My radiator keeps falling out of the top retaining clips and ending up tilted backwards an inch or two.

Doesn't seem to affect anything except rendering the weather seal between the top of the radiator and the radiator support useless, but it seems like this would be putting a lot of stress on the bottom of the radiator, and could be very bad down the road.

My top retaining clips seem sound - I've taken them out and they both look okay. But when I shove the radiator back into place and push the clips all the way down, they tilt back and the radiator can be pushed such that the clips bend and the radiator falls out again.

All the service manual says about the radiator beyond the clips is "position the radiator" and "remove the radiator" so I'm not even sure how it's supposed to be held in. The clips look tilted like mine in the service manual illustrations, but they clearly aren't designed to allow the radiator to fall out...

Has anyone else had this issue? What's up? Trying to avoid having to flush my coolant and remove all my hoses just to figure out how the radiator should be held in...

 

??????? Thoes clips are stout??????? I can not understand that the clips are loose???Woody

 

Is there supposed to be something the clips seat into on the non-radiator side (inside the support)?

My clips feel strong themselves but they can just tilt back far enough for the radiator to slip out...

 

Don't know if this is your issue but make sure you have the long end of the clips towards the engine.

 

I would check the bottom of the fan and make sure the two bottom tabs are seated into the two recesses that hold the bottom in place....

The top has the two tabs with grooves running horizontally that match two on the radiator support.. as mentioned, the long tab on the clip goes towards the engine.... there should be no play in the radiator that would let it move if the bottom and top are where they belong......


EDIT: I am assuming(?) that you mean the fan and not the actual radiator(since it is bolted in)...

 

They say a picture is worth a thousand words so .....

 

DIRT????????????? IS THAT DIRT????????????

Woody

 

Yeah that's dirt, I have washed the car once this year and as I only wash it three times a year its on schedule for another.
I clean under the hood much more but so far not at all this year.
I'm getting lazy I guess.

 

Thank you a million, onehundred80! That's *exactly* what I needed!

Those clips look entirely different from mine - the tops of mine aren't curved and I'm missing what appears to be a rubber shim between the clip and the radiator. Weirdly the service manual doesn't show that shim or the curved top... the illustration in the original '04 service manual looks almost exactly like my clips and not yours, except mine fall out, so yours are clearly superior.

Any part numbers off of those clips?

I'll take pictures of my setup and part numbers when I get home on Friday, just for a cross-reference in case anyone else has a similar issue.

For now, I'll probably just make an improvised version of that rubber shim and call it good, since that will probably fix my problem perfectly.

 

Dave, I think "Lazy" is only part of the problem...

And, bri3d, if you need, I can make a pair for you. Real cheap if not free.