How to Replace Radiator 2007-09 Honda CR-V

Hi, I'm Mike from 1A Auto. We've been selling auto parts for over 30 years.

Hi, guys. Today we're going to be installing this radiator in this '09 Honda CRV. This radiator is from 1AAuto.com and it is set up right to the manufacturer's specifications. So if you need this radiator or any other parts for your vehicle, please check out 1AAuto.com. So to drain the coolant out of the radiator on this CRV, the drain plug is right in the center, right below the license plate, up inside of here. I just use a little pair of pliers, I reach in there, and I turn it counter clockwise. Once you snap it, you can probably get your hand up in there. I used a lift. You can use a jack or jack stands at home or just crawl on your back. Make sure you have a catch pan to catch your coolant. No need to take the petcock all the way out, just enough to drain, that way you can control the flow.

Once the petcock's opened and the coolant's draining into the bucket, I release the radiator cap to let the suction inlet come out a little faster and then just set that aside. I'm going to remove the top shroud cover here. I just use a body tool and clip and push it in there to get these clips out. All this process, all the way around, all your body clips. Some of them are tight. You can use a Flathead screwdriver and see if you can get in there. Now with the last clip out, just process, pick it up, move it out of the safety latch switch.

I'm going to remove the hood latch and I previously made marks with a Sharpie so that way the alignment is easier after and there's no misalignment. This is a 10 millimeter head bolt, so I use a 10 millimeter socket. Break it free. This has a plug on it, so we're going to follow the plug down on the inside, pinch and pull it off. Now we need the body tool to disconnect it from the frame up front here, you can see it, or you use a pair of pliers. Just pinch those ears on that clip, push it through. Now that should clear and then that can be set aside.

So now I'm going to remove the overflow hose. Sometimes I just take a pair of pliers and just give it a slight twist and pinch and turn it off. Now we're going to remove the AC condenser bracket and the radiator support bracket. All three are 10 millimeter socket head bolts. I'm going to just break them free. And just lift up. There's a little rubber ear down there and they mark them left, see the L? So that would be the driver's side, left side. Set that aside. Headlamp assembly, one last bolt, 10 millimeter socket again. Just weasel it out of there, set it aside. So in this design, the hood prop is actually on the radiator support. As you can see it goes through here and up to the hood and I have to relocate that because I have to take this mount off. So we're going to start by lifting it up and then weaseling this through.

So I'm going to relocate the hood rod down here on the upper motor mount support. Just going to put that right in that spot and relocate it on a secondary spot. Now we can access everything we need to and out of danger. So now I'm going to remove the right side AC condenser bracket. Once again, it's labeled R, so right stands for also the passenger side, so you can't install them incorrectly. 10 millimeter socket and 10 millimeter head bolt. So I removed the bolt, pull up on the bracket, and set it aside. Remove the plastic bolt from the headlight assembly. I'm taking the last bolt out, and I'm going to have to grab my pliers again and disconnect that wiring harness. So first I'm going to clear the grille, pull that up, and get that in a position that I can squeeze the harness clip out. Set it aside.

So, disconnecting the upper radiator hose, they have the heater expansion style clamp, that's the factory clamp. You got to reach in there with a pair of pliers the best you can. A little bit of a struggle. Squeeze those, and slide it off at the same time. You can release it down further on the hose to clear it. Then you're just going to grab it and twist back and forth. See if you can wedge that somewhere to set it aside so you can get to the cooling fans easy. There you go. Nice.

So these are radiator clamps or heater hose clamps that they call expansion clamps. The way it's designed, you notice, doesn't have a socket on it or a head for a flat head screwdriver, is when these heat up, they actually tighten up. And that's a factory design for almost all manufacturers across the board. You ever see them really rusted and corroded? That's a key that you want to change that because when the car gets hot the rusted ones won't expand and you can have a leak at the actual radiator connection or a hose connection. So before I remove the wiring harnesses for my fan trails, I'm going to just spray my mounting bolts because they're pretty corroded. And let the penetrating spray do its job. It's not uncommon for these to crack plastic and they get pretty corroded in there. So now I'm going to reach up down around and I'm going to disconnect my electric cooling fans, pushing down on that clip, and a little wiggle.

We're going to have to disconnect the harness from the shroud, so that's where I'll use my body clip tool. And I'll get in here, and I'll just give it a good twist. I'm going to do the same process on the other fan. Find the clip, push down on it, give it a wiggle, find that clip in there and pop it out.

So with a ratchet wrench, I'm just going to put it right here, 10 millimeter ratchet wrench, and I'm going to hope for the best, but pretty sure it's going to crack, as you can see the strain. Unfortunately that's what happens, especially in New England. So in this case we are replacing both the fan motors and the radiator. If this happens to you prior to removing the radiator or the shroud, if that's all you're replacing is the motor or the radiator, you might want to purchase both items, because this is very common. This one's working, and it just broke. Last bolt here. Hope for the best. No, this one actually came out. So when I put the new shroud in, heater shrouds, and shrouds, I need to get new bolts. These are six millimeter by 1.0 thread count. You can always bring one to your parts store and match it up that way.

So now that I have the wiring harnesses disconnected from the fan shrouds, I'm going to pull each motor out. Even if I was just replacing the cooling fan motor for the antifreeze, the AC fan has to come out first before this process slides over. So all the top bolts are out and I have to pry this off because it's stuck in there. Even though I'm replacing the radiator, I really don't feel comfortable prying against it. So this is where it's going to take a little weaseling out. Pull out, there's ears on the bottom, and you pull that up. There you have the AC cooling fan.

So we're going to leave the coolant fan in there to show you the process of taking the radiator out, then taking the fan out. It's kind of a tight squeeze in here and in order to avoid breaking anything else. We're taking the radio anyways so let's continue the radiator removal, then we'll take the fan out. So we have, this car is an automatic, so you have two automatic coolant lines connected to the cooler inside the radiator. You've got one here and one over here on this fan. I'm going to disconnect this one first. Now these are the exact same design clamp as this heater clamp, band clamp. Pair of pliers and I'm going to squeeze the ears that are mounted down below. Slide that down the hose, expand my pliers just a hair so that I can wrap them around the without damaging the rubber hose, and we're going to reuse that, just slightly squeeze and twist.

Make sure you have a catch pan down below, because this is going to drip automatic tranny fluid. I'm going to try to stand the hose up upright so that I can stop any extra fluid from running out of the hose. So now I'm going to take the cooling fan and move it over to the passenger side so that I have access to the lower radiator hose, the temp sensor, and the other transmission line. Now to remove this temp sensor, just going to squeeze the ears mounted on the back side here. You can feel it. Just push up on it and pull back.

This is going to be a body clamp. So, I'm going to just pull that out. I can actually get to this clamp tab from up here so it'll save you from having to get on your back. Going to line up my coolant bucket below that lower hose. Now I'm going to reach down and see one of the ears of the metal clamp is here, it's on the other side. You can feel it with your finger, there's a little loop. I'm going to pull that down. Now with that out of the way, I just use a little pocket screwdriver, flathead screwdriver. You can use a smaller or a larger screwdriver. Anything that'll fit down there. I'm just to wiggle this back and forth. So because I'm going to replace the clamp anyways, I'm going to remove this expansion clamp that's pretty much frozen on that radiator, so we'll have to work on that on the bench.

So I'm just going to squeeze the clamp. Look at all that rust. Set that aside. Now hopefully we'll clear the upper support with that still attached to the radiator. So, I'll put the electric fan on the front, start weaseling this out. So that fan was a bit of a bit of a struggle. What I had to do is I had to take the bottom part of the coolant fan motor shroud and make sure I went over the transmission coolant line nipple and the drain. Once I got the bottom part of it over there, the radiator came right out. So now with the radiator out, this coolant fan will come right out.

So now with the old radiator out and on our bench, we're going to remove our rubber bushings mounts that they just pull right off, set them aside. And we're going to take off this temp sensor. It goes in the radiator. It's a 17 millimeter wrench. Just break it free. Those are the O ring. Make sure it's not crushed. So this is the lower radiator hose plastic neck that was in the vehicle, was giving us a hard time. This is what that clamp looks like from the bottom view. And I had put my flooded screwdriver in there, pulled this clamp out, brought it to the first staging. We'll hear it snap in. At this point it's supposed to just slide right out with a little prying, but it's corroded in there pretty good. So I'm just going to take this clamp completely out so that I can work with it easier. Pop it off the sides and set it aside.

Now I'm going to spray some rust penetrant spray in here and just hope it soaks in there so we can take this lower radiator neck off. So I'm going to take a hammer. Obviously it's plastic, you can't smash it. So I'm just going to give it a little light tapping and try to move any debris that's in there that's really got this stuck on. So I put it on the floor and we're going to stand on it, give it good support, because we're replacing this radiator, so I still don't want to crack or break this connector for the lower hose. So I'm going to take a pry bar once I let it soak and I've tapped it a little bit with a hammer and I'm going to pry up on it and wiggle at the same time. And then there you go.

Hi guys. So today we have a radiator for our '09 Honda CRV behind me. This radiator came from 1AAuto.com. And to show you the comparison to the OE factory radiator. Our core is the same diameter, same thickness. The radiator dimensions are exactly the same, the tanks lineup. We've got the exact brass fittings for the ATF, automatic tranny fluid, and it fits just like the original one and you can have the bragging rights once you're done. So now I'm going to install the rubber bushings. Those are the guide bushings that mount inside the vehicle. They just slide right onto the ears down below. I've got the coolant temp sensor and I have the lower radiator housing. Now this was difficult getting off because it's original, it was nice and it was dry in there. So before I install it, I'm going to put a little silicone paste or dielectric grease, just coat the O ring. Just enough so hopefully the next person doesn't have a nightmare.

Remove the packaging caps and this is going to go upward. You can line that ear up with the ear on the lower part of the hose, radiator, clamp it down. Just wiggle it back and forth. You'll feel it bottom out. Now I can install my clamp. Snaps right into place. The packaging, it comes with this plastic petcock that helps from any debris getting inside there. And just back this out and install the old sensor. This is a 17 millimeter wrench, so once I bottom it out with my fingers, I'm going to just give it a nice little quarter turn. You don't want to over tighten it is brass and a plastic tank. So you can double check with a slight tug, oh this is a 18 millimeter wrench, and if you feel like they're loose, just tighten them up just a quarter turn. Anything happens in packaging and shipping. Take off all the shipping covers. And now I'm ready to bring it to the vehicle.

So to make it easier for installation, I removed that lower radiator hose connector, so I wanted to show you on the bench so you could see it up close so you can see how it goes back on. So I took it off so that it can fit in without any damage to it. And so now we're going to install the coolant fan. Remember to do this prior to the installation of the new radiator or re putting your old radiator back in due to the clearance. So you've got to squeeze this in there and then you've got to set it up aside, up in the front area. So now you can clearly put the radiator in. You're going to have to fish it around.

You can get the radiator go right into the mounting holes. Move the fan to the left. I'm going to install the spring so you can see that. Sits in like that. Bring it down. We'll line it up with that ear. Give it a little wiggle, snug, push the clamp up. Now it's in place. So I removed the factory style banjo clamp for this lower hose clamp. As you can see, look at the rust build up in there. So I just replaced it with a regular style clamp that you can pick up at a parts store. So we'll put that on. I'm going to put all the tranny lines on.

The head on this hose clamp is just an eight millimeter socket. Sometimes you'll get some with seven. I'm going to try to tighten this up so it's an easy access from down below for future problems. Not very common you're always going to have the cooling fan out to access that. Snug it up. And perfect. Not too tight. You want it snug, but you don't want to strip it. I'm going to connect the cool temp sensor, the radiator temp sensor, shall I say. Make sure it clicks.

So now that the radiator is in and the hoses on the right hand side and connector for the temp sensor's on, I'm going to manipulate this fan over and I'm going to line up the ears down below so that they go into the slots. Just like this side, there's two round eyelets and the fan shroud has plastic studs that should go right into those holes. So I had to get two new bolts for this side and bolts for that fan because of the New England weather and how they stripped out the old ones. So I got these at the parts store and I'm going to start them in. 10 millimeter wrench, ratcheting wrench, socket, whatever you're comfortable with. Just bottom it out. Remember everything's got plastic, so that's the last thing we want to do is crack any of this.

We're going to connect the electrical part. There's a hole in the fan shroud for this pin to line up. It's right here. Give it a good push. Let it click in. Make sure there's no debris, no oil got into the connector. It looks nice and clean. Click it right into the new one. Nice, good connection. So now that side, the fan is done and we'll move on to the AC fan. Make sure they go down. You can feel where the steel, the nipple ends and you want to make sure you're on there for a good, good distance. So now we're going to squeeze our AC cooling fan in on this side.

Let's see if the lower ears lined up. Yep, they fell right into place. So that lower part's in. I'm going to line up the harness connector to that hole, click that in. No debris, everything's clean. Snap that right in. Now, I can mount the AC fan on this left side with two new bolts. I use a flat washer so that it doesn't sink into the plastic. Tighten those up. Now I'm going to remove this old rotted banjo clamp and replace it with a new style. So now I have the new clamp. I snugged it down enough so that would fit without too much having to tighten in the car.

And line up the top, upper radiator hose. We're going to turn this so in future repairs it's easy access. Eight millimeter head on this hose clamp. Now that's good. Now we're going to install the radiator support bracket on the driver's side or if you say left side it's marked L. You're going to guide it underneath the headlight assembly and then under the front grille. Wonderful. Line up everything, and I start the bolts by hand. Once again, 10 millimeter socket. Snug everything down. And we won't forget on this side, the driver's side, we also have the overflow coolant jug hose that gets connected to the neck of the radiator. No clamp needed here on this particular model because it's such a snug fit. Put it down on the clamp holder. Now we're going to install the passenger side radiator support bracket, that's slightly stamped with a R. They get A for effort. You're going to manipulate this part underneath the headlamp assembly.

Move your line out of the way. Everything seems to line up. Start your bolts by hand. I can reinstall this harness with this body clip. Nice and easy, clicks right in. Now we're going to install the AC condenser brackets, so I'm going to mount the passenger side first. Push it down on that rubber bushing, they have a key way. You can see it lines up with that hole on the actual radiator mounting support. And then you can just hand start your bolt. So now I'm going to install the driver's side AC condenser bracket. I might have to undo this hose because I did that earlier. So bring it right down onto that rubber bushing. Snug it right down in there and it'll pop right through. Line up that slot on that square. All right.

Now I got to reinstall that hose. It is the overflow hose on the radiator. We're going to reinstall our hood latch and as you can see I'd made a nice trace so we'll have proper alignment and no questions asked. This has the indicator light that the hood is open, so we have to put that wire through the other side, and I'll hook that up after. I'm going to hold that latch firmly with my left hand to make sure it doesn't move so that I see my marker lines are still on the outside. If I was to let go, see how it goes above and goes down, it's going to turn with the pressure of the bolt.

Just give it a good snug, feel with your hands. You don't want to be too forceful. These are only six millimeter threaded bolts. That's nice and snug. So now we can come on this side of our latch and connect the sensor. That snaps it in, and you'll find the mounting hole right there. I'm going to line up and just push it in. So now I'm going to put the hood prop back in the original mounting position when I'm done doing the work under the hood. Just lift up, manipulate that out. Then guide it in. There we go. And I got to let the hood down a little, put it in the original spot and we're set.

So now we're going to reinstall the upper radiator plastic shroud. And we have all our body pushpins. Put them back in the spot, click them down. This is what they, they have expand inside. And that's when it's up and it pushes down and locks, pushes the fins out, little fingers. So now we're going to add the coolant, and I've installed this clear funnel. It's like a self burping top funnel. You can use a regular funnel if you don't have this, but it's easier for you guys to see it in the visual. So I connected the correct fitting on the bottom on the radiator and this just sits right in there. Then I fill it up with the coolant. Make sure that the drain valve is tightened before adding new coolant. Check your owner's manual for the type of coolant in the mixture. This has been premixed.

So now that I have filled the radiator with coolant and I used my self-burper funnel, I've left it at a level that's makes me very comfortable so that when I run it, it can suck any fluid down in or burp it up and not make a mess.

If you don't have this style funnel, do not fill it all the way to the top. Leave some air so you can visually see down there. Start your car and run it. We're going to run it for about a half hour, 40 minutes, whatever it takes to get the thermostat to open. Make sure your heater hose connector inside your heater vent is on hot so that the heat coolant will go through the heater core and you'll get all the air out of your system. And once that happens, the fans will come on. You hear those fans, watch your coolant level, top it off at the top of the radiator, put your cap on and you're ready to go.

So now that you've had the car run, reach full temperature and thermostat opened, coolant fans came on. I let it sit for about a half hour, let it cool down and let the coolant get sucked into the system and now it's going to be at its proper level. Close this off when you have this style funnel and now take it off. You're going to get some spillage, a little bit, so make sure your pan is still underneath. So now I'm going to put the radiator cap back on and seal that up.

Check my overflow, and if it's low, now that it's cold, it's going to be marked. You'll see the fluid level where it is, and on the side here there's a line and it says "cold" and "hot", and this is cold. So, that's where I like to use this. I can put it right on top and add to it. Check my level. It's right at the cold level, which is perfect. We assemble the cap, make sure that screws down sealed tight, and you are ready to go.

Now I'm going to check the transmission fluid. There's a dipstick right here. What you want to do is you want to get the engine nice and hot to the point where the coolant fans come on and then you can shut the engine off and you're going to wait 60 seconds, then you can grab the dipstick, pull it out. We're going to wipe it. Then we're going to re-insert the dipstick. Pushing all the way down. Let it sit for two seconds, then we can pull it out. We'll check the level and you want the level to be in between these two dots. Our engine is cold, so our levels down here, but when it's hot, it should be in between those two dots.

If your fluid level is low and you need to top it off, you're going to want to use a funnel like this, long and skinny. And you can slide it down into where the dipstick all goes and you can top your fluid off right there. So, when you're done, topping it off, you pull the funnel out, take the dipstick indicator, slide it back in the hole. You're going to want to make sure that rubber grommet goes all the way down. All right, to close the hood we're going to pull the prop rod out, put it back in its holder, drop the hood.

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