ive waited a couple of days before commenting, just to see if this went the usual way and ended up as a forum fight
it seems safe to come out now so here goes.
in answer to your question alan, it is a faf, and no doubt, but in my opinion it justifies to some extent the faf.
firstly ive got to declare for those that dont know, it was my mrs who filmed them, and my bongo was used in the filming.
this idea really came out of discusions with myself, kirsty, haydn, and ian that such a vid would be useful and would be made available to all on here.
when i first start bongoing i had no access to a manual or the members area factsheets so was working totally blind, it turned out that myself and others were all doing the same/similar sort of bleed thing so a plan to standardise things was hatched. the films were then shot in a rush at the end of the bongo bash a few years ago.
at no time was this said to be the only way to bleed a bongo. but i feel this method has numerous advantages to other methods that i have seen, but the number of others i have seen is nil
.
all the bongo specialist must have a way, or their way, but obviously for commercial reasons they are not going to say how they do it, nor would i ask.
but just to put a little spin on that, at last years bash a bongonaught came chatting and asked for help, he said he had been the first uk owner of a p reg bongo, he had taken it into a bongo specialist for maintenance work, weeks later the head cracked, they then fitted a new head, 7 months later the head cracked again, they fell out
he took it to another bongo specialist and had a head fitted, that cracked within a year, and to the second dealers credit he has since replaced this last one free of charge. the point of the story is that during all this the owner who was at his wits end knew there was a problem but no one could find it. he has now had trouble free bongoing for the last 6 months due to doing some basic leak checks, replacing a few components and (proper) bleeding of the system.
i have since found out which bleed method they both use, and one is the vac method, and one is nearer the method in the manual. had they used the vid method the problem would have shown itself in the bleed.
as steve comments earlier the method in the manual would no doubt work on a newish system, or a well maintained airtight system, but the question for me is how do i know if its right or not, especially if its not my bongo, or dont know its history, all very important if i am to get paid and gaurentee the work as a garage must do, the answer is drive it
.
in the vid method key things can be seen to happen at certain times, and should they not happen then things can be stopped and answers sought before the damage is made worse. with enough experience the timings and steps become clearer. having seen 6 busted head bongo's and how they bleed or dont, the tell tale signs are even more obvious to spot, although on a thermal opening crack this can still be difficult to diagnose in the field without sniff tests etc.
the vid method can be used to get flow temps of certain parts of the circuit/s, heater/s operation,stat operation,waterpump efficiency,fan switching point/temps.
as i said above everyone seems to have their own way of bleeding a bongo but as no one wants to film them, or tell me how they do it, (with the exception of simon jones) so in the absence of knowledge from elsewhere i will stick with what is known to work.
i really would be grateful if someone could work this through and film another easier method so come on peeps get filming.
it's 18 months now since these vids were made, and our knowledge of the coolant system has come a long way, this is certainly due to the efforts of the forum members who have taken an interest, be it big or small, all the contributions are neccessary and are to be applauded. if these films were to be remade things would be done slightly differently but the core points would i feel remain the same.
edit----- has anyone bled one yet using the bleed/vent on the first steel pipe out of the head towards the rad, i would put a lushy link to it if i knew how
, the little nipple thing, or as i suspect, the fill point in the factory.
regards ady.
. Incidentally, the matrix cut was done by Helen (Bulgaria).
.
