Bongo Dead??? What should I do now?

[dkes]

Hello all,

I have been a bongofury member for the past year but this is my first time using the forum and I wish it was under different circumstances.

It has been a very trying time with my bongo recently and I am not sure what to do with it now.

Around 6 months ago my wife had a low speed front end bump in the bongo (10mph), the only visible damage was a cracked front bumper but it turned out that there was some slight chassis and radiator damage. The bongo went into the bodyshop/garage and the chassis was repaired, new heater and bumper fitted, all sorted out. About a week after the bongo was returned to us the rear exhaust section started blowing, so this was replaced. Another week later and she started overheating/losing coolant, an investigation ensued and the resultant fix was a re-conditioned cylinder head. This solved the problem and after a couple of months of trouble free motoring I decided to load her up for a trip to Scotland. I merrily set off up the M74 and after about 130 miles the engine informed me that it wasn't happy by lots of loud banging noises and loss of power. The AA duly arrived and reckoned that it is a valve/piston issue and I was towed home.

The bongo is now sat on the driveway, she will start but runs very rough, pressing the throttle pedal gives no response. I have not managed to get a mechanic out to look at her yet as she will require towing to a garage. After all the problems and expense of the last 6 months I am loathe to spend any money on her and I am tempted to scrap. What would you guys do?

Cheers
dkes

[winchman]

Fix it
If you spend say £1500 on it you have a useable vehicle, what can you buy for £1500?
I repaired my £700 Peugeot diesel estate last year at a cost of nearly £700, but 12 months on and about 14000 miles its still going strong, I could have scrapped it and spent £700 on someting else but I doubt it would have been as good as I know my own car.

[haydn callow]

Sounds as though the garage which fitted the radiator after the shunt did not "bleed" the cooling system properly....this lead to the overheating and again after the new head was fitted ...this was not done correctly..
Did you use a Bongo experienced garage >>

My advice....get it to a BONGO garage and get it fixed properly.

[ELZE]

Reconditioned engine! One out one in. Not sure it is worth messing with the one you have. Fault diagnosis can be the most expensive part of any fix and you will never feel confident with it again.

I noticed some cracking ones on Ebay with only 30k on them? If it can be verified that is?

[mikeWalsall]

Reconditioned ebay engines ..??

More than likely off the boat out of a scrapper and steam cleaned ..??

[Northern Bongolow]

there are a few good breakers on here that sell on ebay, but i know where your coming from mike. like anything second hand it can be a risk. but a lot less risky than using the garage that you have been.

a rough aft could draw around a grand as a breaker, a good one maybe more, its all down to you and your wallet.

i think the way i would go would be a whole replacement unit from a reputable seller as the bottom end of yours may be damaged(bent damaged rods, piston, etc), and get someone with experience to fit it and bleed it correctly.

pm me if you need a few names of a few good breakers who have several complete lumps in stock.

[teenmal]

Hi,
This sounds more like a valve gear /valve timing problem,rather than a previouse cooling /bleeding problem.

[321Away]

Check the cam shaft isnt snapped, where did the re-con head come from?

Julian

[dkes]

Thanks for the replies guys.

The repair garage sourced the head for me and they also put a new timing belt on when they did the work.
I have bitten the bullet and bought a vw t5 panel van that I am going to convert into a camper, I do 15k miles a year now and need something newish and reliable, it has only done 10k miles.

As for the bongo, I can't decide whether to sell her as she is for a pittance or invest in a re-conned engine and sell on thereafter. I'll need to have a good think over the weekend.

[321Away]

pull off the rocker cover if the cam has snapped the garage is liable and will have to replace the head,unless its a dropped valve like another member is currently arguing about its unlikely that you'll be liable

Julian

[lpgimports]

I would agree with Haydn and Julian

The issues are likely to start from the Rad change not bled correctly or at all, if it runs and wont accelerate sounds like either a valve stuck in its guide and hit the piston and the timing went out or as Julian suggests cam is snapped.

Paul