DOH!!! 2 weeks into Bongo ownership &......

[Dom]

Well........looks like i got away with it!

Been a few days now & a fair few miles & it's all settled down - temp gauge sitting at 11 o'clock, no steam venting out. keeping my fingers crossed that I'm not jinxing things but it all looks/sounds/smells/tastes ok!

The good thing that's come out of this is that I now know where to take the Bongo in an emergency - M D Motors in Walthamstow. Getting the timing belt changed there tomorrow as the person I bought the it off didn't know when it'd last been changed & I need to know its not gonna give up on me!

Thanks for all the advice!

dom

[daveblueozzie]

just do not rely on the temp gauge to tell you something is wrong, by the time you see it in the red again it might be too late. get yourself a Haydn's coolant alarm, a lot cheaper in the long run.
http://www.enginesaver.com.au/Bongo.html

[missfixit70]

Fit a mason alarm too, makes the guage more sensitive - as it should be & has a settable audible alarm, or TM2 from Haydn.

[bigdaddycain]

Yep, sounds like you have got away with this one dom... Don't feel bad, i did exactly the same thing a few years back... Never rush the pre-journey checks, i did, and left the header tank cap placed on the header tank, as opposed to screwed onto it

I did 120 miles though, and got the whisps of steam as i pulled onto my drive upon my return, temp gauge was still at 11 o clock (before i had a mason and haydn alarm).

No terminal damage was sustained luckily,i just emptied the existing coolant,flushed the rad, re-filled with coolant, then bled,and kept a close eye on things...

(after buying a new rad cap of course)