Cost to replace a Commodore radiator in Canberra?

This is very, very easy to do yourself. Either buy a Gregorys workshop manual or google it. I am not at all mechanically minded and replaced mine in less than an hour. You only need a couple of spanners or a socket set and a screwdriver, it is dead easy.

You can get a new radiator at Repco, Supercheap or any of those places for less than $200. A bottle of the coolant stuff will only be around $20 or less. No need to replace your hoses unless they are stuffed, but if they are, they are cheap and readily available at any auto parts place.

I repeat, this really is a very simple job to do. From memory, just undo the couple of bolts holding your fan shroud in place and unplug the fan and pull it out. Undo the hoses that go to the radiator. The radiator is held in place by two press clips at the top, one either side. Use a screwdriver to pop them out and then pull the radiator out. Pop your new radiator in and reverse the process to install it.

Give it a go, it is not hard. Worse case if you get stuck, call one of those mobile mechanics. If you have the parts there they will only charge you for about an hours labour tops.

bigfeet said :

Is this a ‘white commodore’?

They have a bad reputation on Riotact!!

yes indeed it is a white commodore.

About five years ago I paid ~500 for a new radiator for the Falcon. 650 would be about par, given labour, inflation, the carbon tax etc etc etc …

And you drop it off in the morning, get free parking all day, get an excuse to knock off early to pick it up in the afternoon, your hands stay clean, you don’t have to hassle around buying cars at Pickles and stripping them or getting another radiator from that Holden wrecker in (?) Kemble Court (who’s pretty good, BTW).

So yeah, it seems fair enough to me.

Have a long suffering VT wagon. The motor was on its last legs as a result of my incompetence at 300K, so bought a Vy2 at Pickles for $600.

Got a 160K motor/gearbox, and the rest for free. Sold interior/dash/brakes for what I paid for it.

Is this a ‘white commodore’?

They have a bad reputation on Riotact!!

Call Canberra Total Service and Repair, 6251 3888, 69 Oatley Court in Belconnen and ask Kev for a quote.

Not like the old days. Just buy the radiator and do it your self .. With a few beers on a Saturday afternoon all done. Mind you that was on a HD Holden.

if you are handy with the tools you can do it for a lot less….visit ezyscrap and remove a radiator vr/vs are the same give it a reverse flush before fitting and source new hoses and clamps from repco, supercheap or whoever including a bottle of good quality coolant and youll get it done at a 1/4 to a 1/3 of that quote depending on the mood of the ezyscrap guys on the day…..they dont seem to have set prices on parts and as long as you find and remove what you need yourself they are quite reasonable pricewise, they always have a heap of that model there so look through a few and you are likely to find a fairlynew radiator to suit your needs

$650, just buy another VS

Well, if you ebay the parts there is about $200 worth. Then you have the wait for shipping and to see if it is the right one. Don’t know how difficult it is to replace but if you aren’t mechanically minded it could be daunting, as you also have the cooling hoses for the auto transmission, conveying the cooling fan to the new core if it’s attached to it. Then you also havce to wonder how much needs to be dismantled to get the old unit out [grill, bumper, covers etc.]. Sorry I’m rambling now…
Sounds good to me, especially if you get a warranty on the parts and workmanship.

yeh doesnt seem that bad id go for it