Toe/Jim: Thanks for the advice. I'll leave the battery as is til my next junk yard trip.

On the bolt: even if I cut the bolt off with a dremel, the nut or whatever broke off inside the plastic housing is still going to be stuck in there (right?). I'm wondering if the path of least resistance isn't: 1) metal snip the bracket off, put the new one on and just not bolt it down or 2) just pull the whole radiator and drop in a used one (and avoid having to remove the bracket at all).

Yall have any other ideas/tips/tricks? The space is real tight since the radiator on this model sits right on the cross bar of the subframe.

 

No, the nut and bolt remains should fall out. You could cut the bracket off then zip tie the new pipe in place (loop it thru the plastic stand off), to help support the pipe.

 

Thanks all. I'm going to replace the whole radiator because the inlets for the transmission hose are totally rusted out as well. Might as well do it all in one sweep.

Got a question. The screws holding the fans in place are so rusted they have turned into a single piece of metal. Could not even get a socket on them. I've seen people use dremel on these kind of rusty screws under the car but the angle here is really tight. Would people recommend a dremel on it or is these some other method I could use? (I don't have access to compressed air or anything like that) I could really use a clever pro trick on this one, otherwise gonna have to pay someone to do it.

 

A few options.

If the top bolts come out of the fans, then the bottom of the radiator fan is slotted so you can just slide the radiator fan out with a slightly loosened bolt. You may be able to slide out the fan with some twisting motion. Check that your radiator fan is setup this way before attempting.

The radiator may come out with the fans attached. Then dremel when out of the car.

Since you are replacing the radiator, you could just break the plastic with something like a chisel. Drain radiator first.

Another option is to purchase a bolt out, where you hammer on a socket with spiraled peaks that will grip the bolt. Then use the appropriate socket to remove or break off the bolt head.

 

First, get some PB-Blaster soaking on those screws to loosen the rust. Give it some time to soak in, then try the things suggested above.

Although, if you're replacing the radiator, you could just break the brackets off the radiator like PA said.

 

Yup, I ran into that on my daughter in laws 08 Pilot (slotted lower holes). You'll have to replace the screws on the new radiator, but that's just a quick trip to the hardware store for some M-6 screws.
I'd try and pull the radiator out with the fans attached first though, as you might have enough room to get it out as a unit.

 

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for their help on this one. Before the holiday I ordered the radiator to replace it but it got stolen off my porch (must have thought it was a TV) so I just connected a new transmission bracket/line and zip tied it to the old one (as PA had suggested). Everything is back in working order!