I have a little coolant leak at the passenger side of the radiator, coming from higher than I could see. I assumed the plastic end tanks cracked or I had some unlucky incident that put a hole in the fin tube.

I ordered a replacement, went to youtube and was shocked that there is no "how to" or diy on a cooper/clubman radiator replacement.

I did find a bentley video for getting the car in the front end service position.

Can anybody help me out here? link to a diy or a thread for a '12 clubman 6 speed. I searched for it in the r55 sub forum and only found 3 threads.


So right now I have the car up on stands, in service position. Subframe slid forward about 3"...not sure what to do next.

 

May want to look into purchasing a Bentley Manual. It really does pay for itself if you plan to do DIY work on your MINI. Believe 170-12 goes over the radiator removal and install.

In brief, it looks to be a somewhat easy DIY. You need to properly drain the radiator, remove the front bumper, connect an approved refrigerant recovery unit to the A/C unit (will need to have the proper equipment/training for this), remove refrigerant line/mounting fasteners as well as the a/c condenser fasteners (should be 3), and from there you should be able to unclip the radiator and tilt it forward. Then you'll need to remove the radiator hoses from the back and lower part of the radiator. I didn't have much luck finding anything on Google so maybe picking up a manual will be your best bet unless someone else may have something. Good luck!

 

Are you sure the leak is in the radiator? You said that you assumed....

See the image here. The thermostat housing does wear out as does the coolant pump. The thermostat housing is on the driverside kinda hidden by the airbox hoses.

I could be wrong, but I think the coolant pump is on the passenger side.

 

Thanks for the replys.


The leak was coming from inside the radiator support above the hose connection on the passenger side, not much else it could be besides the radiator.

I am still in shock a car this new needs a new radiator.

After putting the front end in service position it only takes a few minutes to get the radiator out. I was able to get some notes from a friend who is a mechanic and had access to manual.

One of the notes was to not disconnect AC, just shimmey out of the way. Not sure which way would be faster but its done.

I'll post some pictures of it when I get back to working on it. Amazon sent the wrong part. Part number 17 117 535 099 is what I ordered, got an 02-07 radiator.

 

Yea, watch those other general part sites, they have gen 1 mixed with gen 2 .

Looks like you nee the rad for a Clubman ( NON S ) based off that part. They use the same one for the manual and automatic.

17117535099

http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/SiteSearch/17117535099/






When you do change it out make sure you refill with the MINI coolant 50/ 50 with distilled water, and bleed and rebleed to get all the air out.

 

[QUOTE=ECSTuning;4100813]Yea, watch those other general part sites, they have gen 1 mixed with gen 2 .

Looks like you nee the rad for a Clubman ( NON S ) based off that part. They use the same one for the manual and automatic.


I usually order parts from you guys but mostly for my M3, the Mini is a DD and you guys don't ship same day even if I overnight it. For the M3 it usually doesn't matter unless there is a track day soon.

 

Thanks

If its in stock, it will ship same day. Does not look to be in stock here, but we can get it You can PM us if you need something asap and we can work to get it.

Thanks

 

Thanks for the offer.

I ordered it about an hour ago from you guys, let me know if there is anyway to get it shipped today. Or better yet move your parts warehouse about 3 hours north and I can come pick up parts.

 

Thanks, we will see what we can do.

We dont offer local pickup.

 

Call me crazy, but I had a leak on the pass side radiator next to the hose. After viewing how to change the radiator on YouTube, and it was winter and I'd have to work on the street I decided on a different course. I heated the car up, drained out some coolant till it was below the leak, pulled out some of the fins in the area, hosed it down with water then brake cleaner and dried it. Then, I had one of those 5 minute, self-mixing epoxy things and shoved it as far as I could from the radiator backside and filled the area as I retracted it with epoxy. This was a year and a half ago and still no leak. I did this on another radiator and when the car was sold 5 years later there was still no leak.