Great write up. Thanks for sharing it.

 

Question: Why did you disconnect the tranny line at the tranny and not at the radiator? Was there a particular reason for this or was it just a personal thing? Additionally, would it be prudent to disconnect the battery or would it not matter?

After reading this I might actually attempt this myself.

 

I did mine the way you are saying. I disconnected the tranny lines at the radiator and left them in the engine compartment. It is harder to reassemble this way. I wish I had thought to hook everything up outside of the car. Seems easier this way.

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Real good write up, the pictures help out a lot. How do you bleed the air? Never done a radiator change and I plan on doing this soon.

Cool I also got the same color and the same battery

 

For bleeding the radiator on the Ridgeline you just need to top the radiator off and let it run until the thermostat opens. When changing the radiator you only lose about exactly a gallon of coolant. No head bleeding or other procedures needed.

KeS

 

Were you able to reuse the clips when you reinstalled the bottom cover & how long did you leave it off? Did you replace any of the hoses, how did they look?

Great Write Up, tackling mine Labor Day Weekend since I'm on call with a company truck that weekend & following week

 

I broke most of the bottom ones on mine. They are available pretty cheaply on ebay. The bottom ones are for an 8 MM hole and the top ones are a 10 MM hole( at least that's what they were on my 06.

 

Excellent job, bigdogrod. Thanks for posting this.

Let me add some pages from the 2006-08 FSM to add to your excellent tutorial.

I like to use the Lisle funnel to eliminate trapped air in the system:

 

Spectra radiators are only like $300 right? I might do this in December and get it over with.

 

$125 at autozone. Sometimes cheaper if they are running a coupon. I ordered mine at their website with free shipping to my house.

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thanks for the replies guys, let me take them in order:

tpevehouse: it's easier to leave the hoses with the rad as it has to be transferred anyways, and those clamps are easier to get off, vs the ones on the fittings. they always say disconnect the battery, but i left it connected, had to have my music to work by :act035:

smokey: just like kevin said, leave the cap off and run the engine, i turned the heat on too, but prob. not necessary. i filled the overflow tank to max, and it's now dropped to midway between min and max, so perfect. i got 2 gal of coolant, used about 1-1/4.

Carsmak: no i broke about half of them, they are cheap online, get some of the bigger ones too like for the top plastic piece. bottom cover is still off, i want to paint the fog light trim and the engine cover, so i'll prob leave it off for a while.

speedlever: thanks for the pages, i had those printed out as well, step 7 is where i deviated with the hoses. also i don't see if they say to take the hood prop holder off, but it will lessen the chance to damage the new rad going in.

dwrx: exactly, i couldn't get my ham hands in there to get at those clamps, and it all has to come out anyways.

tpevehouse: less than half that on amazon, and free shipping to boot.

don't forget to pick up the foam for the top and bottom of the rad, and some extra clips.

 

If you're doing the radiator, the hoses are trivial to change at the same time. Mine were bulged and going bad at 100k, and they are under $25 for both from my dealer.

KeS

 

Ok cool thanks for the advice, learning something new

 

Thanks for sharing

 

It seems radiator hoses hold up better these days, and under higher under-hood temps. That would make them easy to overlook after the miles pile on.

 

i only have 32k miles, so i think i can go a bit longer on hoses..lol

 

I would do them with the radiator, timing belt, water pump, serpentine belt, etc. unless the radiator had to go first, them might do them a little earlier.

 

Definitely going to do this in December.

 

which clips exactly are you referring to, looking on ebay, lots of different honda clips.

Thanks

 

Here is at least another source for clips and such. I didn't break any of the larger ones, but the smaller ones were a diff story. Its a pretty old post, so hope its all still good, but the prices are much better than from Honda.

http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35038&highlight=expansion

 

Having issues, during the bleeding the air process I fill radiator to the top left cap off ran engine and coolant over flowed, put cap on and engine over heats, any ideas?

 

My suggestion would be to use the Lisle funnel, linked at the bottom of post 7. And as Rock said, make sure the heater is on full blast.

 

When burping the system did you run the heater full blast as well? Did you refill through the radiator?
Is the level in the expansion tank correct?


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will do, I did not have heater on, is it normal for the coolant to rise first? you leave the cap off correct?

 

What is the correct part number for the Spectra premium radiator? I went on their website and they list a CU13065 and I see amazon's part number is different, CU2830.

 

Both Amazon and Spectra Premium say that model CU2830 fits my 2008 RL.

http://ecat.spectrapremium.com/a/000092741

And wow, $120 for Amazon prime to boot.

For a 2009 RL, the model number is CU 13065.

http://ecat.spectrapremium.com/a/000094536

I have no idea what the difference is nor why the Spectra for a 2009 is twice the price.

 

funny, amazon says the other number doesn't fit... who wins?

This does not fit your: 2007 Honda Ridgeline
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Spectra Premium CU13065 Complete Radiator by Spectra Premium

$288.87 + $29.44 shipping
2 new from $239.29

i installed the cu2830 and it fits fine. i'd suggest a new cap also

 

that's it, i didn't see he had an '09

interesting, the picture looks like it has alu fittings vs the 2830's brass ones

 

Honda also lists different part numbers between 2008 and 2009. Maybe the 2009 and up are changed to a better quality rad???

 

OK I tried this today. Pretty easy to do. The old one at 114k looks near new much like the OP's. But hey I got it installed and it's working great. Same temp as always.

 

Great posting!

Advance Auto has new radiators with a lifetime warranty for ~$109.99 using the TRT41 discount code.

I've used Advance radiators on other vehicles without issue for some years now.