I ran 1 bottle of Prestone super flush through my 1994 Z28. Is it any coincidence that my radiator is now leaking?? How difficult is it to change the radiator??

 

flush wont make you rad leak unless there was a very shty spot its pretty easy to change should be close to the same way as my rad (i assume) unbolt the upper rad support unplug the fan wires pull up on the fan (its just set in some recesses) unhook the hoses... automatic trans??? is there a oil cooler idk i drive a 5 speed anyways if so unhook those lines and stick some 3/8 inch extensions in the hoses (not too far just enough to plug the hole there a btch to get out if they go in too far) pull out the rad and read this backwards to put a new one back in

 

Radiator flushing is like seafoam for oil. It will only show leaks that where covered by gunk. I saw find the leak and post it up. Jbweld might be able to be used to patch the leak.

 

radiators are about $100- $110 at the parts store. If you can hold off, get one from Ebay but be sure that with shipping it's less than $110 total

why mess with a 17 year old radiator? At this point, parts such as radiators begin to show their age along with bushings, lines etc.

 

OK so when I change this, does it come out the top or bottom? Looks fairly simple to do, any suggestions as to what to look out for? When I remove it the cooling fans stay on the radiator and I switch them once it's removed, right?

 

I strongly encourage you to remove the hoses from the radiator and not from the waterpump or engine. You don't want that nasty ole antifreeze to find its way to your optispark.

Drain radiator into pan

disconnect hoses and drain

disconnect auto tranny cooler lines (if it's auto)

disconnect coolant level sensor wires

unhook fan wires

you still dn't have that silly donkey di#$ hanging down from the intake do you? If so, get that the heck out of the way.

undo the 3 bolts on the shroud bracket or whatever it's called

wiggle and remove fans

wiggle and remove radiator

there is a clip on the coolant level sensor, remove clip and sensor wiggles out

be sure to properly bleed the cooling system after you are done. shbox has writeups and i think craby has posted about it a gazillion times so use "search" if you don't know how to bleed the system on an LT1

 

OK, this does not sound too difficult..and yeah..I have that goofy thingy hanging down from the intake...what is that for??

so when I get all this free, I remove it from the top, right??

In regards to the coolant level sensors, where are those?

and what is an optispark??

Thanks...I think I can handle this..

 

1: I have no clue but it's part of the stock intake. Mine is long gone in exchange for a trickflow elbow

2: yes, from the top

3: you don't want to know

seriously, it's the distributor for the LT1 and it's installed in the front of the engine hidden behind the waterpump (seriously)

 

Ok, thanks! I will take a look at it! What about the air conditioner tube that comes off the cooling fans? where do you disconnect that at? And the cooling fans come off with the radiator and then are switched to the new one, right??

I know, I'm an amateur..thanks for all the info.

 

nah, if you look closely you will see that the A/C lines are not attached to the radiator. Those are your tranny coller lines (if you have an automatic transmission)

I suggest that you get a flare wrench for those as you don't want to round the head.

take the fans off first and then pull the radiator/install new radiator/install old fans onto new radiator