My 2004 was in a collision that ruined the radiator and reservoir and such... but it's been sitting for four years without being driven. I took the radiator and all the broken bits off and it has just been sitting waiting for new parts. I have been starting the engine and letting it run for about 15 seconds about once a month for the past three years (which i've been told is not good).

Anyhow i'm getting parts in now and am going to fix it and drive it. I'm not a mechanic but i've done a few things so I can handle it with instruction.

One of my main concerns is, since I took the damaged radiator off a good amount of the coolant leaked out. I'm not sure if there is any coolant still in the engine or not. When I attach the new radiator should I just fill it like normal per the FSM? Or should I take the thermostat off and get coolant into the engine after start up and just fill up the radiator that way? I really don't have any knowledge of coolant systems and i'm worried if there is no coolant in the engine it may develop some hot spots and crack the block before the thermostat gets a chance to open.

Also during the collision the power steering fluid reservoir was destroyed. I assume there is still some oil in the lines. When i install the new reservoir should I just fill to max and perform the bleed per the FSM?

Finally, when I took the damaged radiator I disconnected the lines from and to the 5AT. I put a aftermarket AT radiator on so the oil wouldn't escape but when I started the car the hose popped off and I lost probably a good one to two liters of oil. I'm thinking just performing the regular AT oil change procedure should be sufficient but perhaps I should add a bottle or two before starting. The fluid level according to the dip stick is normal though, according to the FSM. It is between the two notches for "cold" as it should be. Thoughts?

I'm going to take the rebuild slow and not rush it (even though i'm excited and want to drive her again) because I don't want to damage anything. I'm already worried there may be some problems that crop up shortly after I start driving it again just because of how long it was sitting. Any advice would be helpful... Thanks.

 

Just do as the fsm states for each procedure. Take your time with the coolant, you may want to run it a couple of minutes then wait, and repeat. It's not hard to get the air out.
Be very very careful not to get any dirt in the trans.

 

Thanks for the reply. I was hoping for a more technical response however. I'm just concerned I may need to perform some special tasks for this special situation. It is the engine coolant i'm really worried about.

I guess it wouldn't be any different than installing a new engine that doesn't have any coolant in it. Do you force coolant into the engine before starting it up and letting it idle? Or will no damage occur? Where is the temp sensor anyway? I'm assuming it is near the input of the radiator because you would want an accurate temp of what the coolant is inside the engine.

Maybe i'm putting to much thought into it and it is more simple than that. It never hurts to be careful though...

 

I replaced my radiator and support a while back, nothing to crazy about it. I haven't read anything about your a/c. I'm assuming it's toast as well. Idk how much it costs to recharge it, I haven't paid for it in forever. You should mark your lines and bag/label your nuts and bolts before disconnecting everything so there's no confusion when assembling.

I've always just installed everything and burped the system with no problems. I've done a lot of cars this way. When installing the p/s, you can fill the reservoir with the front end sitting on jack stands start the car and turn the steering wheel all the way in each direction over and over topping off the res making sure it doesn't go dry. I would think it would be beneficial to change all of your filters/fluids since it sat so long. Maybe even spark plugs and so on.

 

The coolant will fill just fine, from the bottom up. Just make sure you bleed the air, then run it a little and bleed it again. It's not going to just burn up on you if you watch what you're doing and be patient.

 

Yeah the AC condenser was equally damaged. I cut the lines on the damaged condenser. I got a used AC condenser in good condition and I just have to get the connections fitted. Because nothing happened to the AC compressor I was told by a buddy I can just refill at the canister, but i'm not sure about that.

And yeah I bagged all the bolts for each thing i took apart and marked them. So I know which bolts go to which components.

Obviously it will be getting new coolant. I actually changed the power steering rack two months prior to the crash, so in theory the fluid should still be pretty fresh but i'll be adding more. I'll be flushing out all the old AT fluid and putting in new. I've already changed the engine oil when I got the car back three years ago and it still looks fresh. Think I should change it again anyway? What about VLSD oil? That was change a couple months before the crash too... I agree the spark plugs might be good to change anyway. The car has 75K miles and right now they are slightly easier to work on with no front end stuff attached so I might as well change them.