Been working on replacing the radiator on my 2016 RDX Advance. I have everything out and disconnected, but the removal of the radiator itself is blocked by this bracket. I could probably brute force it out, but I’d probably damage the new radiator getting it in. So the bracket needs to come out. My question is, is it OK to unbolt this bracket, or am I going to have a disaster with the nuts falling out inside the frame? I’m hoping it’s a welded nut inside the frame, but afraid to take that chance! Thanks!

 

Nevermind, I just took the risk, it came out fine.

 

Hey man! how many Kms on the original radiator? I literally did this job last week on mine (2017) only has 70kkms on the original OEM rad.. Pretty piss poor quality from Honda IMO for being an OEM Denso rad. I've had Hondas forever and they have always lasted 10-15 years. Anyways i went with another OEM rad and didn't want to bother with an aftermarket.

 

It had 83,500 km on the original radiator. Yea very disappointing! I put a Spectra radiator in it, figured it can’t be much worse :-).

 

Gentlemen, My wife's 2017 RDX has 139K miles on it. Where did your radiators fail at? (What was the location of your leak)? Was a collision involved? Rock strike? Your mileage is terribly early for a radiator to start leaking.

Hobbyist, what made you pick Spectra over the OEM Denso?

 

I suspect a loose fan bolt did mine in. One of the fan bolts was sitting at the bottom of the radiator, resting up against it. Maybe it impacted it after being hit by the fan blade? Who knows? It was definitely leaking though. As for Spectra vs Denso—mostly cost and speed of delivery. The Denso was going to be something like $153 vs $90 for the Spectra. If I had more time to wait for shipping, I probably would have gotten the Denso (which at the time, was going to be four or five days later).