My very poorly Bongo!!!

[hils]

I am sad very sad...

I have today returned from holiday, and whilst driving back from Manchester Aisport the Bongo suddenly ran out of power and came to a stop,,,thankfully we had pulled over to the hard shoulder...

Tried to turn her over (ignition that is nothing) then green liquid began pouring out of coolant reservoir.........

Called relay they had a good look, she started and then stopped again.....

The temperature indicator in car has not moved,,,but its obvious that its overheating...mechanic suggest the fan or even worse....

We are not mechanically minded,,,,,,,we have had the car towed to our local independent volvo garage in Hyde....but its Saturday and have had to leave it outside the garage....

What a horrible end to a great holiday

Any one any ideas what we should do

One very sad fed up and cold Bongo owner

[paul9]

the problem with these vehicles and the toyota estimas is that they can overheat,and the temp gauge doesn't move at all,or if it does its too late,they have a flat spot on the gauge,this is the reason i fit the mason alarm to my estima and now i got one on the bongo,it gives a good indication and makes your gauge work more,if it is about to overheat it will set an alarm off,this will give you enough time to try and find out what is causing it.lets hope it hasn't done too much damage.
dave only made a few to start with,but will make some more if there is enough demand,check his website out for more info


http://www.townace.com/ie/ietemga2.htm

[mikeonb4c]

Forget about it tonight, have a few beers and a good kip, and deal with it in the morning. I wonder why it lost power and died. Was there any sign of steam etc. Was it a ruptured hose (presume it was)?

Keep us posted, good luck and fingers crossed the damage is not too severe

Mike

[haydn callow]

Mystery this one. If your gauge did not move then it has not overheated to the point of destruction. Did it move and you did not notice?? Where was the coolant leaking from?? You tried to restart and "nothing" what do you mean ?? did it turn over and would not start??
We need more info.... Don't think a volvo garage will help. Any Bongo friendly garages around??
Questions,,,,questions...

If your gauge did NOT move then I think you may get away with this episode..

Good luck and let us know the outcome..

[mellyarnold]

Hey Hils

Sorry to hear about your Bongo, wouldnt know where to start by giving you mechanical advice so just thought id send you a bit of moral support. Hope you get sorted

[hils]

Hi Guys

Thanks for all the kind remarks...

My local garage that Mel kindly put me onto is the one in Bury...I live in Glossop!!! and cant get it there ....


Haydn In answer to your questions the gauge def didnt move.....having had a fiat Panda years ago have a habit of watching the gauge.....

We have been away for a week so it hasnt been moved could that be the reason???
The car came to stop all lights and ignition went off...slowly coming to a halt...We tried to start it straight away on the hard shoulder but nothing....but about twenty mins later when breakdown appeared he was able to start it first thing....but then it stopped again....


I am not very techinal minded but according to the Recovery receipt it says " coolant system overheating fan not working..." what does this mean...

I am gutted to say the least, now have no car at all.....hubby has a bike to ride to + fro work.....

[papa joe]

Of little consolation I know, but at least your Bongo had the decency to throw a wobbly AFTER the holiday.

Fingers crossed for you mate

papa joe

[platty345]

hi hils, If it is adrian @jap service?, he his on holiday til a week on monday, sorry , if you can get it over to wigan, wheelquick are very good, if you can't get a good mechanic locally u can trust, hope u get it sorted.

[haydn callow]

where was the coolant leaking from and was it "steaming" out under great pressure.
Why would lights and ignition be affected by overheating?? more to this than the obvoious

[waycar8]

Hmmn..........havent heard of this one before


Not very techie on the bongo coolant system but if the temperature needle didnt move, that would sugest that it didnt overheat, or that the temperature indicator isnt working at all have you noticed the needle move at any point in your journey?


only thing i can think of is that if it didnt overheat then, possibly.........did you check the resovour before your journey?, if so then had the cap been put back on properley?,(easily done i know of 2 people who have done this as well as me ) if so then the steam may have been pouring out and condensation then may have gathered under the bonnet and dripped onto the main fuses on the engine bay and shorted/blown some of them out causing the dash lights and the engine to die?

other than that i havent a clue, but fingers crossed that it a cheap fix for you Hills

[bigdaddycain]

Hmmn.....did you check the resovour before your journey?, if so then had the cap been put back on properley?,(easily done i know of 2 people who have done this as well as me )

I was one of the other two

It's just possible that the gauge HAD gone into the red,then dropped to normal as the thermostat was taking a temperature reading of the non existent coolant which WAS in there... (now all over the floor)

If concentrating on motorway driving,its very easy not to notice the gauge rise

[brorabongo]

Sorry to hear your misfortune. hope it's not too bad, and that you are back "up and running" asap. Keep us informed please.

[waycar8]

It's just possible that the gauge HAD gone into the red,then dropped to normal as the thermostat was taking a temperature reading of the non existent coolant which WAS in there... (now all over the floor)

If concentrating on motorway driving,its very easy not to notice the gauge rise

Sounds reasonable but hils first post said that they pulled over THEN green liquid came pouring out of the reservoir?? so if it hadnt lost coolant untill it came to a stop the temp gauge should be normal anyway?? as it hadnt overheated in theory?

hmmn Only thing i can think of is some kind of back presure to force the coolant back out of the reservoir, which if i am not mistaken is a head problem cant wait to read on the outcome of this one. just hope that you hadnt put the cap back on the reservoir properly, which it should be a cheap fix.

[shakey]

Hey me and the Big Daddy, doing the same trick , I did nearly 300 miles all o.k. until I came off the motorway and slowed to a 30 limit. I got a smell like I was following a fish wagon (hot coolant, I should have recognised it) then steam on the nearside of the windscreen, pulled over, stopped the engine, and the damn thing erupted, I turned the ignition on without starting the engine so it activated all the fans, and rang the R.A.C. I watched the temp gauge, which was still at 11-o-clock, until it started to drop noticably, then switched the ignition off. 20 mins & 8 pints of water to bleed and I was on my way again. Since done 13 months and 10,000 miles trouble free. The header tank cap was sat on the air intake where I had left it to check the coolant strength Doh! Shakey

[kawasaki kid]

Nearly done the samething myself - took expansion tank cap off to check level then got distracted by the missus - closed the bonnet about one hour later started van up to go to yorkshire with a caravan on the back put it in D moved about 100 yards - don`t know what made me think about it but stopped and checked the expansion tank - found cap on top of the battery where I`d put it when I`d checked the level. Wonder how far I`d have got before disaster struck anyhow I now carry a spare cap in the van just in case something happens to the one on the tank.