joez

My 1996 Honda Accord LX with 102,000 miles has a crack in the radiator. I want to replace it with a new one and possibly try to do the work myself with a friend. My local Honda dealer quoted me close to $500 for the job which I feel is quite excessive when the radiator itself can be purchased new for about $130.00. The dealer also suggested to put in a new thermostat also.

Is this a job a novice with some help could do to save a bunch of meny? Does anyone have any instructions etc.. or helpful insights?

Thanks

trinket

The job is easy enough to do yourself and save a bunch of money. A Haynes or Chilton's manual would be helpful, but the job is pretty straight forward. Drain the old one, disconnect the transmission cooler lines, disconnect the fans and lift out, disconnect the upper and lower hoses, unbolt the radiator brckets, and lift out the old one out and put the new one in. You might want to install new hoses if they are original. I don't see why you would have to replace the thermostat if has been working fine. You could do that later, when you replace the timing belt and waterpump, assuming you haven't done that, yet.
trinket

98CoupeV6

Drain engine coolant, then radiator hoses and ATF cooler hoses, Fig. 77.
Disconnect fan motor electrical connections, then remove radiator upper brackets.
Pull up and remove radiator, then remove fan shroud assemblies and other parts as necessary.
Reverse procedure to install.