after ex. manifold work, no lo-revs power and white smoke...

[Northern Bongolow]

as above i would politely ask them to do tests, compression test, sniffer test for exhaust gasses in the coolant, and a pressure test, these should be able to de done fairly cheaply and quickly,
ask them to bleed the bongo of any air in the system, even suggest they watch the bleeding a bongo vids on youtube. they may use a vac fill method to fill the coolant, if the system will not pull a vac this may mean there is a leak or fault with the head.
if they bleed it and there are no leaks anywhere and it wont hold coolant then the prognosis isnt good for the head.


good luck.

[tomwharf]

Okay - problem solved!
1 - smoke problem sorted itself out - assume a bit of coolant in turbo has now worked its way through
2 - van is holding its coolant properly, no damage noted (though for good measure I will be getting a compression test)
3 the no low revs power issue was solved by tightening what my mechanic describes as the "gear selector cable" - though not sure what this is as I have never seen an auto gearbox up close and personal. it now uses first gear on pulling away, not second as it was before, and seems to select more appropriate gears when overtaking etc.

... not a cracked cylinder head ! Thank goodness my wife noticed the dropped coolant before any damage!

Cheers all,
Tom

[Jimbob738]

Tom i can wholey sympathise with your scenario my head gasket blew last september i had the cylinder head tested by lyndlys in basford nottingham, head didnt crack and didnt need a skim so doesnt always by rule crack the head all depends on how fast you notice the issue i find the coolent alarms are good but the two things on the side of your head are better and the things on the front of your face think there called ears and eyes but will double check my haynes.

well done wife buy her something nice like a K&N or some air freshners for the bongo.

[dandywarhol]

The 2 things on the side of your head will be hard pushed to hear that the coolant level has dropped or the coolant is overheating jimbob. The 2 things on the side of your head will, however hear an alarm beep - unless the 2 things on the side of your head don't work in which case the 2 things in the front of your head could see a light flashing, unless they don't work - therefore you should be in the passenger's seat and let a person with all 4 things working do the driving.

[Jimbob738]

Touche'

[dandywarhol]

lol