1999 V70T5M Nissens Radiator incorrect fitment induced Replacement Failure

[scot850]

Hmm. And to think only I did daft things like that. Join the club!

Neil.

[magna224]

I'm sorry I couldn't help myself it gave me a good laugh. I remember when I put a new radiator and intercooler into mine I spent an entire 2 minutes looking at it and lining it up 20 times with the hoses and making sure it was all right before everything went back in because that's exactly something I would do.

[abscate]

Tricks to this job. I'll write up more on plane

There is a metal sand which of 5 pieces...AC condenser, intercooler, radiator, and two metal plates which position the intercooler. They are different and go in one way.




The VIDA procedure is to evacuate the AC and bench assemble the sandwich. It's possible to skip this and do it on the car.

On my T5, removing the fan and shroud means releasing the two upper screws on the fan, loosening the lowers, the slipping the fan up and out. The fan shroud unbolted but you need to remove battery and tray to move it left and out to clear the ETB.

With the fan and shroud out, you are ready to deal with sandwich.

The condenser will come down on the driver side, and stay up on the pass side , so you have to reassemble the five pieces cocked at an angle working under the car. I pinned the top corner, pass side with a zip tie, leaving off the plate at first , this made it easy to get the bottom driver side 10mm bolt nut washer in. Once you have one bolt in loosely, the sandwich is much easier to manipulate and get bolts in. I replaced the clip,nuts with SS M6 hardware from Lowes. I loaded the washer with a pick, and held the nut inside with needle nose pliers..access is tight. I'll document the length, you don't want the M6 too long or you will crack the radiator!

The bottoms are easy to access, the tops are a bit harder.

I replaced the captive M8 radiator bolts, notorious for freezing up, with SS M6 and heavy washers. You could probably triple zip tie these.j

c

[theWIFES_S70]

Thanks for posting this stuff, Steve. I love when folks give bolt/screw/washer options! All that rust... Wow...

[abscate]

You have to accept your muckups with grace. I can't believe how fast I could whip this apart and remake the sandwich the third time! Hardest part is lifting the complete sandwich from underneath to get the two M6 bolt-nut combos started. You probably should block this up into place. I dropped the long M6 bolts down, lifted the radiator ears up through the bolts, then applied side pressure to the rad to freeze the bolts so I could start the washers and nut. That's juggling pieces with one hand.... quite a talent...

Update ... cooling system has green board, but engine running poorly like induction leak. I probably forgot to tighten induction hoses or knocked one off. Next weekend project

[jimmy57]

I know techs that swear by using Nylock nuts on the bolts holding rad/cond/intercooler together but leaving them a bit loose so the rad can expand/contract w/o stressing tanks. This is primarily P2 but some say the same for P80. This same feeling is becoming popular on other models and brands too. I have done the same for a couple of years but the results won't be known for a while with the passage of enough time to see if the replacement aftermarket rad goes the same or longer as the OE one.

P1 use full aluminum rads and are holding up but I know of other models (E60 BMW) that use all aluminum and rads start leaking at 6-7 years and 75 K miles.

[scot850]

I use a floor jack and a piece of wood to balance the 'sandwich' and it makes re-assembling the whole thing a lot easier. With a bit of persuasion and loosening the intake pipe from the intercooler at the ETM, I am able to persuade the whole fan assembly to come out in one piece without needing to remove the battery or the tray.

Good to learn the options though!

Neil.

[abscate]

I forgot to close loop on this

This “ early failure “ was self induced. My SS bolts on the passenger side mount got loose and left my radiator bouncing on one mount which surely stressed the side tanks and caused the leak.

User fail.

[abscate]

I went with Nissens again. I think my 3 year+ life was on the short end of the stick, and by 5 years I know Ill have passed it on. It was a 50-50 call, to be fair.

Three huge time savers on this job

1. I replaced the 4 fan screws with SS and left the bottom two loose enough for the fan to slide out without fussing

New M6 SS for the four 'sandwhich screws which hold the condenser, intercooler, and radiator on this car.

2. I ditched the M8 radiator mount bolts for two M6 bolts with Nylocks and washers - so I didn't have to fuss with that captive nut that always breaks loose and then leaves you with a mess


Purists stop reading here.

3. put two 3/4 inch holes in the plastic apron so I can access the two top M6 sandwich screws EZPZ

Ill plug them with hole plugs from Lowes.

Well, it’s 2025 and 8years later I’m still driving this one. I guess the Creator laughs at our plans…..

I have 8 years and another 80,000 miles on the Nissens radiator with no issues

[rrres]

Did your Nissens radiator come with the rubber mount bushings? The Nissens radiator I received, for some reason, didn't come with the rubber mounts and I had to pull the rubber mounts from the old radiator. They were pressed in so I had to slice them a little bit to get 'em out.