Oh No!!! Steam + water!

[monfluffy1987]

Hello everyone.

Massive panic...

I;ve had a new head and head gasket on my bongo £1200, just last month. everything has appeared to be good since. Bongo running cool, no problems.

Just got back into the driveway, steam out of bonnet / from under the car (?), temp guage went through the roof.

Looked under the car - water p***ing out everywhere. I've left him on the drive and am going to try and have a look tomorrow. any thoughts from yourside (s) ?

I'm thinking it's maybe a hose.. Any known pipes that burst?

I'm panicking- uni exam tomorrow, garage closed at weekend, work on monday morning! Need to try and fix myself.

I hope you guys can shed some light!!!

many thanks in advance!,


Monfluffy

[mikeonb4c]

Well you gotta find out where its coming from, and hope you stopped before the engine got cooked (again). Hoses or water pump are the obviously candidates although there are incidents of Bongos throwing boiling coolant out of the header tank (maybe becuase their cooling systems aren't working properly or have an airlock due to incorrect bleeding - was your garage familiar with the bleeding procedure?).

If you can get back with more details on that, it would be useful.

I take it you don't have a low coolant warning alarm fitted? A very sensible investment to fit one if not, and maybe a Mason alarm too (a device that undamps the temp gauge so you can see what is actually happening, plus has an alarm if gauge goes too high)

[Harry]

Sound advice from Mikeas usual but it would help if you put your location on your profile as there masy be a local peep who could help out.

good luck

H

[francophile1947]

Where are you? - Local help may be available!!
See http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... =3&t=29471

[monfluffy1987]

Thanks for your replies!

Firstly - Yes I have a mason alarm and managed to stop the car before the temp was too high (although there was already steam coming out!)

Temp got to 2-3 oclock before car was stopped.

I am in eynsham, Oxfordshire

In answer to the last question - the only garage I've ever taken the vehicle to is discount trucks in Newbury - they specialise in bongos. They bled and filled my coolant system!

thanks,

[monfluffy1987]

OK here I go,

Any tips on fault finding?

I'm going to top up the header tank with water for now and run the engine for a short amount of time to see if it's an obvious leak from a pipe.

Also - anyone know how much it costs to buy all new pipes?

Thanks

[MountainGoat]

You have the choice of buying original hoses from Bongobits or silicone hoses from Flippa who is a bongo owner and member of this forum, you can either PM him or contact him through his website.

That said Discount Trucks are a very reputable bongo garage. I think that you should contact them and get them to take your bongo back to their garage to sort out the problem. it is inadvisable to drive the bongo in its current condition as you may do more dmage.


http://www.bongobits.co.uk/Main.asp?Pag ... ategory=66

http://www.siliconehosestore.co.uk/

Tony

[monfluffy1987]

Ok - found the problem.

There's a coolant hose under the drivers seat that has completely burst! inner diameter approx 50mm. (the big one)

I am jst waiting for advice from Discount trucks. I think i will drive it to my local garage (0.5 miles away).

the problem i have is sourcing a pipe, i imagine these pipes are not widely used in other vehicles?


thanks for the response - i will look at replacing all hoses soon.

[missfixit70]

It's the most common pipe to burst, Easily sourced at any of the parts suppliers such as Bongo Bits - http://www.bongobits.com/Main.asp?PageN ... roduct=234 or http://www.japautosolutions.com/acatalog/cooling.html , or even your local mazda dealer, or pm Flippa on here if you want a silicon hose.
Would not advise driving it without a hose or any coolant though A slow tow for half a mile should be ok though.

[mikeonb4c]

Well done for having a Mason Alarm monfluffy1987 as that should have saved the head. If the bank balance can stand it I'd fit the LCA too.

Hope you are back on the road soon

[monfluffy1987]

Right, the pipe has now been re-fitted by my local garage,

They've re-filled with coolant, but did nothing with the bleed pipe.

I'm now going to remove the coolant that i paid them to put in, flush the system with warm water and untill water is clear from bleed pipe, then add the coolant again.

I hope I get this right - i'll follow the guide!

[missfixit70]

No point trying to remove the coolant, flush it & put the same coolant back in IMO. For one, you won't get it all out & it'll be full of whatever crap is in there.
Either just bleed it as is, or dump it, flush it thoroughly & refill with 5 litres of fresh coolant, at least then you know you haven't got incompatible coolants mixed.

[monfluffy1987]

Humph...

I think I've done it right, just going to take it for a test drive :S

I removed the coolant and replaced with fresh stuff, but whether or not I've done it correctly is another matter.

foolishly my bongo fury account is set up to send the monthly password changes to my work account. can anyone msg me the password for this month?

I want to check what I've done against the guides.
thanks,