All of the shops I have contacted want too much to do it. I'd rather sell it than pay that much for 5 hours labor.

I want to replace my radiator, hoses.

Why, are they leaking?

Well the average labor rate is $125 per hour in CO for the most part,so 5 hours is $625 for just labor and most shops will not install customer parts.

I replaced the radiator pressure cap last weekend and confirmed the old one wasn't sealing. After adding the extra pressure to the system I developed a steady stream leak. I switched the cap back to the old one to drop the pressure and the leak sealed itself by the time I made it to the parts store. So yes, I do have a leak. And I have had overheating issues all year and I'm hoping a new rad will help.

the hoses are relatively cheap on rock auto - $60. If I have to drain the system anyway I'm gonna replace them. It would be better than one bursting later and loosing the coolant.

My thermostat is stuck open and fails to heat up in the winter. If I'm traveling down hill on I70 it will almost bottom out the temp gauge.

changing out the radiator and hoses is actually a pretty easy job. I am sure you could manage it.

I might be able to help you in a week or two, but my weekends are typically pretty consumed and my garage currently has two non running cars in it, but I'm hoping to get one sent to the scrapyard soon. I just did the headgasket on mine, getting the intercooler/radiator stack out is not hard. I'm in south denver.

Honestly what you do is grab a homer bucket from home depot, jack up the truck just an inch or two to get the bucket under, crack the drain valve at the bottom, drain it out. The front assembly is probably about 12 bolts that hold on bumper, grill, headlight assembly and intercooler stack. The thermostat is not hard if you have extensions. Before installing my radiator, I took my grinder and ground off the little nubs that make it so you can't get a wrench on the drain valve, because it is in a really crappy spot if its not cracking loose for you. I'd say it's a 3 hour job if you're being fairly methodical. Probably 2 hours if you're fast.

It sort of sounds like when the proper cap is installed you can see the actual leak point.

If that is true, there is a redneck solution if you don't have the dough for a proper radiator at this point.

use some Brakleen and clean the business end of some appropriate sized pliers and pinch the leak point of the offending tube flat.

use the Brakleen again to thoroughly clean the tube you just flattened.

Mix up some JB-Quick when the rad tube is dry, and put the epoxy all around the flattened tube point.

It will reduce the cooling capacity of the radiator, but not enough to make a difference, and not as much as Stop-Leak or the like.

If you have correctly identified the offending tube, the fix will hold until you can budget a proper new radiator.

The advantage of this over a solder fix, is JB epoxy doesn't care if the tube is copper, brass, cardboard or aluminum alloy. It sticks to everything.

Yes I can manage it if I have a proper place to work on it. I live in a jam packed apartment complex where parking lot space is limited and repairing vehicles in the parking area is frowned upon......so I thought ask about a cheap mechanic to avoid driving two hours to the shop I have access to.