Bongo Overheating

bigdaddycain · Post by **bigdaddycain** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 3:03 pm

I sympathise with your run of bad luck prb007, but vw's have rubber hoses too...

Have you not considered one of Haydn callow's low coolant warning alarms?

I have one on mine, and the reassurance of the alarm is really worth having

Bongo's should really have been fitted with some kind of "real" warning of impending doom.

prb007 · Post by **prb007** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 5:04 pm

bad luck is one thing,
a vehicle whose coolant system becomes a lottery at 12 years/120k.km old is quite something else - I 'm not sure I'll trust it again.
When the gauge went full scale on Fri. - I felt physically sick!

bigdaddycain · Post by **bigdaddycain** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 5:23 pm

I do sympathize with you PRB007...

Dabongo has had his fair share of cooling probs of late,demoralizing?...yes. The way he looks at it is whatever has let go,has been re-newed,that item now has a new lease of life,as more hoses are replaced,the less likely it is they will fail.

Like you say twelve years old,would you drive around on twelve year old tyres if they still had a legal tread depth?....thought not.

haydn callow · Post by **haydn callow** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 5:27 pm

was your top hose not swollen and a bit ropey before this happened? I would have thought that whoever did the repairs last time would have spotted a failing tophose. When I first got my Bongo I went over it myself as best I could then took it to Allens vehical services in Plymouth to go over it again. He replaced the front drop links, condemmed 3 tyres ( loads of tread but inner sidewall very cracked and whole tread lifting), also he pointed out that although no coolant was being lost the tophose was swollen when under pressure and He replaced that at a later date and showed me how to bleed the system. I think it important that every now and again Bongo's are seen by a garage that knows Bongo's and what to look out for. Any 12 year old motor is going to have perishible componants failing during normal use.
Give your Bongo another chance co's they are a very reliable vehicle. A 12 year old VW would have a fair bit of rust apart from anything else.

Peg leg Pete · Post by **Peg leg Pete** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 7:21 pm

I agree with your comments, by all means fit a low coolant alarm, but first take a little time to check your coolant quality and hoses etc, then you have a much better chance of trouble free motoring. If you fit the alarm and have poor quality coolant, dodgy hoses etc, it is only a matter of time till the alarm sounds