Yeah thanks loads for the chat. Put a hose pipe in the pipes under the rear heater. Quite a bit of rusty water came out. Then it went dark so finished for the day.

Found a leak in the bulging hose while running the engine this time, although this is new. Next job will be fit the replacement hose ...

Thanks Northern. Ordered one.

Had the Bongo running again. Bled properly, ran for 15 minutes (internal heaters on full) before all fans come on and temperature gauge fluctuates quickly between off and just-about-cold (only a couple of mm movement on the needle, but wildly doing so). White smoke ...

Temperature gauge sounds a good idea.

Noticed today this is broken under drivers seat, towards the back:


What is this? Air intake temperature sensor? Another filter?

Spoke to Bongobits. Assured delivery would be Friday at the latest.

Parts came to £744

Thanks, Northern. Did make me think again from another angle, which is no bad thing. If there's any possibility it's not the head / gasket, the thought is worth pursuing, although I pretty sure it is the head.

As for diagnosing, I really don't like running it like this. There's no obvious leaks ...

Thanks Hammy67

Also noticed that the glow plug light flashes a few times when it would normally go out. It is currently difficult to start, as if it's only on 3 cylinders. This clears after a few seconds.

Can do that but there's also white smoke/steam from the exhaust when starting, which would indicate coolant in the cylinders? The large pressure build up (over 1.1 bar for header valve to blow) happened after about 10 seconds of starting the engine from cold. Just gone back to the bongo (after >30 ...

Well I planned to pressure test and I guess that's what I did. Started the engine and within a few seconds I had a bulging hose followed by water from the header tank pressure valve. I don't think I'll be doing that again.

http://i1336.photobucket.com/albums/o648/Matt_Henley/Bongorepair2013-01 ...

Thanks for that, Simon.

Cam belt, filter kit, thermostat and water pump added to the list. £589 spent so far, plus some tools I'll need. There's two

Anyone attempting the same job, Matt's (excellent) thread is at http://igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=58441 . There's a fact sheet ...

Thanks for the replies all. And Happy New Year!

Okay. I'm going to go for it. I'm actually quite looking forward to the challenge. I like the idea of knowing the engine and learning from this.

I'm going to use YouTube user BongoBonnie's videos to help. The videos are here: http://www.youtube.com ...

Thanks mikeonb4c,

Yeah, rusty coloured coolant. Had the Bongo for about 6 months and I think it's been gradually there since then. Coolant has had to be topped up every so often and there's rusty water marks under the header tank.

Matt

So, a week after having my motorbike stolen, Bongo overheats big time, causing a pipe to rip. After replacing the hose, I refill the coolant and while bleeding, coolant is ejected from the bleed pipe at force, followed by exhaust gasses. Experience (I used to own an MG) tells me head gasket or ...