Replacing rad, ph1 172

[Timmsy]

Had a quick search and it seems pretty straight forward

Bumper off, grill off, bonnet catch off, front cross member off, couple of clips on the aircon pipe and some joiners on the pipes on the rad then out

Anything I'm missing? Easy enough to do myself with basic tools or should I take it to the garage?

£30ish for a rad from eBay, some coolant and some time sounds better to me than being ass raped on labor charges.

 

[RS Charlie]

I have not changed a rad but I understand it can be lowered from underneath with the rad support off.

However, I would steer clear of a cheap radiator. I have known of the tanks to fail on a number of them, and that is before you get to the core being potentially different. If not going Renault I would at least go OE or for a Nissens brand of radiator.

If it makes you feel better, a rad for a friend's Mitsubishi GTO was £800 from the dealer. The cheapest he could find one anywhere was £500. For my old 944 Turbo it was around £330 from the dealers or £240 from the likes of ECP. The dealer item did come with a 2 year warranty mind you, which I have seen them honour before .

 

[DannyR]

Personally I'd buy a decent radiator, at least £100 on one. Also buy a new expansion bottle from eBay for £10 while its drained.

Easy enough to do with a decent tool set, you don't need to remove bonnet catch from front cross member either.

Make sure you use correct Type D Coolant from Renault.

 

[Timmsy]

Ok cool, is this the nissens one? http://www.gsfcarparts.com/173re1220
will be doing the bottle while its all drained, mine is looking rather yellow!

 

[MJClio]

Got mine from euros. MAKE SURE YOU GET THE BLANKING SCREW! I made that mistake, bought it, took it home, car apart, realised there a big threaded hole in the new one. Think its where they just make one rad across the range of clios as its easier.

I didn't take my bumper off when i did it, but grill and cross member did have to come off. Only bit i found fiddly was the bottom middle cross member bolts. Just a bit tight basically. Easy enough job though.

 

[Timmsy]

Got mine from euros. MAKE SURE YOU GET THE BLANKING SCREW! I made that mistake, bought it, took it home, car apart, realised there a big threaded hole in the new one. Think its where they just make one rad across the range of clios as its easier.

I didn't take my bumper off when i did it, but grill and cross member did have to come off. Only bit i found fiddly was the bottom middle cross member bolts. Just a bit tight basically. Easy enough job though.

How did you manage to get the grill off without removing bumper first? The bumper covers the grill under the lights no?

The one from ecp is good right? Better than a £30 eBay jobby?

Your more than welcome to come help for some beer tokens though

 

[MJClio]

Thats how mine looked while doing it haha theres 2 screws at the top corners of the grill plastic, and then 2 in the bottom corners through the bumper, in them 2 holes you can see next to the headlights, then it just pulls off.
I would do, but depends when you're doing it pal :up:

 

[Timmsy]

Nice one, didn't even know the grill came apart like that, just always taken if out as one.
Probably end of the month buddy, going to source a rad, been offered one off here from a ph1 being broken or gsf or ecp, really depends on funds, fortunately I can do without the car so no rush on it

 

[MJClio]

Give me a message I'll probably be able to come down and help mate