On a hot day in Tucson, I stopped my car after a drive across town and there was a loud "bang" and lots of steam from under the hood. At first I thought a hose had blown, but the upper tank was the culprit, with a big crack across the top.
So I ordered a Denso 2210501 replacement from Rock Auto. They also have a 2210502, but that one is for Japan made cars. My radiator has a 1 inch thick core, matching the "501" for a US made vehicle. I placed the order (price is $125). The "501" I received was a perfect match and was easy to install.
The transmission cooler hoses presented no particular problem, it was just the usual business of moving the spring clamps back on the rubber hoses, then prying and pulling the hoses back off of the metal pipes. There was a bit of mess with spilled transmission fluid, but not all that much.
It took about 1.5 hours to remove the old radiator and install the new one.
I took a mechanic friends advice and also replaced the thermostat. His comment was that any time you do a cooling system repair of any kind you ought to replace the thermostat as they are often the root cause of the problem. This was twice as much work as installing the radiator! Just follow the upper radiator hose and it leads to the thermostat cover. The cover is held by 3 bolts. The hard part is getting at these bolts. It is also worth noting that when you buy a new thermostat, you should get a new gasket. The gasket is installed around the edge of the thermostat.
After all of this, I added coolant, only to discover a leak below the timing belt cover. This is almost certainly the water pump. My guess is that the water pump is was failed to start all of this, causing the overheating and the blown radiator. This will require me to do the timing chain job I have been putting off.
Tom's Camry pages / tom@mmto.org