Nissan Repair: radiator, upper radiator hose, radiator replacement

Question
How hard is it to replace a radiator on a 96 Nissan Maxima?

Answer
Hi Sally -

Radiator replacement is pretty basic. I am assuming that your car is automatic, because it makes a difference. Manual shift is easier, believe it or not.

Anyway, Sally, Usually the radiator is held in place by brackets at the top, and sits on rubber bumpers at the bottom. All the hold down bolts should be 10MM. That is the easy part. The more involved process are the things you have to remove to get that radiator out:

In this order:

remove the upper radiator hose
remove the electric cooling fan assembly(s)
   There should be 3 or 4 10mm bolts holding down the fan shrouds. Remove that and disconnect the wire terminals by pressing down on the tab, and it should slide right out.
Now you can access the bottom radiator hose. remove that. Be careful, all the coolant will spill out.
If your car is automatic, you will see 2 smaller hoses attached to the bottom of the radiator. Remove that. It will help if you get a catch pan and collect all the oil that comes out of the small hoses. This is your cooling system for the transmission.
Remove the radiator hold down brackets at the top of the radiator, and the whole assembly should come out.

Installation is the reverse of above. While the car is running, check the transmission oil in case you lost too much when the hose was removed earlier. Fill as needed.

BTW, while you have it out, this is a good time to remove the thermostat, flush the engine out, and replace the thermostat with a new one. You did not say why you are changing the radiator, but if it overheats, or produced a leak, a stuck thermostat is a good culprit. better safe than sorry!

If you have any questions, you may email me at cjiwash@yahoo.com

Hope this helps, Sally
aloha!
calvin