'05 Sedan Denso Radiator install writeup (my $17 radiator)

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Q451990
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Car: 1990 Q45 - 118K, 2022 Toyota 4 Runner, 2004 Frontier M/T - 108K, 2012 Xterra (Mom's), 2023 Rogue (Inlaws)
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Meet our patient, a 2005 G35 Sedan with about 122,000 miles on the odometer. She's the road warrior of the fleet - which is a nice way of saying "looks like crap, but my wife still loves driving it so we'll go with it."

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About a week ago, I started smelling the sweet smell of leaking antifreeze, and popped the hood. It looked like a leak around the radiator cap - so I got a new one at the dealership. A day later the leak was still there, so I picked up a radiator test tool loaner at Advance Auto.

At about 5 PSI I could hear coolant running down the front of the radiator - and if I put it under much more pressure, coolant started spraying out of the grille! Not good.

So given this car's road warrior status, I wasn't feeling much like ordering up a new OEM radiator for $400+, which is what I would normally do - so I started pricing aftermarket units. I found a Denso replacement on Amazon for about $70. And then I noticed a "used" one for about $17! It was from Amazon's "Warehouse Deals" seller - which I think is their division that handles returns. The description said something like "Box Damaged... surface damage to less than 1% of back of item... fully usable." So I had a buddy with Amazon Prime order it for me with free 2 day shipping and it landed on my front porch this morning.

Here's a quick write up of the install. The FSM (available at http://www.infinitiservicemanual.com) is pretty thorough on the R&R, so be sure to check the step x step there as well.

First, remove the air duct and air box, engine cover, and upper radiator retainers (twist and lift):
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Put the car on jack stands or ramps, remove the road shield, and drain the radiator. Disconnect the lower radiator hose. Also disconnect and plug the ATF cooling lines (not pictured). I discovered that an old spark plug makes a great radiator hose plug:
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Disconnect the two gray connectors from the fan assembly and free the harness from the wire holder attached to the fan housing (this picture didn't turn out great, but you'll figure it out pretty easily):
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Disconnect the upper radiator hose, and remove the overflow tank. The tank is held in place by one 10mm bolt:
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Disconnect the air conditioning tube bracket from where it's attached under the engine air cleaner box:
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Remove the two 10mm bolts that attach the fan assembly to the top tank of the radiator. Then remove the fans lifting them straight up. You'll have to wiggle them a little side to side... it's a tight fit:
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Next you'll have to remove the two bolts that hold the a/c condenser to the radiator cross-member. I forgot to take a picture, but it's just 2 10mm bolts.

Then you have to wiggle the a/c condenser up out of the tabs on the radiator's bottom tank and remove the radiator. I found that this was actually a little easier from underneath the car.

Here's a side x side of the old and new radiators. You can see the tabs that hold up the a/c evaporator on the bottom tanks of both units.
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I added some foam weatherstripping from Home Depot that I had laying around in the garage to the new radiator to replicate the foam seal on the old one.
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Be sure to transfer the top and bottom spacers from the old radiator to the new one. The studs on the bottom of the new radiator are a little smaller than the OEM ones, so after having them fall off a couple of times - I put them in the radiator support and then sat the radiator in to them instead of trying to keep them on the studs.

The rest of the installation is just putting things back where you found them. Follow the instructions in the FSM to flush and refill the system - paying special attention to getting as much air as possible out of the system.

It now holds pressure nicely - no change after several minutes!
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My biggest regret is that the car was inside my garage on jack stands, so I couldn't use a garden hose - and I didn't have an air compressor handy to blow out all of the debris in the condenser.

I'll post back with an update if my $17 investment comes back to bite me in the arse - but hopefully it'll keep the G on the road until my wife decides she wants something prettier...

Heath


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frapjap
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Nice write up man.
Wow, they really pack those things in there!


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