Hello,
I have a 1997 Taurus with about 107,000 miles on it. It’s been running great lately. This morning I went out to my car and there was a puddle of coolant on the ground under the bumper on the driver’s side. It was dark out so I got a flashlight but couldn’t really see where the leak was. From reading some older posts on this site it could be the petcock on the radiator??? My question is has any ever replaced a radiator and if so how bad was it?

Thanks for any replies,
Rummy

I know one thing your in for if you have to replace your radiator. And that's a BIG BILL from HELL! It cost $450.00 to $550.00 to replace it, because they have to drop it out from underneath the car. Bout 6 hrs labor. :evillol:

Considering a new radiator costs $300 for the part alone, $150 for labor isn't bad considering its probably a 2 hour job for them. For an amateur I'd estimate its a 4 or 5 hour job, make sure you get a good shop manual, I've never taken mine out, but i've been down into that part of the car and everything's a little funky down there.

Mine leaked for awhile, went and got 3 different estimates the $550.00 was at a Ford Dealer. Budget radiator said "oh it can't be that high", when I told em how much it cost. They looked it up thinking they could give me a cheaper deal. When another employee said it was 6 hr of labor cause it hard to get out. Guess 3 hrs to take out 3 to put back in. They didnt give me a price on just radiator , under the impression it is around $150.00 , the labor cost is where you get it. My radiator finally stopped leaking, think the crude in it plugged up the leak. Seems like somebody said the radiator doesnt have a peacock on it. But dont know for sure. If anybody knows please tell me here , thanx.

Don't ya just love new technology?! Todays cars might be more hi-tech and more efficient, but give me an 87-93 5.0 anyday!!!!! We can work on those all day long!

if i remember right, on my brothers 96 the driverside of the radiator has a drain plug on it i would check that to see if its the sorce of the leak before any major radiator overhauls or anything. $300 radiors vs a $2 or less plastic screw.

Thanks for the replies. I got under my car and took off a plastic shield that covers most of the front end. Antifreeze was all over the place but I think I found the leak. There is a metal tube that runs along the bottom of the radiator and it connects to a rubber hose with a clamp. I think it was spraying out of this location. I tightened down the camp and filled it up with water and ran it for a while and no more leaking. I will drain the water and put antifreeze in and start driving it again. Just as an FYI the drain plug is right above this plastic shield on the drivers side of the car.

Well, I spoke too soon. It was still leaking so I took it to the shop and the radiator was rotted out on the bottom. The dude said it's a 4 hour job and the radiator cost $300. I also needed a new belt and some hoses. The total will be around $800. I put a block of wood in my mouth and grabbed my ankles and took a good reaming! I didn’t have much choice, I don’t have the time to dick around with it myself and I am driving my 94 Dodge Ram 2500 to work in the mean time. This truck likes gas like I like beer, which is a problem!

RAdiator cost me 125 at a whosaler when i did the switchout my self, biggest problemn i had was getting the front end high enough to drop it out of the car, and having the right tool to get the transmission lines off the radiator, Gen 3 taurus intercooler and radiator share a common wall, and i had hit a piece of a tire and that wall is were it bent, only took 1 mo to rot out, having the transmission flushed twice cost more than having the radiator replased by myself...