BOL more lies, what a surprise!

[oscarloco]

I had to remove the radiator of my ZX due to a water leak in the hot-end tank.

BOL says: remove hoses, unclip and pull out radiator.

YEAH RIGHT

I had to manouver my hand between the aircon compressor and the car chassis just to remove the 2 small hoses that enter the cold-end tank. But first, I had to remove the accesory belt because it was in the way.

Then, to remove the lower hose, I had to work from under the car and use all my strenght and swearing to turn the ring. I removed it, managed to get coolant in my shirt and face and I tought, now the hard part is over, let's pull out the rad.

BOL should have pop-up signs that say "SURPRISE". The rad wouldn't come out, there wasn't enough room to clear the front of the car (where the lights are attached) and the throttle body.

So, I loosened both bolts, my father pulled the offending piece of chassis and I finally pulled the rad out.

Dang BOL

[rpaco]

Sounds similar to my fun with my Xantia.

TheAircon hoses and the intercooler ducts block most access from most angles. They guessed that the english would one day but em so made it as difficult as possible. Still getting their own back for Waterloo.

The rad drain plug can only be accessed from underneath, it then sprays in all directions and fills up the main harness bundlewhich runs underneath it in a split convoluted tube (with the split on top!)

You really need an arm only 10mm thick of titaniium and a hand 6mm thick also of titanium and fingers able to exert about 20 Kg force in a twisting motion by applying just finger tips.

All Xantia owners need to unclip and rotate the harness covering to get another eyeful of antifreeze.

Wish you continuing luck mate!

[Stewart(oily)]

If it was easy everyone would be doing it, I changed the Rad on a 406 recently and the hoses are held in place with wire clips, fine when new but after 85k miles, I finally resorted to an eighteen inch tyre lever and hammer#4 and smashed the bits I did not need, had I been removing the rad for maintenance i would have had to remove the other end of the bottom hose
Stewart

[rossnunn]

Rad change on my ZX was quite easy. But I didn't have aircon & its only a 1.4 so theres plenty of room.

I seem to recall removing the drivers side headlight was a good move as there is a hole under it that you can put your arm down to really tug on the bottom hose.

The two pipes you mention I think are the oil cooler pipes, up they're a pain.

I also found I cut my hands soo many times of the top clips that hold the rad in.

[Peter.N.]

You cant beat the old jubilee clip fittings. I changed the one on my XM recently and apart from the skin I removed from the back of my hand trying to pull the hose off, it was quite straightforward.

If the manual told you what was really involved, no one would ever attempt it.

A flexible hose clip nut driver is an absolute life saver, get one if you dont have it, there only a couple of quid.

[rpaco]

If it was easy everyone would be doing it, I changed the Rad on a 406 recently and the hoses are held in place with wire clips, fine when new but after 85k miles, I finally resorted to an eighteen inch tyre lever and hammer#4 and smashed the bits I did not need, had I been removing the rad for maintenance i would have had to remove the other end of the bottom hose
Stewart

Yes the Xantia has the same rad fittings with the wire clips. I used an 18inch cold chisel and club hammer to cut off the bottom hose spiggot. Then spent another hour trying to get the broken bit off the hose end. Blowlamp was the answer in the end. Obviously trying not to damage the O ring underneath.

I would have fitted new O rings but none came with the new rad nor are they listed in GSF.
The top one was as new! Eyes shut walk past and its done!

[wilkobob]

I think haynes manuals should be like noisy birthday cards.... when you open them they should start singing ... "there may be trouble ahead..."