how to replace the radiator

In your 2007 the radiator is an integrated combination of three things. It is the radiator for the engine cooling. It is also the radiator for the electronics and transaxle cooling. It is also the condenser for the air conditioning, and this last part means you should really visit a shop unless you have equipment to properly reclaim and later refill the aircon refrigerant. You can have a shop just do the evacuate and reclaim and bring the car home if you want to do the rest yourself, and go back for refill.

If you want to tackle the job yourself, especially as it involves the air conditioning, a subscription at techinfo.toyota.com where you can find the factory service manuals will really help you out. Also, any shop that touches the A/C for you will need to know that ND-11 is the only type of oil allowed in the system, because the compressor has a high-voltage electric drive and some other refrigerant oils will let the magic smoke out.

Good luck,
-Chap

 

Oop, I lied, it looks like for Gen 2 you can separate the radiator(s) (engine and HV) from the A/C condenser, so you shouldn't have to disturb the A/C. Sorry about that. In Gen 1 it was just the other way around, and for some reason I thought Gen 2 had integrated all three.

-Chap

 

if it ain't leaking or overheating, I wouldn't change it. they used to make a "fin comb" to straighten out the bent fins.

 

Spend the money (upto $35) for a specialized hose clamp pliers. Trying to use pliers or channel locks is more cumbersome and a PITA, as you already know.
Sears.com
Also available at Amazon. Probably available at your local auto parts store too; maybe they'll price match?

Engine loop has 3 valves: radiator drain petcock, CHRS canister (which you did), & engine block.
Inverter loop has ONE drain plug: coolant drain bolt on transaxle.

EDIT.
Look at the picture in Art's Automotive 30K pictures to see which bolt on the transaxle is the coolant drain vs Transaxle ATF-WS drain. Prius 30k Service

Don't forget to use a Brand NEW AC manifold gauge set! Don't want to contaminate the Prius AC system. This AC manifold gauge will now be your dedicated Toyota Hybrid AC gauge set.

 

if it ain't got a petcock on it, just get a big pan under it and start disconnecting hoses. the other 2 hoses must be for the inverter? uses the same coolant as the ice. it is sometimes a real pain to bleed all the air out when you fill it back up. I always run the heater on high, and some cars you got to get the front uphill to get all the air pockets out.

 

Regarding the inverter/transaxle coolant drain, make sure you do not confuse the transaxle ATF drain plug (which uses a 10 mm hex key socket) with the inverter/transaxle coolant drain plug (which uses a 24 mm socket). It is not really necessary to remove the drain plug because you could just remove a hose from the radiator, and let the coolant drain into your collection pan.

You will need ~6-7 US quarts to refill the engine coolant and ~3 US quarts to refill the inverter/transaxle coolant. Hence you need to buy 3 gallons of Toyota Super Long Life Coolant.

If you had drained the engine coolant from the coolant heat recovery system canister drain, you will find very little additional fluid will be drained when you open the radiator drain cock or the engine block drain cock.

I highly recommend the Lisle yellow plastic funnel for use when refilling the engine coolant system. You also need to run the coolant heat recovery system pump when working on the engine coolant refill, I have posted on how to do that by shorting contacts in the CHRS pump relay socket. I devised that procedure a few years ago, prior to the availability of Mini VCI.

Now that Mini VCI is easily available, you can issue a software command to the engine ECU to do the same thing, which is what a Toyota dealer tech would do. Run that pump only for 10 second intervals to avoid overheating the pump motor.

 

All the cables come from the same one, two, maybe three manufactures in China. All come with pirated TechStream software; some might have version 7.0, 8.0, 8.x, 9.x, etc. One can always find a later version of Techstream software somewhere.

Just buy the cheapest w/ the latest version, and from a seller who seems to have a better "reputation." I prefer Amazon over eBay.

I still think just best to get a NEW, dedicated Prius AC manifold gauge set, to be absolutely sure no contamination is possible. $50 at HF.
Search results for: 'ac manifold gauge'
Contamination of Prius AC system from PAG oil could result in these component(s) needing to be replaced: evaporator, condenser, and/or compressor. $50 tool vs $x,000 in AC parts.

 

For that matter I would be concerned about whether the vacuum pump might have oily residue that would contaminate the Prius AC compressor motor.