Camry radiator replacement

First repair I did on my '94 4 cyl. Camry (after replacing the air filter element) was radiator replacement. Gave me a great deal of confidence to proceed to other types of work on the car. Oddly, the single greatest impediment I encountered was the plastic retainer for the wire harness at the bottom. Finally cut it, and it retained sufficient shape to hold the wires when replaced. Transmission line fittings are no problem, they use spring clamps, like the radiator hose that can be removed with common slip joint pliers. I did use a factory original replacement, though, and everything fit perfectly. Just go step by step, no real difficult areas. Unfasten the radiator hoses, unbolt the fans, then remove the radiator. There are some lower mounts - rubber "doughnuts" that you need to transfer to the new radiator. I wound up later changing the upper radiator mounts to hold the radiator without any motion. Seems the upper mounts wear and develop unnecessary clearance, may not be worth the expense though. Despite being what I thought was careful enough, I did slightly bend a few fins when placing the new radiator in position, so try to be extra, extra cautious there. Be sure you're running distilled water and Toyota red coolant to maximize life of the new unit.

Daniel, Good set of instructions on the r&r of the radiator. Only thing I'd add is to google for radiator in this ng and look for a post by MDTTECH. He's a toyota Master Technician, working in a dealership, and he recommended a brand of radiator other than oem. He claims it is as good or better than oem at a better price. Also, make sure overflow bottle is full to cold mark, add 50/50 coolant/distilled water mixture to radiator then bring engine to warmup with radiator cap off. Watch coolant for it to start to rise in filler neck on radiator, then shut engine off. Install cap on radiator and let engine cool down, it should draw any needed coolant in and expel any air. Check overflow bottle for correct fill level. HTH, davidj92