How's it going guys. during my last visit to the mechanics he told me that I have a very slow radiator leak towards the bottom of the radiator. I didn't see anything, but it was apparent there was anti-freeze and water slowly appearing at the bottom of the radiator. I do not want to pay the mechanic another $500+ to fix this and want to do it myself. I guess I will start by replacing the radiator. Any suggestions on where I can find a new / refurbished radiator for my 1990 Montero? How difficult is it to replace the radiator. I've never done this before but am willing to do it to save me some money. any suggestions or right up about this process would be greatly appreicated?

It's and easy job. Take you radiator to the radiator shop and have them put in third row. You will have a better product than the aftermarket one. It cost me $260 +/- and few cents.

there was a guy (wire member) out your way who was selling these, I think. A post from a week or so ago...

Otherwise hit the junkyards. be careful not to get a rad off a 4 cyclinder. wont fit

This is what I would do.

The steps:

Drain radiator (antifreeze kills)
remove upper radiator hose
remove upper radiator shroud
remove fan (I'd replace fan clutch while I had it off)
remove lower radiator shroud
Remove lower radiator hose
MESS WARNING!! the tranny cooler hoses will leak tranny juice forever. Prepare two "plugs" to seal off 1/4" hoses. 14mm bolts work pretty good. Unscrew hose clamps and slip aside back onto hose body. May have to take them apart and off. Take a pair of pliers and grip the cooler hose over the radiator bottom tank nipple, and rotate the hose to break the seal. I use a chebby valve spring tool to pry the hoses off. Whatever you use, it's a biotch to get the old hard hoses off. And plug 'em quick.

Radiator now comes out with 2 12mm bolts on each side. Note the header of the bottom tank, the plate the finned tubes kill out into. See the row of dimples matching the spacing of the front two rows in the rad? That's where the third row goes. You have to buy a new 3 row core, and the radiator shop who orders it will unsolder the old core, solder the new one in, fix any tank leaks, and repaint it nice shiny black. Better than a new one. Aftermarket radiators have very flimsy tanks compared to the OEM tanks. I bought a quality custom 3row core and put it into my stock tanks and had about 3 pinholes fixed in the tanks, all for a few bucks less than the price quoted above.

Look for a radiator shop where the shop is all nasty sooty black, full of tanks of nasty stuff and natgas soldering flame torches. At least one old line radiator shop almost everywhere. If they still try to sell you a new rad like an ACF, find another shop.