Bongo rot - help!

curlew · Post by **curlew** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 12:22 pm

We've just been told that our bongo has a really bad case of rot and may not be worth the cost of welding. Has anybody any experience of extensive welding work and whether it worked. We bought the bongo really cheaply and we would be happy to put ?1000 or so into the work, but not if it wouldn't give us another couple of years or so. Any thoughts, anyone?

tigger · Post by **tigger** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 1:30 pm

Sounds like one that's spent a lot of time in the UK with no underseal....

OK, first question, what's the rest of it like? I'm assuming that most of the rot is underneath rather than bodywork. If the body's shot, I'd be inclined to abandon it... How's the interior, the engine and the mechanicals? If they're all OK then it may well be worth saving.

Secondly, ?1,000 buys you a hell of a lot of welding!! But it really shouldn't need anything like that much. Welding prices vary hugely. Many repair garages, although they have a welding set and do the odd bit of welding, really hate doing it and so quote prohibitive prices. Go to a garage that specialises in welding. Also, some MOT testers are over-enthusiatic about saying something needs to be welded. To illustrate, my dad has an old Nissan Sunny as a runabout. This spring it failed its MOT and the garage that MOTd it quoted ?300 for the welding (about the value of the car). I took it to my welding specialist, who welded it and MOTd it for the princely sum of ?60......

So shop around, get quotes from welding specialists and good luck!! And in my opinion, it's not worth throwing a fortune at - it'll probably only go and fry its head gasket the day after you get it back from the welders... If you decide it's uneconomic, you could always break it - you might even end up making a profit if you bought it really cheaply!

Oh yes - nearly forgot. Once you start welding a car it's seldom a permanent fix. It'll get you through the MOT, but come next year you'll probably have to weld it again - often just next to one of last year's patches. Don't let this put you off doing the work, but bear it in mind if it's going to cost a fortune (ie more than about ?250 or so).

tigger

curlew · Post by **curlew** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 1:49 pm

Thank you Tigger for coming back so quickly. The interior, engine and machanicals are fine as far as we know. The rot is underneath and apparantly quite extensive. A far as the body work is concenned there's a bit of rust around the rear wheel arches but apart from that it's OK. As far as welding is concerned, initial guess fromt he repairer is ?500 but we won't know until he strips the interior out and can get at it. We knew we were taking a risk when we bought iot so we're not surprised to find that things need doing so while we have some mony "in reserve" we don't want to throw too much good after bad if that's what it proves to be. Until this evening when we go and talk to the man properly we won't know any more - but we would be grateful for any more advice. Is there anything in particular we should ask the repairer?

Alas. poor Bongo!

Dave up north · Post by **Dave up north** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 6:18 pm

Curlew,
Do you have another vehicle that you can use whilst the Bongo is off the road?
And do you have a garage or shed to use for storage?

If so, have you considered taking the interior out yourself and then have it transported to a welding firm.

Stripping a vehicle out can add a lot to the bill and if you do it yourself, you will learn a lot about how the van is put together.

Also, once its stripped out, you might take this opportunity to do the job thoroughly. A sort of restoration, and you will be confident that the van will be good for years.

Look at it this way. A good Bongo is gonna cost you around 6k to 7k, these days.

For half this, you could have a lovely van that you literally can say you know, inside out.

shakey · Post by **shakey** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 8:28 pm

Daves right, the welder recommended by my mot tester charges 25 quid an hour, I am taking a classic car down there for some migging on Wednesday, it took 2hrs to remove the floor and carpets, and will take 2hrs to replace them, saving me 100 quid on the welding bill. Labour charge is for any work not just welding. Shakey

curlew · Post by **curlew** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:44 pm

Well, went up (it's an hour away) and crawled about under the Bongo with the repairer (we consulted someone recommended by this forum). Earlier today he had aborted the MOT.

Here is the summary:

1) Mechanicals and engine seem good - apart from a suspicious looking repair to the gearbox casing (ugly looking aluminium 'chemical metal' seal)

2) Tyres totally wrong for the Bongo (no surprise there but shows he knows his stuff!) Front discs need sorting.

3) More serious this. Rot at trailing ends of the chassis - all four corners really - with the worst being at the rear (Slight rusting over the wheel arches should have given it away - and is a dead giveaway apparently). Sill under the central rear section (beneath the tailgate) is rotted (you can pull pieces out). He says that while the Japanese don't use salt on their roads, in snowy conditions - they do use some kind of chemicals - explains the position of the rot maybe?

Also he was expecting (and found) some rot in the mid offside - the passenger controlled clmate control drips condensate into the floor and as our guy said 'seen lots of these just like this and usually fixable'

The central sections of the chassis look ok.

Tomorrow am he will investigate throughly and we will decide what to do.

Our approach is:
1) On the basis of his inspection tomorrow he will cost out what needs doing, in particular he will have a better view of the extent of the rot and whether it has spread to the central sections of the chassis. We will agree a budget.

2) If it looks as though our initial thoughts are correct (ie that the rot is at the ends of the chassis members) then he will strip out the interior and do the welding. He is confident he knows what to do and I believe him. If we find further substantial rot in the mid section then we may need to cut our losses - but we'll be in for the cost of the investigation - basically inspection time plus strip-out time.

Thanks to all for the thoughts on stripping out ourselves - but we don't really have the space or time (or possibly skill!).

Any other insights we'd be grateful for.

Dago & Mrs D · Post by **Dago & Mrs D** » Wed Aug 02, 2006 8:14 am

From a totally untechnical viewpoint, but having experience of tipping money into repairing sons' cars to 'keep them on the road'

, how much did you pay for the Bongo in the first place and how long have you had it? You say you were half expecting problems. From experience it's never the "last" big repair bill once a vehicle starts going down the road to ruin! Dying vehicles always "look OK mechanically" - and then the gearbox drops out or something similar and because you have already committed a substantial sum you are then on the road of "well I've paid that already so I'll just get this done and it will be all right" - until the next thing the next week! Before you know it you have invested enough to have bought a new car. You have presumably considered cutting your losses and buying a good Bongo (plenty around it would seem) - what is stopping you?

The eternal pessimist Mrs. Dago

pippin · Post by **pippin** » Wed Aug 02, 2006 8:41 am

I would go with Dago, as I have been in exactly that same position with old cars.

If you get a newer/better Bongo at least you would have the old one for spares!