just worked their way out over the years, who knows. Anyway, it's not quite as straightfoward as the manual makes it seem but it's not bad.
So not suprisingly, the radiator was covered with grass, dead bugs, and for some reason or other, hair/fur. Nothing stuck in the condenser, just in the radiator. I pulled the bulk of the stuff off, but decided that to do a proper job I'd have to pull the radiator. I drained the radiator and header tank, but didn't bother draining the block as the coolant looked brand new. No nasty brown sludge coming out of the drain. Took a bit to get everythng out of the radiator fins, but it's good and clean now.
Reinstall was no big deal either, took a little fiddling to get both the radiator and condenser back in their rubber holders, and on a side note, best to wait and fill the radiator untill after the bleed line is reconnected. One thing that threw me, the manual is a little vague on where the bleed points are. I just filled it, and ran it right up till it started boiling over. I got some good air bubbles, so hopefully it's air free. No leaks, both fans ran, nice and solid.
One other thing I did was to drill a drain hole in the lower radiator mount. I hosed that area out to try and remove some crap that had accumulated there, and noticed that the water stayed in the rar of the mount. A couple seconds work with the 1/4" drill bit and now it drains just fine.
All in all not bad for an afternoon's work under the shade tree....
So not suprisingly, the radiator was covered with grass, dead bugs, and for some reason or other, hair/fur. Nothing stuck in the condenser, just in the radiator. I pulled the bulk of the stuff off, but decided that to do a proper job I'd have to pull the radiator. I drained the radiator and header tank, but didn't bother draining the block as the coolant looked brand new. No nasty brown sludge coming out of the drain. Took a bit to get everythng out of the radiator fins, but it's good and clean now.
Reinstall was no big deal either, took a little fiddling to get both the radiator and condenser back in their rubber holders, and on a side note, best to wait and fill the radiator untill after the bleed line is reconnected. One thing that threw me, the manual is a little vague on where the bleed points are. I just filled it, and ran it right up till it started boiling over. I got some good air bubbles, so hopefully it's air free. No leaks, both fans ran, nice and solid.
One other thing I did was to drill a drain hole in the lower radiator mount. I hosed that area out to try and remove some crap that had accumulated there, and noticed that the water stayed in the rar of the mount. A couple seconds work with the 1/4" drill bit and now it drains just fine.
All in all not bad for an afternoon's work under the shade tree....
