Coolant alarm

[winchman]

Morning.
Got my Bongo and also got the overheating paranoia LOL
Whats peoples thoughts on these?
I have had a good root around and Haydens looks like the one to have?
I am on a tight budget and managed to find a cheap Bongo as it needs some work, but it came with a load of service history and the issues I can fix my self over the next few months, but I have to prioratise the spend and feel I cant do with out a coolant alarm, I did think of making my own but when you consider component reliability, I might then be penny wise and pound foolish?
Do you still have the two self tappers screwed in to the header tank?

[haydn callow]

Only one screw these days.....about 6000 fitted to Bongos and many thousands to other vehicles.......
Phone me for forum discount ?? (every little helps)

[winchman]

Thanks
I will PM you as working all weekend

[chipvan]

low alarm worth every penny!! saved me loads of times..see http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... =3&t=53772
!

[BigPanzer]

Hi,

Welcome to the wonderful, quirky world of Bongo ownership!

JAL fitted one of Haydns alarms for me on purchase, essential bit of kit. I haven't had it go into alarm (yet) but I tested it by siphoning off a bit of coolant. It works well.

I believe there is also a "cheap & dirty" mod that can be done to the temp. gauge so it is more responsive but I haven't been able to find the thread. Can anybody help here?

Peter

[mikeWalsall]

http://www.enginesaver.com.au/Tempgauge.pdf

[BigPanzer]

Hi,

Thanks Mike, looks easy enough.

Peter

[mikeWalsall]

Like the Toyota / Mazda the mod takes out the 'buffer' from the temperature gauge so the needle moves more in relation to the engine temperature ..

I have a JAL fitted, Haydns low coolant alarms fitted onto my Bongo .. I may also invest in a Mason alarm, as that not only removes the 'fixed needle position' (buffer) but also allows you to set your own pre determined audible (over) heat temperature point...

[Northern Bongolow]

may be an idea to follow the instructions carefully when doing the gauge mod.
ive broken a few with being heavy handed . the best way ive found is to not solder the link on at all, and connect the resister across the terminals on the back of the gauge on the ciruit track sheet. BUT DONT OVER TIGHTEN THE SCREWS it breaks the wires inside the gauge when the terminal post spins.
just my opinion, but its you shout.

re the low coolant alarm from haydn. a friends bongo was (saved) yesterday when the rad started to leak at the top.

[chipvan]

before any bling..get a coolant alarm...!

[BigPanzer]

Thanks Ady, warning noted. At the back of my mind is to build up a little bit of veroboard with a zener, variable resistor, transistor and a self oscillating piezo sounder on it to give an adjustable over temperature audible alarm much like the Masons alarm.

I have to admit that, like Winchman I'm starting to get a bit paranoid about all the overheating problems I read about!

Peter

[Northern Bongolow]

if you do the mod you will not still trust the gauge,as its not telling the truth.
you are depending on the resister fitted telling it what you want it to tell you . i experimented with diff resisters and could get it to say whatever i wanted.

i have 2 bongo's and have a low coolant alarm fitted to both and love them to bits, but they do have issues, not bad ones but you need to understand that they are just an aid, and you must maintain your bongo.
i also have fitted an extra add on that plugged onto the low coolant alarm, this is the high coolant alarm again from haydn. i am trying to persuade him to reintroduce these again as i think its equally if not more valuable.
if you have a leak it will show on the low coolant alarm.
if you have an overheat, or more to the point if the temp is on the way up the coolant level may infact rise. this rise in coolant is detected by the high coolant alarm.

come on haydn bring this back.

the mason is a good piece of kit too, just for the alarm top temp point,but they can also have issues.
the wife has one on hers and loves it. i put one on mine and could not get on with it, i managed to establish that they are very voltage concious even when wired through a voltage stabilizer, and sometimes woud squeel or chirp when other elecrical items were used that drew several amps.i could not find any fault with the mason, and dave was very good but all i could establish was that sometimes it happens on bongo's (i have heard of several like this. still good kit though on 99% of bongo's.
not used one myself but the tm2 is well respected and trusted.

[Daveysplod]

I'll give another thumbs up to Haydn and his low coolant alarm. I bought his TM2 temperature gauge / Low Coolant Alarm combination when I got my truck a couple of years ago. I'll know if the coolant drops, I'll know of the temp goes too high.

Haydn is an absolute gent, in my experience the customer support he gives is second to none.

Once you've got the low coolant alarm fitted I'd recommend a good second job is to check out the underseal and make sure the underneath of the truck is well protected - particularly at this time of year!

Cheers,

davey.

[BigPanzer]

Hi Ady,

You make some good points there. All the alarms you can fit are no substitute for a properly maintained coolant system and I have never been one of those people who closes the bonnet and doesn't open it again for months. A check for drips under pressure (?) is part of my regular routine just as much as tyre pressures and fluid levels.

I take your point about fluctuating voltage levels when (for example) headlights are turned on and also the transient spikes that occur on the 12v lines in any vehicle. Fortunately I have the knowledge and experience (which comes from other interests) to be able to get around these problems, albeit with a certain amount of trial and error because every case is different and just throwing a voltage regulator at the circuit to give a stable, reduced voltage supply line does not always work.

I was not aware that Haydn had developed a high coolant level add on for his alarm. This seems like a good idea providing the problem of the coolant sloshing around in the header tank and causing false triggering is overcome, but again this would not be too difficult to do.

As a matter of interest, the only coolant leak I have had to date is where Phil (JAL) fitted the screws into the header tank. Easily fixed, but watch those screws folks!

What I'm going to attempt to do is purely for my own interest (retirement = boredom). I'm not interested in producing anything commercially or treading on the toes of Haydn or anybody else and I apologise to Winchman for hijacking his thread.

Thanks for your comments, I appreciate your experience and common sense.

Peter

[winchman]

No problem Peter, the more input the better.
If we all help out it makes the Bongo ownership more fun and more economical.
I have decided to buy one of Haydens, will call him Monday