[Lothos]

It looks like I need to pull my radiator and clean it more and try and open up some bashed in fins. I looked at it yesterday trying to see how difficult this is to do and I'm guessing all I need to do is unbolt the shroud and set that back and then unbolt the radiator and pull it up after draining the coolant. I presume there's nothing wrong with re-using the coolant either?

 

[Cooter]

Pretty much, but it depends on whether you have an automatic trans or not. Also, might help if you tell us what Jeep you are doing this to...

 

[Lothos]

03 tj with auto. which means it has an auto fluid cooler in the bottom.

 

[Cooter]

Yuppers.

Need to disconnect that, as well.

 

[Lothos]

i've been staring at the fsm for a while now trying to picture the difference between the ac condenser and the radiator. the call out figures keep flipping the reference as to which is which.

 

[scorpio_vette]

the radiator is the big radiator looking thingy where you put coolant in. the a/c condensor is the little radiator looking thingy that has freon running through it. the a/c condensor is located between the radiator and the grill. if you look at the lines coming off the a/c compressor and follow them, sooner or later they'll lead you past the radiator to the a/c condensor.

oh yeah.......don't forget to disconnect the tranny lines, and don't forget to check/top off the tranny fluid when put everything back together.

personally i wouldn't re-use the coolant. this would be a good time to replace it and have nice clean properly mixed coolant..

 

[Plato2k5]

i would flush the coolant out out of the block as well. Take the t-stat off and spray water in there till nothing but clear H2O comes out of the water pump. Change the t-stat to.

 

[Lothos]

the water pump and t-stat are like 6 months old as I had a bad fan clutch when I had taken it in for some other stuff and they fixed it because of a leak. I'm not really worried about the block and the coolant is pretty well new too although I'll probably put fresh coolant in. My concern is getting the mud I have yet to clean out of the radiator and fixing the fins. I also need to replace both tranny fluid lines into the cooler.