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Can I do this car repair myself? Or is that a bad idea...

#41
I would use an aftermarket radiator and keep some cash in your pocket. One thing I'll mention is make sure you tell them the car has a towing package if it has one. They may ask you to measure the length to find out.Get your VIN and ask the dealer in the parts department. That part is important to get the right radiator. With and without a towing package is not interchangeable.

Second thing to find out is where should you put new antifreeze. You don't want to wind up having an air pocket in your coolant after you fill it. The cars temp will sky rocket when it hits this air pocket. Oh yeah, make sure you use the correct antifreeze.

Third, aftermarket radiators are not direct fit in most cases. Be prepard to change things like radiator hoses.

Usually, changing a radiator is easy in concept . Getting to it may be the hard part. The more mechanically skilled you are the better.
 
#42
sowilson said:
Did they pressure test the entire system? Is the dealer sure that you don't have a cracked block or warped heads? A used replacement engine will be around 7K, new about 11K.
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+1. Losing coolant that fast sounds more like a warped head gasket than a leaking radiator. Have them pressure check the block to rule that out first.

Second, I'd pay to get it done, but I'd have a trusted independent shop do it vs. dealership.
 
#43
GM retail on that radiator is $390 and it's 3 hours labor to replace it plus coolant, etc.... so it's not hard to see how that adds up to $900 at a shop.

Since you have the HD cooling system you have an extra fan of two that the non HD system would have. From what I read today on the R&R procedure for your Caddy, one or more of the fans need to come out from underneath. As long as you have some tall jack stands and/or a good set of ramps to get you high enough I'd give it a whirl.
 
#45
Oh, forgot about unplugging the radiator fan(s), then after removing the old radiator, remove the radiator fan (held on by screws usually) and then place the fans on the new radiator. Reconnect the radiator fan plug into the radiator fan socket after installing the new radiator.
 
#46
careful not to get tunnel vision regarding the radiator. Fill it, bleed it if required, bring up to operating temp and see if you can spot the leak. If it's external (hose, housing, radiator, pump) then you're golden. If you fill it, bleed the system if required, run it and have a bunch of bubbles, then you have any number of block/head related issues which will be pricier. If it's leaking that bad into the engine, hydrolock is a possibility that should not be ignored.

I have had great luck with aftermarket parts at my job and on my small fleet of vehicles. That said, sometimes the OEM comes up with updates that are great.

best of luck
 
#47
carl h. said:
Sounds like it should be easy enough to spot a leak this big.
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Yes, a leak that big will leave a mark so noticable, you will see where it's leaking quickly.

Fill the radiator back up. Start the engine and let it sit 3 minutes under heavy idle. Then get out and start watching.

If it's looking like the water/coolant is coming from the engine, take it back to the dealer and let them deal with the head gasket leaking. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone not already familiar with taking a head off an engine and replacing a gasket and inspecting the head for warpage.

If it looks like the radiator, go for it. Personally, I wouldn't do it but I value my time more than other people do. Also, I know that even a radiator on a newer vehicle isn't always an easy chore.

I had a relatively newer vehicle that just changing the spark plugs was a chore. :(
 
#48
Guy may've finished this by now, but I will add for future reference...


If the radiator hoses are a problem, be sure to check your heater hoses and any other little ones you can find. There may be some small ones running under or behind the intake manifold. They do this to help maintain the incoming air temperature. It's one thing they do, along with many other things, to help achieve optimum fuel/air mixture to try and squeeze every last bit of efficiency they can out of the engine. Everybody forgets about those. I've seen many cars that had new radiators and hoses installed and still overheat and leak, because of those little hoses nobody thinks about because they're not connected to the radiator.

+1 to getting a new thermostat everytime you flush and fill. They're cheap and will save you another potential overheating/getting stranded episode.

Look carefully before disassembly. Many times you'll have to remove parts that have nothing to do with the problem, just to get them out of the way to get at what you do need to work on.

If you have to crack open the A/C system to get it done, you will have to take it in to get recharged. You can't just fill it up with the little cans you get at the store if it's been opened up/let outside air. They have to pull vacuum on it first. You can't have regular air mixed with the refridgerant or it won't work right and will end up costing you more a/c repairs, which are always expensive.

+1 for the transmission and oil coolers. Sometimes these are built in as part of the radiator, sometimes they are a separate core mounted in front of it.

In the old days, replacing a radiator was very simple, no big deal. Nowdays, not so much, at least on some vehichles. Can still easily be done if you have some basic intuition/experience working on vehicles, but things aren't like they used to be.
 
#49
If you did not live so far from some of us, I would suggest you buying a keg. That itself will draw every mechanic from a 5 mile radius. You will have all the advice and guidance so you can succeed.

;-/ hiding
 
#55
Pilgrim said:
Fer crissakes don't go to a dealer.
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Yeah, the last thing you'd want to do is take it to the people that work on them all day long. I mean what would having intimate knowledge and experiance with that particular car and it's operating systems be good for anyway. And on top of all that they'ed prablably try to sell you the factory parts instead of cheap chinese knockoffs. The horror.
Sorry, being as I'm a dealership tech that's kind of annoying to me.
 
#57
Pilgrim said:
Beer can also be used to attract guys who have more mechanical knowledge than yourself. Trick is to keep them out of the beer until the job is done. Adding pizza and packaging as an after-job attraction may help.
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My experience is the guy that wants work done for pizza and beer is the same guy that will blame any future car problems on the last repair you just did for him, other wise known as the "ever since you" customer. No thanks.
 
#58
68Goldfish said:
Yeah, the last thing you'd want to do is take it to the people that work on them all day long. I mean what would having intimate knowledge and experiance with that particular car and it's operating systems be good for anyway. And on top of all that they'ed prablably try to sell you the factory parts instead of cheap chinese knockoffs. The horror.
Sorry, being as I'm a dealership tech that's kind of annoying to me.
Click to expand...

+1.
 

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