BMW Radiator TRQ RDA82631

What's up, guys? I'm Andy from 1A Auto. In this video, I'm going to show you how to replace this radiator in this 2001 BMW 325xi. If you need this part or other parts for your vehicle, click the link in the description and head over to 1aauto.com.

With the trunk open, we're on the right side or the passenger side, there should be a cover that goes right here. This vehicle doesn't have one, but you're going to want to remove that cover. Battery is located right here. First thing I'm going to do is take a 10mm socket and a ratchet, loosen up this nut for the negative terminal, and it's loose. Slide off the cable, slide it out of the way.

I'm going to take these push pins out right here. I'm just going to use some side cutters to get this center pin. Pull that up and slide it out. Be careful not to cut that. Get those out. Just grab this piece, slide it out. We're going to disconnect this connector right here. Just push down on that, slide that out. There's another connector right here. I'm going to slide the wiring out first just like that, and then the connector will come out. I'll just slide that to the side like that.

I'm going to take a T25 and a ratchet, take this screw out right here. I'm just going to use this trim tool from 1aauto.com to take this push clip out. In there, pull that out. Now that is loose, but what we need to do is we need to take the fan off because the fan has to come out with the shroud as one. What we need to do to take the fan off is we need to disconnect the fan clutch from the engine side. This is attached to one of the pulleys right there. Sometimes these are somewhat difficult to get off, so what we're going to do is use this tool. We actually sell this at 1aauto.com with many different sizes. This happens to be the 32mm. That's going to slide on there, and then we slide this on and with a pneumatic air hammer, we're going to give it a couple of bumps and it's going to loosen up that nut and we should be able to get it off.

Now, we're going to take the tool, and this fan clutch happens to be on there reverse thread, so it's going to seem like you're tightening it, but you're actually loosening it. We'll go like that, put our air hammer on there. Make sure you wear hearing protection and eye protection.

That's loose. Took a little bit of effort, but I got it. Now, you can slide the tool off. We'll just move it a little bit. There we go. You should be able to just spin it off like that. You might need the tool once in a while, or you could use a wrench if it fits, a 32mm wrench. Right now, I'm just going to keep loosening this up. Be careful, you don't want to the fan to fall. You don't want it to smash into the radiator, especially if you're going to reuse the radiator. If you're replacing it, it's not a big deal.

As I get closer to the end, I'll just move the fan and just grab the blade, and there we go. Now, I can slide this right up just like that. I'm just going to disconnect this connector to the mass air flow sensor. Push down on this tab, wiggle it out. Take a straight blade screwdriver, loosen up this clamp right here. It should be good. Push that snorkel off right there. There's all these clips, pulling the top of the air box off. I'm just going to take the top off. This last one over here, it's kind of tricky to get to. Pull the dipstick out of the way. Just grab the air box, pull the air filter out.

We're going to take these two bolts out. I'm going to use a 10mm socket extension and an electric ratchet. You can use a regular ratchet if you don't have an electric one or an air-powered one. Loosen them up, take them out. Now, we just grab the air box, slide it up. This wire is on this little grommet right here. Just try to slide that out. Just try to slide this off. Take that off and you can slide this out of the way.

We're going to pull this fill cap off before we drain the coolant. Make sure the engine is cold. We don't want to take this off while the engine is hot or you're going to get splashed in the face with coolant. Pull that off, and now we can raise the vehicle and drain the coolant. Underneath the vehicle, there may be a cover right here. You're going to have to remove it. There should be some fasteners there, there, and there, and there, and then also back there. This vehicle doesn't have it, so we're just going to start right here. I need to loosen up this drain right here. This radiator is not the original radiator, so I believe you're going to have a different size socket to use if you have the OEM radiator. For this one, it's a 22mm socket. I'm going to use an extension and a ratchet. Loosen this up. Make sure you put a drain bucket underneath.

I'm just going to remove this. There you go. That coolant looks nasty. To help the coolant drain out a little faster, I'm going to open this bleeder screw right here. Just use a straight blade screwdriver to loosen this up. Now, we want to remove this side from the radiator. I'm just going to take a straight blade screwdriver, slide up under this retaining clip right there, and then there's also one right here. Just like that, and then I can just grab this hose and just wiggle it a little bit.

Pry that off. That looks good. Now, I'll take the screwdriver and just take this hose off completely and slide the clip out. Just wiggle this back and forth and pull it out. Now, we take the screwdriver and just take this hose off completely and slide the clip out. Just wiggle this back and pull it out. There's a screw right here. I'm going to use a T20 socket extension and a ratchet. Take that screw out.

Now, I can move the radiator out a little bit and we're going to take this screw out. Now, if you weren't taking this section of the radiator off and you were just doing the reservoir, you can loosen up the bolts on the headlight, move the headlight forward. Then, you might be able to gain access to that screw right there. We're going to use a T20 on this screw to take this one out. Pull that screw out. I want to pull this coolant hose off. Just use a straight blade screwdriver or a pick. Just pull up on the retainer clip and then just wiggle it off. There we go. Let that out. A lot more coolant came out. Make sure you still have your drain bucket underneath there.

Now, from underneath the vehicle, you don't necessarily have to be from underneath the vehicle, I just wanted to show you how this worked. There's a little lever right here that you can actually grab from above the vehicle, and you just pull it towards the center of the vehicle just like that, and that releases the lock that holds that in. Now, that clip is released, now we're just going to grab the tank and slide it up. The coolant sensor is still down there. We'll have to to disconnect that, but I'm just going to grab the tank and just pry it straight up. Be careful, you don't want to rock it back and forth too much because you could break other plastic. Just pull it up just like that. You're going to have some more coolant come out. Just slide it up. You slide it up, I can disconnect the connector right here. Push down the tab. Pull it out like that.

Disconnect this connector right here. Just push on that. Slide it out. Make sure you have your drain bucket underneath, and I'm going to pop this hose off. Just use a pick, slide up on the lock and grab the hose and try to wiggle it out. Just a little bit of coolant, not too much. Then, we're going to take this part of the hose off right here and just use a straight blade screwdriver or a pick. Pull the retainer out. You don't have to pop this off completely, I just happened to do that, and just grab it and wiggle it down. There we go. Slide it down and slide it out.

We want to take this cooler off of this piece right here, so just slide up this little lock right here. You don't have to pull it all the way off. You can just slide it up a little bit. Then, you should be able to grab the cooler. Make sure you have a bucket underneath to catch any fluid that comes out. That should slide out like that. There's no fluid coming out right now because we drained it earlier. There's a little thermostat right here. This one happens to be broken, but you don't want to grab that. They are pretty fragile, so be careful. They might break. This one just separated. There's normally a spring in there. There's a hose right here we need to disconnect. I'm just going to grab a pick and underneath this little clip, we want to get underneath that clip.

Just take a pick, get under the clip, slide it out. Just carefully, I'm going to use a screwdriver to get a little leverage. Just try to wiggle the hose back and forth. There's a little like junction connection right here. Sometimes it's easier to take that off, and this is all plastic, so you're going to be careful. A lot of times it's pretty brittle, so you're just going to have to replace some of the things that crack. I'm just going to take a pry bar very gently and just try to wiggle this off. There we go. This bracket slides on like that for this connection. There we go. Slide this connection up here, then you grab it a little easier to slide this off.

There we go. Got that piece off, and if this cracks you're going to have to replace that. There's a screw right here that I need to take out. It's a T25. Just use a T25 socket and a ratchet. Pull that screw out. With that bolt removed, you can take a screwdriver or something to pry with and just try to get underneath here and just pry it up. It is plastic, so be careful. This one actually broke. There's an O-Ring right here and there's a piece that holds that O-Ring in and this piece broke. It's pretty fragile. If you're replacing the radiator, keep in mind you're probably going to need to replace this, too.

I'll take this out. Just slide it up, move this out of the way. You can slide it out. There's a plastic bracket on the lower part of the radiator. I'm just going to take this off. Just use a straight blade screwdriver. You can use a pocket screwdriver, theses little tabs right here. Just get under those tabs, pry it out. I'm just going to grab the radiator, give it a wiggle, slide it up a little bit and should be able to pull this out.

These power steering lines are in my way a little bit. Just be careful around there. Just get it past there. We can tilt it up and pull it out. Here's the old part, here's the new radiator from 1aauto.com. Has the same fins, the same side covers, the same fittings, the same brackets. There's the old one. Get yours at 1aauto.com and you'll be ready to rock and roll.

Take the radiator... we're just going to angle it a little bit, slide the passenger side in first. Get that close, and then we want to get it past the power steering lines over here. Try to angle this a little bit.

It's a little bit tight. Here we go. Got that past. Then, slide that into position right there and right there. Looks good, and that looks good. On the back side of this before I install this into the radiator, I am just going to take a little bit of white lithium grease, put it on the O-Ring. You could lubricate this with some coolant. This is just personal preference. Just lubricate. We're going to slide this down into position. It's going to slide on up here first. If I can get it lined up with the radiator and just wiggle it and lock it in place.

I'm going to install this screw right here. Take a T25, just tighten that down. Just snug it up. It is in plastic, so be careful. Then, I'll take this piece. This is going to slide into one of those slots right there. Oops. Don't push up on the radiator too much.

There you go. I'm going to install this splitter right here. I can move the radiator out a little bit if I need to just to get this to line up. It just slides on and then I'll hook the hoses up afterwards. Oops, get that off. There we go. It's in position. Get the radiator back.

We need to install this hose. You can check that O-Ring. Make sure that O-Ring is good. Just put a little lubricant on that, and then slide this in position right there. It is keywayed, so it only goes on one way. Lock it in place, and it's good. I'm going to take this cooler and you can check those O-Rings on the cooler, too. They look pretty good on this car, so we're just going to leave those. You can either lubricate them or... there's a little coolant on ours, so they should be okay. Lock that in place right there.

I'm going to install this thermostat. This is just a thermostat for the coolant that goes through this cooler for the transmission cooler. I just put a little lubricant on there, and this is keywayed as well. We just line that up just like that. Then, just push it down. We're going to just push it down and then that should be good. We take the coolant reservoir, we want to plug the coolant level sensor in before we push it all the way down. You might be able to reach it once it's all the way on there, but it's just easier to get it lined up. Just like that. Lock it in place, and then line the reservoir up.

There's a little tab on the back side here, you want that lined up, and then lock it in place. Take this hose, line this up, and lock it in place just like that. Take this screw right here. It's just easier to put this on before I put the hose on. I'll get that started. We take a T25 extension and a socket, tighten this down. Just snug. It is in plastic, so be careful. I'll take the hose, slide it in position, and just lock it in place on the lower radiator hose right there. It'll lock in place.

Take a connector, line it up, lock that in place. Then, we can take the upper portion of the hose and slide it over here. Lock it in place. Take this pipe, this upper hose and just line that up right there. Lock it in place, and then over here, line this up over here and just wiggle it a little bit. Lock that in place. Make sure this reservoir is locked in, too. That's good. These have to go on together. Just slide this in position.

Once you get this close, then we're going to start to tighten up the fan. Now, these fan blades... the fan clutch is reverse thread, so it's almost like you're going to be loosening it. There's really no easy way to do this. Just do it carefully. Once you get it started, it's a little bit easier. Make sure that the fan shroud is in properly. Looks good. If you have the ability to torque this nut for the fan, you're going to torque that between 22 and 29 foot-pounds. I don't really have that ability, so I'm just going to put this tool on there and just give it a little tap. That should be good.'

Right here is the push pin. That's going to go back in here. Slide that into position and lock it down. On this side, we're going to put this screw right here, and then I'm going to use a T25 and a electric ratchet to tighten this down. Just snug. I'll position this wiring harness right here and we'll plug the connector in right here. Lock that in place. Now, we're just going to slide this side of the lower air box in here. Yours may have something that this connects to. This vehicle doesn't. It just slides in position, and then this lower part slides there, and make sure these holes are lined up. Take these two bolts, get these started. Take a 10mm socket and a ratchet and tighten these down. I'm using an electric ratchet. If you don't have an electric ratchet, just use a manual one.

Take the air filter and install it. Now, take the top part of the air box. You're going to slide it onto the snorkel first. Just like that, and then there's all these clips. Take these clips, lock this part down. Connect the mass air flow sensor and the air flow meter, then we're going to slide this clamp right here. Take a straight blade screwdriver and tighten it down. Just snug, not too tight. Give it a shake, make sure it's good. Take this piece, slide this into the air box, just like that, and there's retainers right here. We'll take those push pins and lock them down.

Then, we can take the negative side, connect the negative side. Take the same 10mm socket and ratchet, tighten it up. That's good. At this point, if you had that cover, you're going to want to put that cover back where it goes. When adding the coolant, we're going to use a funnel and you want to make sure you add the appropriate type of coolant. You can check your owner's manual. There is BMW-specific coolant. Generally, it's blue coolant. We're going to fill up the reservoir.

We're going to take this bleeder screw out. Just use a straight blade screwdriver or a Phillips head. Just move that funnel. You can probably just loosen this up a little bit or you can take it all the way out. Just like that. Set it aside. You want to fill this all the way up to the top and have coolant come bubbling out of the bleeder hole. Once it's coming out of there, we're going to reinstall the bleeder screw. It is plastic, so be careful. You don't want to strip this. Get this started again.

Then, close that bleeder screw and then you're going to adjust the level in here. Now, there is a little dipstick in here. When this is full, this is going to be all the way at the top. Now, you can check it right here. It shows where the min and the max is, so you want to adjust that accordingly. You can add coolant or take out coolant. You can use like a turkey baster or some type of fluid pump to suck the fluid out. Then, you want to let it run. You want to leave the heat on. When you leave the heat on, if you don't have heat, you're going to want to crack this open a little bit and just make sure you get some of the coolant out. It's probably a good idea to shut the engine off, let it cool down, and then readjust your coolant.

When you're done, when the fluid level is at the appropriate level, take the cap, put it back on. Make sure you monitor your temp gauge while you're running the vehicle. If you run the vehicle for about 10 minutes, the temp gauge should go right in the middle there. If it starts going to the red, shut the vehicle off and start over. Bleed the system again.

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