Please note this is for a 1994 LC. Pics and comments may not apply to other years. Though I suspect there is little to no difference.
I replaced my stock rad with a KOYO Radiator (part # c1917). The Koyo came with side brackets. It did not come with a radiator cap which perturb me. I paid $269.85 total and purchased it from Go-Part.Com.
First and for most, the radiator is held on the car via 4 bolts. Two bolts are the hidden bolts. 1 bolt on either side behind and slightly to the side of each headlight. See pics below.
The other 2 bolts are the vertical bolts. There is one on each side that attach to the L shaped bracket. See pics below.
That's it, just 4 bolts. I want to be clear about this as there are a few post about removing 2 bolts on either side of the bottom corner of the rad using a gear wrench because there is little room to use a socket. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO MESS WITH THESE BOLTS. These bolts simply bolt the bracket to the rad. If you really want to remove these bolts to remove the rad bracket then do it outside the car, which is much easier.
So what I did:
1 - Remove Battery and tray
2 - Remove headlight, side-marker, turn signal and front grill
3 - Remove 2 upper rad hoses (1 big & 1 small)
4 - Remove 1 lower rad hose
5 - Remove fan shroud via 2 top bolts
6 - Remove fan clutch (plastic fan still attached to fan clutch) via 4 bolts. Be careful not to strip these 4 bolts. These are tough to remove as the fan clutch will rotate.
7 - Lift Fan shroud and fan clutch out together. Please note on the DS lower fan shroud, there is a clip that supports a hose, undo this clip to free the fan shroud.
8 - Remove the two transmission hoses at the bottom of the rad. I'm confused why the LC even has these two hoses as we have a dedicated trans cooler.
9 - Now you will see on either side of the rad, a metal bracket shaped like an "L". Remove the vertical bolt on either side. You can loosen the 2 other bolts to give you more wiggle room when you remove the rad but you don't have to completely remove these 2 bolts on either side.
10 - And now the tough part removing the 2 hidden bolts which is now more exposed as you have removed the headlight. There are two horizontal bolts (1 on either side) about mid way up the rad. There is a nut on the grill side and on the engine side there is flat head. This flat head is a problem as you can't hold it when removing the nut. I broke both of these hidden bolts but I swore this would never happen to me again. See my mod below.
Old Rad and in very very bad shape:
Lower corner either side... 2 bolts. You don't have to touch these but a few folks have instructions on how to remove them. If you really want to remove them then do it outside the car. As you can see they were rusted badly. I could never removed them even if I wanted to:
Hidden Bolts ... Grill-side:
Same Hidden Bolt but engine side. Please note yours will not look like this. Yours will not have a head on it. I snapped mine off and swore this bolt will never give me issues again so I cut off the stock flat head and removed the bolt and installed my own bolt with a head:
L-bracket with Vertical bolt: Remove the vertical bolt and you can loosen the 2 other bolts. Once the rad is outside the car. I removed this L shaped bracket and installed it on my replacement koyo rad.
Enjoy!
I replaced my stock rad with a KOYO Radiator (part # c1917). The Koyo came with side brackets. It did not come with a radiator cap which perturb me. I paid $269.85 total and purchased it from Go-Part.Com.
First and for most, the radiator is held on the car via 4 bolts. Two bolts are the hidden bolts. 1 bolt on either side behind and slightly to the side of each headlight. See pics below.
The other 2 bolts are the vertical bolts. There is one on each side that attach to the L shaped bracket. See pics below.
That's it, just 4 bolts. I want to be clear about this as there are a few post about removing 2 bolts on either side of the bottom corner of the rad using a gear wrench because there is little room to use a socket. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO MESS WITH THESE BOLTS. These bolts simply bolt the bracket to the rad. If you really want to remove these bolts to remove the rad bracket then do it outside the car, which is much easier.
So what I did:
1 - Remove Battery and tray
2 - Remove headlight, side-marker, turn signal and front grill
3 - Remove 2 upper rad hoses (1 big & 1 small)
4 - Remove 1 lower rad hose
5 - Remove fan shroud via 2 top bolts
6 - Remove fan clutch (plastic fan still attached to fan clutch) via 4 bolts. Be careful not to strip these 4 bolts. These are tough to remove as the fan clutch will rotate.
7 - Lift Fan shroud and fan clutch out together. Please note on the DS lower fan shroud, there is a clip that supports a hose, undo this clip to free the fan shroud.
8 - Remove the two transmission hoses at the bottom of the rad. I'm confused why the LC even has these two hoses as we have a dedicated trans cooler.
9 - Now you will see on either side of the rad, a metal bracket shaped like an "L". Remove the vertical bolt on either side. You can loosen the 2 other bolts to give you more wiggle room when you remove the rad but you don't have to completely remove these 2 bolts on either side.
10 - And now the tough part removing the 2 hidden bolts which is now more exposed as you have removed the headlight. There are two horizontal bolts (1 on either side) about mid way up the rad. There is a nut on the grill side and on the engine side there is flat head. This flat head is a problem as you can't hold it when removing the nut. I broke both of these hidden bolts but I swore this would never happen to me again. See my mod below.
Old Rad and in very very bad shape:
Lower corner either side... 2 bolts. You don't have to touch these but a few folks have instructions on how to remove them. If you really want to remove them then do it outside the car. As you can see they were rusted badly. I could never removed them even if I wanted to:
Hidden Bolts ... Grill-side:
Same Hidden Bolt but engine side. Please note yours will not look like this. Yours will not have a head on it. I snapped mine off and swore this bolt will never give me issues again so I cut off the stock flat head and removed the bolt and installed my own bolt with a head:
L-bracket with Vertical bolt: Remove the vertical bolt and you can loosen the 2 other bolts. Once the rad is outside the car. I removed this L shaped bracket and installed it on my replacement koyo rad.
Enjoy!
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