How do you remove - replace a Windstar radiator?

Answer 1

Changing the radiator is not a difficult task but it will take some time.

• first you will need to drain all fluid out of the old one by opening the petcock valve on the bottom of the radiator.
  
• After all fluid is removed you will need to remove the plastic shroud covering the top of the radiator,
  
• the next step is to remove all of the fans on the engine side of the radiator, be sure to mark the electrical connectors with a grease pencil to make it easier when replacing them,
  
• after removing the fans there should be about 6 small bolts to remove to loosen the radiator from the mounts.
  
• before trying to pull the radiator out be sure to remove all hoses connected to the radiator , these should be held on by squeeze clamps use a pair of pliers to squeeze the tabs together and slide them up the hose(away from the radiator toward the motor and reservoir.) See "Related Questions" below for about a great hose clamp tool
• Be sure to mark the bottom hose of the two small hoses as this is return and will need to be put back in the proper place.
  
• Now you should be able to tip the top of the radiator toward the engine and pull up at the same time . The radiator should now be out of the vehicle.
  

To install the new one you replace it the same way you took the old one out, BUT BE CAREFUL NOT TO DAMAGE THE COILS on the new radiator, bolt the new radiator in, reconnect all of the hoses, bolt the fans back on and reconnect the wires, replace the top shroud , and refill with fluid. start van for about 3 minutes to circulate fluid and then top off with coolant. Refill the reservoir to the proper level. Restart the vehicle and while running look for any leaks if none are present you will have to burp the system. Look for a small screw on top of your thermostat housing . just follow the radiator hoses until you find one that goes into something that looks like a dome on the engine , loosen the screw on top of the dome about 1 1/2 turns leave open until coolant comes out around the screw , retighten and wipe everything down . You are now done. Good Luck

NOTE: 1999-2003 Windstars do NOT have this bleeder valve - see below for bleeding procedure

Another set of InstructionsI just did this on a 1998 Windstar. I assume it is similar. I'm not expert on this -- just kind of figured it out as I went along. I was actually doing a condensor replacement (wife hit a chair that was on the freeway and pierced the condensor). But in the process, I removed the radiator to get at it. I had to disconnect them before I could get either out, so I would say you can get the radiator out without pulling the condensor out. It is pretty tight though and took a lot of wiggling and curse words to get it out.

NOTE: I used a crescent wrench on the transmission cooler line nuts.

Steps:

1. Drain radiator - drain valve/petcock is on the bottom drivers side of the radiator
   
2. Disconnect the battery and remove it (the extra space seems be necessary for getting the fan assembly and radiator out and in.
3. Pop the two plastic shields off above the radiator and condensor. One comes off, the other houses wires. Push the wire harness back towards the engine and tie it there. You'll pull stuff out through the space between it and the front.
4. Disconnect upper and lower radiator hoses
5. Disconnect upper transmission cooler line (do this first, it makes it easier to get the fan assembly out). I used a crescent wrench and just unscrewed the nut that the cooler tube passes through.
6. Disconnect fan electrical connectors, unscrew the two bolts near the top, and pull the fan assembly out (pulling it out in front of the wire harness).
7. Disconnect the lower transmission cooler line, same way as first.
8. Remove the two bolts that hold the radiator / condensor assembly to the chassis. With these removed, there is a little play in the radiator / condensor unit, which helps with the next step.
9. Remove the screws that connect the condensor to the radiator, located on the front side of the condensor. There are four brackets -- upper left, lower left, upper right, lower right. For the two lower ones, you need to remove the 2 8mm screws on each bracket that are on the front of the condensor. It is tough reaching them, but can be done. For the upper two brackets, you can either do the same small screws along the front edge, or the one bolt on each bracket that screws into the radiator. On the left side, I could reach the bolt. On the right side, I couldn't, so I did the screws on that side also.
10. Now the radiator is free of the condenser and is disconnected from the chassis. It is time to pull it out. Not real easy -- a lot of wiggling and forcing, and not much clearance, but eventually it came out. Equally hard getting back in.

When putting back in, reverse the steps. I think it works best to get the bottom of the radiator into those two holes in the chassis that hold it in position before re-connecting the condenser to it. Getting it into those holes was very hard. On the bottom, get those two brackets behind the clip on the radiator before you put the 8mm screws back into the front of the condenser. There is no way you can connect the brackets to the condenser first and then get them behind the clips.

The transmission cooler line nuts were very difficult to get back in place. First get the bottom one in. There was a metal rod inside the radiator with the threaded holes that slid down when I disconnected the lines. I had to put my finger into the lower hose port and push it up until the threads aligned with the cooler line hole. It took me 30 minutes to get that nut back on. I ended up using a small L bracket inserted through the lower hose port to pull that bar towards the front while threading the nut. There is probably some trick (or tool) I don't know about.

Bleeding air from the system
First a caution: NEVER ever think of releasing a radiator - coolant cap when the engine is hot, or even warm!!!

Burping: In order to what is sometimes referred to as 'burping' the cooling system - getting a big air bubble out of the closed cooling system, and IF the car has a radiator cap,you will actually need to have the car running with the cap off.

1. During the initial fill, fill the coolant reservoir bottle to the top of the cold fill range.
   
   
2. Set the temperature blend selector to the full warm position and the fan motor control to high for the front and rear heaters
   
   
3. Start the vehicle with the reservoir cap off and allow to idle until the thermostat opens
   NOTE: the coolant level will drop quite a bit when the thermostat opens - that's most of the air bubble in the system being driven to the top of radiator and escaping. Without the air, there's more room for coolant.
   
   
4. Top off the coolant in the reservoir bottle to the top of the cold fill range,
   
   
5. Install and tighten the reservoir cap.
   
   
6. Increase the engine rpms to 3,000 for 15 seconds, and then return to idle for one minute.
   
   
7. Repeat the previous step four times or until heat is coming from the rear unit while the vehicle is idling.
   
   
8. Allow the vehicle to cool and top off the coolant in the reservoir to the cold fill range.

Note: if you find the heater going cool or cold when idling, that's a good indicator you might have to burp the system again. Equally likely just adding more coolant to the overflow reservoir will suffice too.

Did I mention to NEVER ever think of releasing a radiator cap when the engine is hot, or even warm? !!!