out of commission for a little, radiator puked

[jmissile]

2011 m56s. Has anyone successfully replace their radiator before? I've usually been able to do it myself on all my previous vehicles but am afraid of the cost to bring it somewhere. It doesn't look too daunting to me just not sure how much of the car will need to be dismantled in order to remove it. Also was wondering if there's a way to put a better radiator in than the factory one. Been in the 90s already here in Florida and I hate losing performance in hot weather, my car sees alot of stop and go traffic.

[Debonair]

The factory procedure includes removing the Condenser Pipe assembly which means (according to the factory procedure) the AC will need to be Evac'ed in order to get the radiator out. You can probably have a local shop remove the refrigerant before you start and then charge the system back up when you are done for less than the whole cost of the radiator R&R

Other than the refrigerant, the job looks like a normal radiator R&R. Infiniti estimates 3.8 hours including the refrigerant and condenser remove, reinstall, and recharge.

[jmissile]

Cool thanks for the advice. Might take awhile but ill have to check and see if any of the service bulletins posted include the procedure for taking that thing out. Hoping it'll only take 4 hrs to do...

[Debonair]

For the procedure you can look it up in the FSM linked to in this forum. It's standard Asian import car stuff other then the AC lines.

M37/M56/Q70 How-To Guides and FAQ > Factory Service Manual

[Larz]

I am not all that familiar with auto mechanics and I have limited tools, but 4 hours labor (~$500) PLUS dealer pricing on a radiator is great motivation for doing this yourself. Sometimes the FSM can make jobs look more intimidating than they actually are. If you decide to do this yourself, please take pics of the steps you go through so we can have a DIY to add to the collection in the FAQ section!

[jmissile]

infiniti gets $700 for a new unit, needless to say I'm shopping around. Fortunately I have alternative transportation for the time being so I'll keep u guys posted on my progress

[M37xfan]

Buy the radiator yourself

[jmissile]

Fortunately since I have to have the timing chain recall done, I inquired about having car dropped off to them with the new radiator I just ordered for $200 and they said no problem, so no DIY contribution this time.

[BlackCat81]

Fortunately since I have to have the timing chain recall done, I inquired about having car dropped off to them with the new radiator I just ordered for $200 and they said no problem, so no DIY contribution this time.

Interesting. I always do the timing chains on M56's with the radiatiors in them. I don't even remove the electric fans.

[tlaspec]

Im curious to know what happened that led to the radiator failing? In all of the cars I owned I have never needed to replace a radiator.

I believe our service interval dont even call for coolant flush till 10years 100k miles or something like that.

[jmissile]

It looked to be coming out toward the top of where the outlet tank and core are attached, not sure if there's a gasket or sealant of some sort there but I don't see any cracks.
Ironically my previous car had the same problem around the same mileage/age (04 g35coupe). I've got 130k on my car now, it sees alot of hot driving conditions here in Florida