Bongo Fury

Hi,
A quick question re. cam belt change?. I’m buying a 2002 (import) 2lt pertol bongo with 38 thousand miles on the clock, would the cam belt need changing at this stage (history re cam belt unknown)? The garage I’m buying from says that there is no need, 60k is the norm, however reading round the subject many state ideally 40 to 60k or every 4/5 years whichever comes first. I have noted that some dealers/sellers of imported bongos change the cam belt as a matter of course before selling? Any opinions or advice would be very much appreciated.
Many thanks in advance

Welcome. What does the dealer say when you ask how old the cambelt is? In the absence of knowing, it could be 15 years old? Having said that, if they're not into changing Bongo cambelts I wonder if the best approach might be to get them to concede it needs doing but ask for £200 off the price so you can take it to a Bongo garage to be done. But I would get it done, unless there is a service history which shows it doesn't need to be (every 60k miles or every 5 years, whichever comes first, is my understanding of it)

Many thanks for your advice

I actually agree, but feel the garage owner who is a bongo dealer /bongo garage!!, isn’t going to be very reciprocal to the idea. He seemed a little hazy on the issue of age, but quite insistent it would be ok and at the time i took him at his word, i.e. knowledgeable about these things and everything else seemed ok. I put a holding deposit down (non refundable) and collect next week. However, since being back home (had to travel some distance to obtain this particular bongo) and having had time to read around the issues, I am now having concerns. I have tried to make contact and get no response re. other run of the mill queries.

I will be paying extra for an extended warranty but feel I may need that money to pay for a new cam belt (as I’m sure he won’t reduce the price)… the excitement I initially felt in buying my bongo is somewhat sadly waning. I feel rather cornered at present having paid the deposit

if you have concerns, say them to the seller, better now than sorry later, if the seller is a good dealer he will understand your concerns and act on them, a compromise is usually the way forward.
if it were me i would ask him to put a specific 12 month warranty on it that covers the cam belt failing and any associated ness repairs should it fail, that should help him decide which way you both should proceed.

Good tips from Mike and Ady, I'd spend the money getting it done by another Bongo specialist rather than the extra warranty.

Just my view.

I'd get the cam/timing belt, aircon belt and alternator belt all changed. An imported Bongo may have been sitting at dockside or on ship for many months and the belts can become brittle.

And while you are at it I'd also get the tensioners and springs checked. As Bob says, don't worry about the warranty (they're mostly worthless anyway) and spend the money on getting the belts done.

This post would be worth a read regarding the Dealers added guarantee ,

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Unread postby Andrewpridmore » Sat Apr 29, 2017 3:41 pm
Called the dealer today & they said they would fix it for free if I get it down there... though it would cost me £600 odd to get it down there + train fares for me to get back there to pick it up after the repair + it has already had £200-300 worth of repairs/investigations done on it so pretty much the same overall cost to just pay the guy who already has it. There's some blurb in the consumer law about getting it repaired elsewhere if it would be too inconvenient to have the dealer do the repair which I guess applies here, since they're almost 200 miles away.

Going through Barclaycard so they will likely pay the repairs & dealer is going to pull a good crankshaft, key & sprocket & send it to us to fit. Just need to get written repair quote & other docs for Barclaycard now.

Might even be claiming the £100 distributor "fix" I didn't need, the 2 days lost work & £310 (& rising) car hire costs that are all tied in with it, will see how it goes. Just the £1000 repair and a working bongo will be fine by me

Moral of the story, always buy a car using your credit card