Porsche 944 Radiator Replacment

Well, I dropped the ball on taking pictures on this project as we were trying to knock it out as quick as possible. Rich brought the beast over this morning so we could do the work on the lift. I believe this is the reason he wussed out on getting to Renntreffen in time, because his coolant exited the engine quite rapidly one day. Unfortunately, the radiator was on backorder for about 3 months, but we finally got it and threw it in. The radiators (along with almost all radiators since the 80’s) have an aluminum center core, with plastic end tanks that are crimped on. Over time the end crimps and seals will let go and create a leak. Sometimes you can get a radiator shop to repair them, but they seem to be in the $175 range to do so, with no real guarantee on being fixed. Also, over time, aluminum looses it’s ability to transfer heat, along with the cores just clogging with material over time, all which lead to heating and cooling issues.

The current radiators available also require the early 944’s to update the crossover hose, as the connection port on the radiator is now a larger size.

Now, like I said, I dropped the ball with the pictures, but I swear, Rich actually worked on his own car Lin.

Pulling everything apart. You have to remove the airbox, hoses, and radiator fans and then the radiator can come out.

Radiator will come out the bottom the easiest. Make sure to use the ORIGINAL radiator fan screws….they are stubby with no sharp point. If you use a replacement screw….you will screw it right into the radiator!

Old radiator and old crossover pipe hose. We transfered over the fan temp switch with a new seal, and it was ready to reinstall. At some point the lower mount had hit something, so we had to bend it back down into place so the radiator would fit. Took us a few minutes to figure out why it wouldn’t fit back in.

944PorscheRadiator