Disco 2 Replacing radiator - help

OK, straight up I am looking for a possible shortcut here, and I'm prepared to be disappointed.

That fragile bleed hose connector on my radiator has cracked, so need to replace the unit. Going to do it over the weekend with some help. Anyone local welcome to come join the fun haha. I was hoping that the glue my garage tried would hold long enough for me to get a nice set of silicone hoses, but alas I'll just have to go ahead with the radiator for now.

I have both RAVE and Haynes, and both want me to disassemble most of the front of the car, which pre-2003 seems to be a heck of a hassle. OTOH, I spotted a video where they seem to have just removed the battery box and filter box and got enough space. However that's a V8, I believe, and they're just some randoms; so I don't know how much different things are, or how reliable they are.

Also thanks to @sierrafery 's little guide, I want to try and flush the whole system out first. I have the LiquiMoly 1804; how bad would it be to leave that in overnight? Go for a drive with it on Friday evening and then drop the coolant in the morning then flush the system before removing the radiator? Or should I flush with the new radiator in so I don't have the leak anymore (and hopefully no others haha).

Finally, other than the thermostat and EGR blank anything else I should probably do while I'm in there? And anything to be especially prepared for or careful about?

I just replaced the aircon condenser myself so i had to remove the intercooler, i removed the fan and pushed the radiator toward the engine with hoses attached to make more room. As i rememorate what i did i have a strong feeling that you dont have to remove anything else than the viscous fan and eventually the turbo hoses and air box to replace the radiator

you can leave the liqui moly over night without fear and off course flush it before you fit the new radiator

Naf623 said:

OK, straight up I am looking for a possible shortcut here, and I'm prepared to be disappointed.

That fragile bleed hose connector on my radiator has cracked, so need to replace the unit.

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I wonder if you can replace that connector in situ with a hose barb threaded in and sealed.

Oh, and thats the other thing; one of the other symptoms I'm getting is that the heater doesn't blow warm unless I keep the revs up. Presumably needing to be above 1500RPM to activate the bypass. Assuming I'll need to do that when driving with the LiquiMoly, as well as when flushing to make sure I give the heater matrix a good going through too?

NPG said:

I wonder if you can replace that connector in situ with a hose barb threaded in and sealed.

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I'd still want a replacement radiator on standby just in case

Naf623 said:

I'd still want a replacement radiator on standby just in case

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So you might want to do that repair on the old radiator and keep it as spare !

I've also attached 2 LR documents, one in relation to the bottom ports of the new spec D2 radiators + fuel cooler restrictor whereas the other one is an update to the removal and installation methods found in RAVE. Good luck.

NPG said:

So you might want to do that repair on the old radiator and keep it as spare !

I've also attached 2 LR documents, one in relation to the bottom ports of the new spec D2 radiators + fuel cooler restrictor whereas the other one is an update to the removal and installation methods found in RAVE. Good luck.

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Instructions look the same as the RAVE I have. What do I need to do with regards those bottom ports?

Naf623 said:

Instructions look the same as the RAVE I have. What do I need to do with regards those bottom ports?

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Depending on the VIN (check TSB), you might need a fuel cooler restrictor. They say it comes with the new radiator but it never did whenever I replaced mine. But you can buy it separately using part code PCS000010. As for the radiator, it should not be modified in any way. The original radiator on mine had both those ports open but all replacements that I bought since then came configured with the ports as shown in Fig 1A of that TSB. Never had an issue even though the port connected to the return from the fuel cooler is completely blocked.

NPG said:

Depending on the VIN (check TSB), you might need a fuel cooler restrictor. They say it comes with the new radiator but it never did whenever I replaced mine. But you can buy it separately using part code PCS000010. As for the radiator, it should not be modified in any way. The original radiator on mine had both those ports open but all replacements that I bought since then came configured with the ports as shown in Fig 1A of that TSB. Never had an issue even though the port connected to the return from the fuel cooler is completely blocked.

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Ah, OK. My VIN is A74... so looks like I don't need to do anything. But thanks for the heads up.
Weird that they would totally block a port like that, though.

Naf623 said:

My VIN is A74...

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The important figure is what's in front of A cos that's the MY

sierrafery said:

The important figure is what's in front of A cos that's the MY

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Oh. Well that's a 2 same as the TSB too, so I still think I'm OK.

Naf623 said:

Weird that they would totally block a port like that, though.

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I think it has something to do with a modification to the radiator's bottom 4 rows, which were reserved for fuel cooling in the original design.

Well that's been very interesting indeed. Mostly due to lets call them "modifications" made by a previous owner. I seem to have no mounting brackets for the radiator etc to screw into at the front - only to hold the intercooler from underneath.

Also never seemed to stop getting bubbles from the bleed plug, so I guess we'll see how that is...

Bleed screw has a leak... it's already a metal one so looks like it's probably stripped the hose threads. dammit!.