Replacing radiator on '05 Civic

BeerBurner · 03-29-2009, 05:01 AM

A good friend of mine has an '05 Civic that the dealer says needs a new radiator but they want $800 for it. I told her I could do it for her but I don't know if it's a straight-forward procedure or if there are any "gotcha's" in it, and an internet search only gave me procedures on older Civics.

Does anyone have any experience, tips or places I could look before I agree to doing this?

Thanks!

BB.

mattdavis11 · 03-29-2009, 06:21 AM

I've replaced a couple of condensers on a few civics, but not a radiator. Mind you these were 96-02 or there abouts, but not much has changed. It should be pretty simple. Move the fans out of the way, take the hoses off, unbolt the upper mounting brackets and pull it up and out. You'll need a 10mm for sure. There's a lot of room since the motor is sideways. The condenser takes about 10 minutes to pull, the radiator should take less.

BeerBurner · 03-30-2009, 02:26 AM

I did finally hear from someone who explained the procedure to me and said it was identical to my Mazda, save for having the slushbox cooler whose lines I'll have to muck with.

Thanks for the response!

BB.

Laneco · 03-30-2009, 07:12 AM

A three year old civic that needs a new radiator? Hmmm.

Quite a bit of stuff available aftermarket for civics. When we've put them together after crashes, we usually buy an aftermarket radiator. They seem to run about $50 to $80 or so and work just fine.

angela

fireant911 · 03-30-2009, 10:45 AM

BeerBurner,
I went to a junkyard to get another radiator for my '95 Civic as it had cracked and was leaking. The junkyard had no used radiators but kept new replacement (aftermarket) radiators on-hand (these must apparently fail at a rather high rate). The price, as my memory serves me, as about $100... installation was simple and the replacement unit has done well. Take a peek a the Hayne's manual for the '05 Civic - my guess it is straightforward. My wife has an '08 Civic and I have not looked at this setup.

BeerBurner · 03-31-2009, 02:36 AM

I've been trying to figure out if this was an isolated thing or something that Honda didn't get quite right. Not that I've really taken the time to research it...

BB.

speeder · speeder's Garage

Replacing the radiator on most any vehicle is pretty straight-forward, the problem is always wondering how the previous driver discovered that they needed a radiator. Usually it was when the car over-heated on the freeway. I look at ads all the time for vehicles that just "need a radiator" or a head gasket and none of them ever over-heated, they just happened to notice it leaking.

afterburn 549 · 03-31-2009, 08:54 AM

The OEM stuff is barley big enough...I would call a rad shop and NOT get a OEM !

bell · bell's Garage

My wifeys old 06 civic was pretty darn simple, should olny take an hour or so max. Is it leaking? What was the dealers reason for it being bad? Is there rust in the coolant? (That's a sign of just water and no antifreeze and should have it flushed if so, rusty water can clog the veins in a radiator over time)