Can it really be that hard to replace the radiator?

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#11

11-19-2018, 07:39 AM

myf16

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Join Date: Aug 2014

Posts: 14

Reinstallation complete. I had to push the fan assembly hard laterally before it would drop onto the post on the radiator. Also the hose clamp next to the thermostat was too small. I finally used visegrips to hold the clamp open as far as I dared without latching it open, then I put the clamp on the end of the hose and shoved it hard onto the neck. These cars are made for rapid assembly on the line, not for ease of repair.

Last edited by myf16; 11-19-2018 at 08:10 AM.

#12

11-21-2018, 06:34 PM

CHRYSLER TECH

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Join Date: Mar 2006

Location: Norcross GA

Posts: 8,790

THis is what you uses for thoseclamps

Amazon

#13

03-01-2021, 07:23 PM

Digger02

Junior Member

Join Date: Sep 2017

Posts: 22

Stopping here to say that the radiator replacement on an '08 pacifica wasn't that bad. I'm not super mechanically inclined, and it took me about two hours. Be warned if you change the lower radiator hose "while you're in there", it might add another hour or two. I struggled getting that darn spring clamp off the opposite end because its under the alternator and behind the AC compressor - its just in a tight spot and I bought two different spring clamp tools to get it off. Once I got the old clamp off of that tight spot (getting the radiator end of the bottom hose is easy once the fan assembly is removed), I really struggled to get the spring clamp on that end with the new hose- the tools just wouldn't expand the spring clamp enough. I bent a tab on the one ear of the spring clamp so it would compress more and open into a bigger circle to get over the ridge on the pipe that the hose is slid over.

I didn't have to pull the grill or bumper cover or any of that stuff. There are still multiple videos on Youtube showing how to do this with minimal disassembly.

For the record, the replacement radiators from Advance Auto, O-Reilly, and Autozone all look to the same part number. When I opened the box from O-Reilly (which called it a Murray Radiator), the paperwork inside was for a Spectra Radiator. I suspect that they all come from the same Chinese factory.