Bongo Towing

[Doone]

I'm unsure about the 2800kg figure on that website.

The figures on Allans website are from Japanese documents and specs: http://www.allansvehicleservices.co.uk/32132.html
The usual guidelines suggest a sensible towing limit (the ability to perform a hill start when towing) is 85% of the kerbweight. The kerbweight is (I think) based on the sum of weights of the vehicle with a full tank of fuel, specified quantity of oil and coolant, but it doesn't include the weight of a conversion. The kerbweight figures stated on the Japanese documents are 2wd: 1770kg / 4wd: 1790kg.

Using the 85% figure suggests that you'd safely pull 1504.50kg with a standard 2wd Bongo. Of course, that's just a guideline and those with towing experience could play around with that a bit. And I've seen SWB Pajeros pull big twin axle caravans with no problem, and surprisingly, no modified gearbox coolers!
But I would not tow your mates 2000kg with my Bongo.

[Alacrity]

IMO any auto vehicle towing anything more substantial than a small box trailer should have an extra cooler fitted if at all possible if you want to get maximum life out of the transmission. In my case I tow boats with my Bongo, one of which is a reasonable weight with a full tank of fuel (don't know the exact weight but it has a 110 litre tank!). I fitted a temperature strip to the transmission sump pan when I got my recent Bongo 2.5d 4x4 in July, and found it had turned partly black indicating a hot running trans at some point since it had been fitted. I immediately fitted a cooler which is a simple & inexpensive job (especially if compared to transmission failure).

[mikexgough]

this Jap owner has fitted an after market Oil Cooler http://translate.googleusercontent.com/ ... E4Pa5pWCCA

The translation is a bit iffy....... but there are 3 links to show why/how he did it........ your pipes are there anyway for the small cooler at the bottom of the radiator....so it's reasonably easy to upgrade to a bigger cooler if required.....

[Alacrity]

Mine is fitted like so. Took maybe an hour & before anyone asks, no it doesn't effect the performance of the A/C!

[mikexgough]

that is a neat job..........

[missfixit70]

Mine is fitted like so. Took maybe an hour & before anyone asks, no it doesn't effect the performance of the A/C!

I take it you put a stat & bypass in so it warms up ok & maintains a decent working temp? (Not trying to teach you to suck eggs or anything )

[Alacrity]

I don't have a stat in it. We have been using these kits for the last 30 years & never had a problem, they have always been a great success.

[mikeonb4c]

Mine is fitted like so. Took maybe an hour & before anyone asks, no it doesn't effect the performance of the A/C!

Gosh, thats clever. How do you plumb it in so the oil circulates through it? Also, does it not a blanking effect on the the main radiator?

neat job

[Alacrity]

You just remove one of the existing oil cooler pipes from the bottom of the rad, extend it with the hose in the kit, up to the new cooler, then take the return back onto the rad again. Of course you need to make sure the new hoses cannot chafe on any bodywork, I split some of that nasty petroflex (the clear braided tubing that always goes as hard as iron five minutes after being used) stuff & sheathed the two hoses as they passed the bodywork just to be on the safe side. If you suspect the oil cooler in the rad to be dodgy then you can just take both pipes from the rad & through the new one thereby doing away with the original one.

There is no noticable effect on either the engine temp or A/C performance, don't forget that unlike most vehicles, the Bongo has a decent gap between the A/C condensor rad & the cooling rad.

[helen&tony]

Hi Alacrity
I'm glad you say this about the normal oil cooler for the trans. I've said on here on numerous occasions that the Bongo one is a waste of pipework, and I've always intended to fit an external one with stat (It gets darned cold here)....however...If my trans is going to have problems.....it's off to the scrapyard...shame , really, as the rest is a good'un
Cheers
Helen

[missfixit70]

Got me thinking now on the external oil cooler , if I'm going to remove my rear heater gubbins, wonder if I could use the matrix from that instead of buying an oil cooler? I'm still not sure about not using a stat (getting it up to temp nice & quick & being able to reach lock up more efficient running with oil being warmer/freer flowing), may be have to use the lidl temp gauges to give me some idea of temps on inlet & outlet to the box before & after.
Bearing in mind the length of pipework from the box to the oil cooler, I wonder how much cooling this achieves with the air flow going over it? I agree the inbuilt oil cooler can't be too efficient as a cooler as a lot of the time I don't reckon it has any/much coolant flow over it due to the coolant stat's operation, but unless it's under extreme conditions (in which case the stat should be open/maybe fans on with good flow over the oil cooler in the bottom of the rad if it's not silted up) is it necessary?

[helen&tony]

Hi Kirsty
It seems to be what I think...but for my money, an external cooler when towing, or VERY heavily loaded is just the ticket, and with a stat placed near the box would give far better warmup
Cheers
Helen

[Alacrity]

I can only speak as I find, we don't get exteme cold here in the UK - OK so some of us briefly had lower than -10 recently but that is far from normal. Most of the country didn't experience such temps. My Bongo has had the extra trans cooler fitted since last summer & lockup comes in as soon as it ever did - even in the recent cold conditions. There is absolutely no difference in the trans operation. There seems to be some confusion about the rad coolers here, they are situated in the bottom (cold) tank in the radiator which is of course where silt builds up which is one of the reasons trans temps go up as vehicles age - the tubular cooler - never that efficient (but cheaper on the production line) ends up buried in silt. Cooling fans running will not effect trans temp unless the cooling system is running too hot, then they may do something. As mentioned in an earlier post I fitted a temp strip to the trans which showed it was running hotter than I wanted it to after towing. Since fitting the extra cooler it doesn't. No one to my knowledge ever suffered auto trans failure due to the trans either warming up slower or running cooler, but thousands of people ever year loose the trans due to overheating, it is the auto tranny's single biggest enemy. It really is that simple. For less that £100.00 you can add years of life & thousands of miles to your transmission, to me that can only be a good thing.

They are also available for remote mounting & come with a fan mounted on them, a stat is fitted in the line to swich (via a relay) the fan on & of as required. To fit a stat to the 'normal' system like I am using would involve a lot more pipework (bypass's etc.) & would add to the cost considerably.

[missfixit70]

There seems to be some confusion about the rad coolers here, they are situated in the bottom (cold) tank in the radiator which is of course where silt builds up which is one of the reasons trans temps go up as vehicles age - the tubular cooler - never that efficient (but cheaper on the production line) ends up buried in silt. Cooling fans running will not effect trans temp unless the cooling system is running too hot, then they may do something.

No confusion, you basically just said the same as me

As mentioned in an earlier post I fitted a temp strip to the trans which showed it was running hotter than I wanted it to after towing. Since fitting the extra cooler it doesn't. No one to my knowledge ever suffered auto trans failure due to the trans either warming up slower or running cooler, but thousands of people ever year loose the trans due to overheating, it is the auto tranny's single biggest enemy

It'd be interesting to see if your transmission ran any cooler with the original configuration now you have a new rad & stat in?

[Alacrity]

Well I am not going to disconnect the cooler to find out! I doubt it will have made much difference as there wasn't much sludge that came out of the old rad but who knows?

All I know from 30+ years of experience with rebuilding auto's is that towing puts a huge amount of extra load on the torque converter & that is where most of the heat is generated in a transmission. More heat = more cooling needed. Simple.

All I am trying to do here is give people sensible informed advice, that is also cheap insurance as far as the transmission goes, doesn't make any difference to me if I am ignored & transmissions carry on getting fried.