Bongo Fury

After a short relation with my dear Bongo, my local garage suggested we break up, that investing in my beloved would be throwing money down a bottomless pit.
Would anyone have a recommendation about how / where to break it, so that it gets put to good use? It's a 2002 V6 with AFT. We live in Ediniburgh.

niels wrote: ↑Sun Apr 14, 2019 1:52 pm After a short relation with my dear Bongo, my local garage suggested we break up, that investing in my beloved would be throwing money down a bottomless pit.
Would anyone have a recommendation about how / where to break it, so that it gets put to good use? It's a 2002 V6 with AFT. We live in Ediniburgh.

Oh dear, sorry to hear that. Well, first, what exactly is wrong with it? Next, what did you pay for it? Then, how much would you like to stay together? People like Bongospares, Ian Taylor etc are usually interested in Bongos for spares or doing up, but you're a fair way off from either so that might not work.

I've just spent a morning looking at all sorts of Bongo alternatives (just in case). I have to say that not one of them struck me as being as perfectly formed and useful a vehicle as an AFT Bongo with electric blinds and flip up rear seats. So maybe I'll be best pouring money into the pit to maintain/restore mine.

Agree with Mike.

Does this garage have any experience of Bongos?

What is wrong with it?

There's many a mechanic out there who knows nothing about them and is very quick to dismiss them as they can't be bothered with the work and don't know that they don't understand the cooling system.

I'd certainly look further before scrapping yours.

And welcome aboard.

I always find it slightly sad and a little disturbing when someone joins up at such a late stage. Sorry to hear it is not in a good state.
Read what Mike and Bob said and give it some thought/planning.

In the end you have to decide what you want to do. I think some people get unlucky when they buy a Bongo or they pay peanuts so what can you expect. The prices range hugely. Pay £1,000.00 and you will buy a cr*p heap, well it's true isn't it. Pay £6,000.00 and you are likely to get
a good vehicle. Pay £9,000.00 and you should have a very good vehicle.

I think it gives Bongo's a bad name. There are also lots of people who literally drive them into the ground, never deal with any rust and don't even know where the oil measuring stick is. Bongo's are not for those kind of people. You cannot run them without maintaining and spending some on them, typically annually.

If you want a rust free modern vehicle where you can drive and drive without thinking about regular maintenance a Bongo most likely will not suit you, and it will probably break down or rot away, if you have an interest in the basics of servicing or at the least let your local garage do oil, filters etc. (Keep their mits of the cooling system though) and can patch up a bit of rust with sandpaper, rust converter and paint then they will suit you.
I must have spent around 35 hours over 4 years doing basics, it is not much really.

They are not drive and forget, just like any 20-30 y.o. camper van. If you fail to maintain them and let them rot and drive them like a new car they will not endure. It is common sense.

And if you want a modern, comparable vehicle you had better have VERY deep pockets, get your big wads of wonga out.

I am no mechanical expert but I can do the oil and filters and sort a bit of rust out, it takes very little effort and I have slowed the rust down by 4 years so far, if I had left it when I spotted it I would have a lot of holes in it now. As it stands the Bongo is essentially rust free. My basic advice is to buy a clean one and keep it that way by sanding, rust converting and painting the moment you see it, it is the only way to make an old vehicle last.

I bet some people bury one vehicle after another, through zero maintenance.

All the best on your plans whatever they are.

hi im just oust side edinburgh in west lothian im looking for parts for mine or poss full van depending on price cheers stu

Thanks for your responses everyone, sorry for not replying before, we had some family stuff going on that took all my energy away from our Bongo.

Just to be clear, we bought it with the expectation it wouldn't last very long (not this short, of course) as it is an older bongo (bit grubby etc) that has been in the UK for 17 years now, if I remember correctly, mostly so that we could try out whether we'd like a camper van better then our good old tent. Sadly we were, like you said BongoBongo123, unlucky.

So, to answer the questions about what's wrong with it: quite a lot. My local garage has had and still has several bongos that they look after and they said that this one is in the worst shape they'd ever seen: basically all wheel arches need replacement (two directly, two would pass the MOT but just barely and will need work in very near future), both side bars need replacement (both have rusted through) and then some; they didn't even really investigate issues with the exhaust manifold and a leak in the mechanical fluid (although that might have just been me overfilling the automatic when I flushed the ATF). They showed me everything and I found it rather convincing, sadly. but if you think otherwise, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Reading this I'd still take it to a Bongo Friendly garage for a second opinion.

I'm not sure about 'side bars', or 'leak in the mechanical fluid'.

I can't tell you what is the best route, but it won't take a lot of effort to have someone else check it over before you scrap it.

There is ccertainly a garage near me which 'looks after several Bongos' but an insider tells me they 'Don't like them and just want them out of the workshop'.

This garage is not on the 'Friendly' list, but they will say they 'Look after them', ie if the job's easy they'll do it and grab your cash, if not, 'Oh, lots of trouble with these...'

But it's your call.

Thanks for your thoughts, I'm thinking about it... The problem I have is that 1. I want you all to be right, but 2. I actually trust my garage, they came with good reviews from friends when we moved to Scotland and I have always felt treated fairly by them, I don't think they did this to get rid of the Bongo. But then again, they don't know everything about Bongo's, of course. But then again, it's hard to find an actual recommended Bongo workshops up here.

Well, I'll think about it a bit more, not really sure what to do...

It is difficult

And as so often in life there isn't just one right answer.

A known and trusted garage is worth a lot, and obviously you can see the extent of things.

I would find this very hard.

Very rough guess but you might be looking at £3k to fix that and you could best use a Bongo specialist like Bongospares nr Halifax to do it. Even they might say its too far gone but you could try talking with them and seeing if you could email pics of the corrosion If a sum like that is something you might contemplate parting with and if you can get it down to them.

i am yet to see a car that cant be welded back together. The question is how much are you willing to spend,,,,,