History of overheating

[quinnw]

All

I am trying to find out the history behind overheating Bongos. What do I mean? Really what I am trying to ascertain is when and how the problem came to be realised that it was a significant problem with the Bongo. How the public are / were made aware of this? Is it actually as bad / as significant as the forums would lead you to believe? Is this a problem that dealers should be aware of?

Many thanks,

Bill

[bigdaddycain]

Hi Bill, you raise an interesting point, i can only reply with my opinion, and in no way should it be entered into as any form of gospel fact on the overheating issues....

The odd bongo, (that is a fact,overheating bongo's certainly aren't "the norm")Can suffer from overheating. My experience of discussing such issues with other owners generally leads me to beleive that one unexplained overheating issue can often lead to many more with that particular vehicle.

I have a theory that may explain this....

If an overheating incident does occur, then all the hoses,metal pipes that the hoses are attached to,rad,stat, and any other component associated with the cooling system has exceeded it's limit for normal operation, it is my opinion that if this occurs on just one occasion, then some or all of the components have been weakened to some extent.

In other words, the other components are waiting to fail at some stage.

Personally, if i were looking to purchase a bongo/freda, i'd steer clear of one with a murky expansion tank, regardless of price, spec,condition of the rest of the vehicle.

I'd also suggest that the odd bongo that does suffer from overheating episodes has had a mix of inferior japanese coolant,and european spec coolant at some stage in it's life.

Please be aware that when these vehicles were new in japan,the bi-annual coolant change was a rather expensive procedure that had to be carried out only by a mazda/ford dealer to maintain the vehicle guarantee,this was an optional service item that wasn't automatically carried out during the usual service, in other words, if you wanted the dealer to carry out the coolant change plus bleed, you had to pay for it...Somewhere in the region of £150.

I suspect under those circumstances, that the odd owner would skip on this essential service item once the manufacturers warranty had expired.

Just my own opinion....

[mayk19]

If an overheating incident does occur, then all the hoses,metal pipes that the hoses are attached to,rad,stat, and any other component associated with the cooling system has exceeded it's limit for normal operation, it is my opinion that if this occurs on just one occasion, then some or all of the components have been weakened to some extent.
In other words, the other components are waiting to fail at some stage.

I'd say thats spot on, I didnt know about this before we purchased our Bongo. The tank on mine was murky, after about 6 months ownership one of the pipes from the turbo leaked, luckly it was just after I'd parked up having popped to the shops so the crisis was averted. Now I've replaced all the rubber hoses with silicone ones, check the water level regually, have fitted coolant level and other alarm. So I'm pretty happy now what to expect and when.

[brorabongo]

I don't know the full history of our Bongo, and our tank is not the easiest to see through, but you can make out the coolant level. So it could of had a overheating problem in the past?

I have had a couple of leaks, which could of led to overheating if it was not for the coolant level alarm going off. I would more than recommend the fitting of one.

Some of these vehicles are 13+ years, and with any vehicle at that sort of age, hoses can perish, pipes can corrode etc. Regular maintainance/checks must be the best way in helping to avoid such failings.

Did anyone watch "The Garage" on Discovery, about a garage in Marbella owned by a Scot? One of the best programmes on the box at the time. In just about every episode, the garage had an over heating car to fix, and not one of them was a Bongo, they where mainly top end Marques. (Mercs, Audi's, and BMW's, etc.) So "it can happen to the best of them" as they say.

Thats enough senseless waffle from me.

[Steve L]

It would be interesting to find out if the vehicles that predominantly overheated were the ones without the cold starting pack. My thinking is that the ones with the twin batteries would have had their coolant changed regularly with needing to operate in a colder climate whilst this may not be the case with Bongo's from the South island (no cold starting pack).
Just a thought.

[Magwa]

much has been written about the subject, as for maunfacturers putting right a problem on a 10yr plus vehicle.......
don't think they are bothered

after all these are GREY imports into this country

Look at the 'K' series engine in the Rovers/ Landrovers/MG's/Lotus
all have a recognised cylinderhead gasket failure fault

Rover didn't do anything except sell loads more engines and gaskets
changed the design of the gasket but its still C**P

I've come to Bongo from 'Freelander'.........

What have I done............................

[Aethelric]

Another issue may be the fiddly bleeding procedure on a bongo. Bung it in a dodgy garage, tell them to change the coolant, they'll drain it, fill it up, bleed it as they would a normal car and hand it back. When the engine overheats due to trapped air in the head, and you take it back there will be a sucking of air through teeth, and "yeah Governer, these motors are known for it. ' Cause we bled it properly, we've been been bleeding engines for 20 years"
I would not trust a non specialised garage to change my coolant.

Dave