radiator removal, how easy ?

[DAVIDP20V]

hello again chaps, just noticed a small crack leaking water on the top of the rad.

i am going to attemt removal any tips advice and how easy is it ?

any help much appreciated

[S2central.net]

Tis straight forward except for the annoying location of some fixings and all the annoying little screws for the duct panels which get in the way. Reckon on 1 hour each way - maybe more if you get some sticky bolts.

Also when the rad is out - check condition of two hoses under water rail. One feeds the thermostat housing, t'other goes to turbo for cooling. Each of these can be a source of leaks so have a good look at them.

Paul

[Martynf]

David,

It is a fiddly job for sure if you have air con? you'll lose a ton of skin and curse some amazingly stupid bolt positioning, watch out for the small electric water pump, it can break easily. You may find page 1 and 4 help you here when I did mine: http://www.vagparts.com/s2/rad.htm

HTH

[Jamo]

Martyn, could you provide a list of links to your guides in Guides and Top Tips?

That Radiator guide has some top stuff in it, like page 3 change the Rocker Cover guide.

Whilst thinking about it (If Mike didn't mind) the links on S2-audi.co.uk are second only to s2centrals.

http://www.s2-audi.co.uk/technical.htm

Found those invalauble for learning about the S2.

[DAVIDP20V]

JOB DONE ! 3 hours, knuckles skinned, and one bolt thrown across the workshop, ah whats one bolt ! cheers martyn for the info very helpful site you have there and paul pipes at the bottom all looked in very good condition. cheers boys

[Erikb]

I have to change the radiator as well, i planed to do this tomorrow. I have aircon in my car. Do I need to remove this before I can get the radiator out?

thanks,

Erik

[Martynf]

Erik,

no, you do not have to totally remove the ac rad!! there are two bolts at the top of the rad, one each side, just remove the bolts and the ac rad lifts up and off the water rad. You can leave the Ac rad in place when changin the water rad. Look at pages 1 and 4 here: http://www.vagparts.com/s2/rad.htm

[Erikb]

thanks Martyn, I just started everything went ok, bestides for the f**cking bolt at the side of the radiator. I saw in your guide that you took the windowcleaning tank out. Can this be done easily, dont you have to remove the breakfluid depostis as well?.

thanks,

Erik

[Erikb]

Finally finished the job. Not the most easy thing to do. It really costs your skin and a lot of patients before some of the bolts are releast.

It costs me a lot more then 3 hours , but i am not really a handy man.

Thanks for the info Martyn

[audiman]

3B rad is a lot harder to do than the ABY/ADU. On UK spec cars the fixed battery tray is right in the way, as well as the ABS unit, cos the cooling fan wont come out easily. And if the UK 3B has AC then its even harder. BTDT. Glad it went well on Erik and Davids cars.

[S2Roo]

Must be the month for Rads I've just done my ABY Rad, I kind of cheated tho because I took it out on the Fri, and put the new one in the following Wed.

I have to say, the most annoying part of the job was replacing the turbo water feed hose. Especially as I left the hydraulic pump in place. It was so corroded I ended up cracking the water hose into bits to get it off . I definitely reccomend changin it!!!

Has anyone replace the turbo water return hose/fitting? It looks like it returns to the block via a core plug, with a fitting in the middle of it???

Roo

[audiman]

It does, i was gonna change mine when i did the engine rebuild but i never bothered as its condition was A1