My '90 Accord w/ 240k miles has a pinhole leak in the upper radiator about 3 inches below the top. Put in a whole bottle of stop leak, but it didn't work. Still leaking. So I guess I need to buy a new radiator. Anybody bought one off of ebay? The price there are lots cheaper than dealers. Even cheaper than TAS parts. Seems like an easy DIY repair job, right?

 

I got one off e-bay for my 89' for $60 shipped (less then half of what I found any other places, even online). It was a generic one with the hook up for the auto-trans oil (mine is a manual) but otherwise fit and works great. It is a pretty simple DYI project, took me less then 2 hours start to finish and no special tools should be necessary.

 

Yeah, that's kinda what I was looking at. Do you remember which seller you bought it from?

 

No, it was a couple months back. Just make sure you buy from someone with a 99% or better feedback rating. I always like to see an actual pic of what I am buying too, not just a stock photo to make sure all the connections look in the right place, etc.

P.S. Good luck getting that stop leaks stuff out of the cooling system. i flushed mine 3 times and the coolant still has a brownish tint to it.

 

When you replace the radiator, after draining it....take the lower hose loose from the T-stat housing.....take the top hose loose from the radiator fitting and fold it back out of the way.
Take the trans cooler lines loose at the trans pipes.
Just unplug the fan & wire connections and pull the entire chunk out as a unit.
Swap over fans and lower hoses on the work bench.
Be sure to reseat the bottom rubber 'bumper' supports, burp out the air from the system thru the 12mm bleed screw at the T-stat housing.
Race Ready !!

 

I am curious as to why I wouldn't want to take the lower hoses off at the radiator fittings, like the top hose. Wouldn't it be easier to pull the rad/fan assembly up and out with as little attached as possible? And easier to put back in w/o fishing hoses down?

 

I was a flat rate tech for 18 years. Turn em to earn em.
You can do the job however you want to.

 

Got one on the way from Radiator Classic for $42 shipped. 99.6% positive feedback. Guinness, did you use a flush product (Prestone?) or just run the garden hose?

 

Just a hose. I didn't expect that much trouble getting that stuff out and without my little Honda to get me to a autoparts store buying a flush product was not an option. In retrospect, I probably should have tried looking for the block drain to get all of the coolant out. Plus, I am sure there was some in the heater core too.

 

Don't feel bad - even using the block drain, it doesn't ALL drain out.