Replace Radiator on a 2000 Discovey II

Hi, I have a 2000 Discovery II and the radiator has a small leak. I am sure the dealer wants a ton of money to replce it. I am thinking I can do it myself as I have done radiators in other cars and ths looks fairly straight forward.

I have not disconnected any of the hoses yet but I did remove the top cover and a couple of mounting bolts at the top. The radiator still seems to be held in somehow and it seems it's more than the hoses holding it in. Also, I see the transmission cooler is sort of mounted to the radiator.

I have three questions I was hoping someone could help me with:

1) Is the transmission cooler part of the new radiator assembly or, is there some way to remove this from the radiator? If so, can it be removed from the radiator while it's hoses are connected or do I need to disconnect the AT cooler hoses in order to get the radiator out

2) Are there any special tricks or clips/fasteners on the bottom or sides that I need to remove? Does anyone have a set of radiator removal instructions?

3) I have been reading that the radiators, these metal/plastic ones, are not that good. I have only 65k miles and this is the second one. The first one was done under warranty at about 30k miles. Are there any good aftermarket radiators as it appears to me the original LR radiators suck.

Thanks

Thanks for the advice. I have never had this car serviced anywhere but the dealer so I am pretty sure they have not mixed the coolant. I will make sure the when this new radiator goes in, it has the LR coolant.

Actually, this car as been pretty much trouble free since I bought it new in 2002. . The original radiator had a leak in the exact same sopt (passenger side, engine facing side where the aluminum meets the plastic) as this radiator. I have read that there have been troubles because of the different thermal properties and expansion rates of the aluminum and the plastic. Of course, I am not too sure how much I believe this necause my wife's Honda has an aluminum/plastic radiator and it's 10 years old and fine.

For any of you who have replaced this, would you suggest I visit the dealer? They want $1000 for the parts and labor. I found a local import shop that seems to be doing pretty good business, does LR's, BMW's, Jaguars, and other imports, and while his parts cost is about the same ($50 less for a genuine LR radiator than the dealer) his labor is like 1/3 that of the dealer. It sounds like this is a fairly straight forward replacement and since it does not involve any engine electronics or speciality engine/transmission/drivetrain parts, I am tempted to go to the local shop and save $300.

I am stuck paying $550 or so for the radiator anyway from the various websites I have checked. For another $150 or so it may be worthwhile to have someone do this who has done it before.

Thanks for the info. I am in northern Illinois, about 40 miles north of Chicago and 7 miles south of the IL - WI border.

I will check out that link. The independent shop I called in the area did offer a non-LR rdiator that had a lifetime warranty. It was about the same price as the Original LR radiator. They did not mention a brand but in reading through some of these messages, I think I have seen other people mention Silla.

In case your interested:

http://www.sillacooling.com/main.htm

Doug

FWIW, mine is leaking at the exact same spot. For a replacement, I just found my silla from autopartswarehouse on ebay for 160+20 shipping. Off of their site, it is 194+shipping. I also went ahead and ordered the hose and thermostat kit from rovers north as well. So for 400 all in, a completely new cooling set up. I figure at 96K miles, it probably needs the loving.

Of course, none of it has arrived yet, so I have no idea what else I'll encounter.