04 Monaro Rad and pas cooler

[anonymous-user]

Hi Folks - hopefully I'm going to wake my Monaro up after its winter hibernation, over easter, it's been laid up since last September. It looks like it needs a new rad and pas cooler now, the bottom of the rad is damp, coolant level is down, and the pas cooler pipes look rusty. So If I order a rad and the MF aftermarket cooler, are there any other bits I'll need to do the job myself? How easy is it to get the front bumper off?

[jelevents]

I did my rad a few months ago, 2006 VXR, rad comes out pretty easy from the top, just be careful of the air con condenser
No need to remove bumper and once rad is out you should be able to get to the pas cooler.
Good luck

[anonymous-user]

Sounds good, thanks very much!

[maccavvy]

look for my post about PAS coolers. I got a alloy 10 row cooler from JJC rally
fits a treat and looks like its built to last a long time.
I fitted it with stainless pipe clips and stainless jubilee clips.

[Monaro5.7]

I have replaced both on my car 04 CV8 the Rad came from Vauxhall and was a really good price but I work in the trade and the P/S cooler came from driftworks and cost less than £70 if I remember right. The drift works cooler was just there universal one they do.

[anonymous-user]

I managed to get the rad out after a struggle. The air con rad and pipework need to be unclipped and moved forward so as you can pull the rad up, but the air con bits would not move forward enough to get the rad out. Ended up having to bend open the nearside radiator top mount, so as to push the rad backwards a bit in order to lift it out. The rad is leaking at the nearside bottom where the matrix goes into the plastic header. Hopefully this is the cause of the slow coolant loss that the car has suffered recently.



With the rad out I took a look at the pas cooler and pipework. The cooler itself doesn't look to bad, but some of the pipes have corroded really badly. I'm going to need pipes 16 and 7 as shown on the diagram. Pipe 18 has some corrosion over the middle bit, but I rekon I can clean it up, treat it and save it.

Question for Monkfish: Pipe 16 is shown on your website, but I can't see pipe 7. Do you stock this pipe?

[bonesxu1]

I tried getting number 7 pipe from Holden but they don't stock it anymore, Vauxhall may stock them though, I've not tried them. If you can find one I could still do with one, I was thinking of making one out of copper tubing.

[anonymous-user]

All going to plan so far.

I went for the Mishimoto radiator as it was cheaper than the OEM GM replacement. It's a beautiful unit, fully alloy, the welding looks great. Offers additional coolant capacity over the original too. It's a right fiddly job though getting the fan panel, the rad itself and the air con rad all lined up propely, I ended up breaking one of the mounting clips and skinned knuckles, fixed with a cable tie for the time being.

As for the pas cooler I fitted an OEM replacement. The original wasn't actually that corroded, it was where the pipes attach where it was going. I opted not to change the pipe that runs to the steering rack as it looks an absolute bugger to get to, even on a ramp! It's on the low pressure side of the circuit and it wasn't really that rusty it has only started to go where it attached to the cooler. As for the pipe that runs under the pulley (on the high pressure side) I cleaned up the pipe and it doesn't look that corroded so I treated it with some rust paint. All the joints that go into the rack and compressor pump look fine. To replace pipe 7 on the low pressure side I just ran some hose direct from the cooler all the way to the reservior secured with some cable ties. Whilst I was at it fitted new hose clips all round.

Filled her up with new coolant and pas fluid, and started her up - for the first time since last August. All sweet, run up to temperature, topped up the fluids, pas working ok, no leaks from the rad, fans switching in and out as they should!

Oil change tomorrow, a bit of fettling on the brakes, and then on Friday the beast will be released for the summer!

[bonesxu1]

Since I couldn't get a return power steering pipe (number 7) from Holden or Vauxhall I made one using copper pipe which would be perfect but then went on to make one out of aluminium tube. I did have some pics but I have lost the one of ally pipe work and it is now fitted and works perfectly. Just a thought if you can't buy one make one, just need a small pipe bender and pipe and better than original.

[L2VXR]

I've just made one up in 10mm stainless steel tube and remade the pipe clips in stainless also



I also needed the high pressure hose but couldn't make that as the ends require special tooling to form, new pipes are out of stock so I've had pirtek replace the corroded section with hydaulic hose

[bonesxu1]

Looks good, stainless will sure do the trick. Shame you could get the other hose, I got one from M/fish late last year.

[L2VXR]

I think the 04 cars can still get the hose but the 05 cars are different and out of stock for the foreseeable future