Car Experts Please Apply Here!

[Chaerophon]

I've never seen the rad on a 96 Toyota, but I can't imagine that it's too damn complicated. I'd ask the guys (or gals, of course) what's involved. If it amounts to "pulling the rad, putting a new one in, and refilling the fluids, without any need for the removal of other parts (fans aside) in order to get the rad out, then I'd suggest that you're getting ripped. Another possibility is that they are using OEM equipment which might be of better quality or just plain more expensive than the Koyo radiator.

I suppose that the bottom line is that if you were to do it yourself, and the motor is installed such that no other parts need to be removed in order to get the rad out (e.g. some Volkswagens are a real b&*ch to get at the rad), which is what I suspect is the case, then, having worked on a pair of slightly older toyotas in the past, I would estimat that it would take an hour, at the very most, to pull and reinstall the rad. If the rad that they're using is 110 bucks and they're charging you 250 for labour, I'd go elsewhere. If the situation is otherwise, then maybe it's a good price... who knows?

Unless someone else knows more about Toyotas than I do, (which is altogether possible, in fact, it's quite likely) I'd suggest that in order to figure it out, you need to ask a couple of more questions. :) Of course, you could always take a picture and post it, and it would probably be pretty easy to tell what was going on.