Found one of the rattles on my car - the radiator moves about at the bottom as if nothing is holding it:eek: I've just wedged it up from underneath with a piece of garden hose, and I'm now going out to see what happens. If it works I might put some silicone on it to hold it in place, although it is a tight but bouncy fit - ooh er missus.

sounds to me as your rad mounts are worn & req replacing,i have the same fault on mine,i just havent got round to replacing them yet,i dont think the bits are that expensive...the front bumper has to come off to fit them,im sure a member who has replaced theirs will tell you more about it.

I have a feeling theres a "how to" if you run a search for it. ALternatively it cost me about £100 at a main dealer.

mine have gone too. Fatty 5000 had the same prob too iirc, think he put somethin upon how to sort it.

billy

Mine have gone as well, currently the rad is wedged in place with 2 rubber door wedges. I've picked up the new ones from the local stealers and plan on fitting them at the weekend.

For info the Part Nos. are:

1U0121367A

1U0121367D

Total cost (2 of each) inc. VAT = £9.24

Just a question before I start, as I can't work it out from Haynes or just by looking.

I know the bumper has to come off, but does the rad have to be drained and hoses etc.disconnected, or can they be fitted without?

(P.S. - and yes, I have run a search, but can't find the answer - most seem to have had them replaced by dealers )

Edited 1 April, 200917 yr by BJM

I use pipe foam wrapped in gaffer tape :O:O But it does shift about owing too the fact that the bottom splash guard type thing is quite flexible so my method is flawed if I'm honest.

BJM

I think you do really need to drain down and remove the rad as it's hard work otherwise, I attempted it back some time ago, andgave up in the end as I wasn't sure what I was doing.

Epic fail really :O:O

Before wedging it with the garden hose I had done the searches and noted the prices being charged or the amount of work required diy so hence the hose:D So far it is an improvement but not gone completely so I may try wedging it in a bit harder as the radiator could still move a bit back to front, but for a zero cost 2 minute option so far so good:)

Mine was the same, nothing holding it in the bottom area. Took the front bumper down and secured it: there are 2 holes on each side, pretty easy fix with some screws. All squeaks are now gone (and they were really strange, some even seemed to come from the back of the car, but it was the radiator all along).

I changed my radiator mounts myself last summer. As I felt that the bottom mounts had too much play in them.

You don't need to remove or drain the radiator. Just remove the bumper and headlights, then you'll have enough room to play with. It's a fiddly and annoying job, as you really have to wiggle the radiator about to get the mounts off their pegs on the radiator. It's easier to do if you follow a sequence of removing the mounts to get the most room for removing the most awkward ones.

The annoying thing is that 10 months later, it's got the same amount of play again! I think think part of the problem is that the plastic pegs on the radiator wear down as well, so it's never going to be a snug fit. Even with the new mounts, there was play in them. I won't be replacing them again, as it obviously isn't the fix. You can loosen and turn the mounts a bit, so they tighten up a bit on the oval profiled pegs, but that's not really a fix either.

I'm thinking maybe try slipping some thin sheets of rubber (from a bike innertube) into the mounts, and securing them with glue or something. Or fill the void with silicone.

At the end of the day, the radiator isn't going anywhere, as the top mounts are a much better design and 'lock' the rad in place with a sort of 'G' shaped peg and matching shaped hole in the mount. There was no wear on my top mounts, but I changed them anyway.

Try loosening off the mounting screws on the lower mounts and rotating them to see if you can stop the rattle first. Then try replacing the bottom mounts, but I'd leave the top ones alone, as they are a pig to get off! But if your short on time, the pipe lagging bodge seems like a good idea.

Hope that helped