Has anyone had to replace there radiator on their M56? if so, was it a hard job? Yesterday I was at the dealer and was told that I have a small hole in it..... 1200,00 $ to replace it.

$1,200?

Yeah...NO.

Buy a radiator for a few hundred and replace it yourself. It's just a matter of making sure the hoses are taken off and stuff doesn't leak all over the place.

Not crazy complicated.

OE radiator is about $750. It's just under 4 hours of labor so at $100 an hour plus fluids and disposal the $1200 estimate sounds right...for dealer pricing.

I would personally look at either doing it yourself or having a trusted independent shop do it for you.

I can put some instructions up here tomorrow for the DIY.

Edit: I just looked over these instructions and this looks like an incredibly easy radiator to R&R.

A lot of the exploded view show everything taken apart. This is for illustration only. Only the items listed need to be disconnected, not everything gets removed.

1. Remove the following parts:

• a) Engine under cover
  b) Front engine cover
  
  c) Air cleaner case
  d) Air duct (inlet)
  
  e) Hood lock stay assembly and horn:
  
  
  f) Reservoir tank.
  g) Radiator core support
  2. Remove condenser pipe assembly.
  

3. Drain engine coolant from radiator.

• CAUTION:
  Perform this step when the engine is cold.
  Never spill engine coolant on drive belts.
  

4. Disconnect A/T fluid cooler hoses from radiator. - Install blind plug to avoid leakage of A/T fluid.
5. Remove radiator hoses (upper and lower) and reservoir tank hose.
6. Rotate two radiator upper mount brackets 90 degrees in direction as shown in the figure, and remove them.

7. Remove radiator - Lift up and pull the radiator (1) forward, and then remove the mounting rubber (lower) (3) from the radiator core support (2).


Install new radiator and reverse these instructions. Radiator and reservoir hold about 3 gallons of coolant.[/b]