V6 RADIATOR BLOWN - Help Needed

[bongomike]

Hi Guys

I just got home and my radiator is leaking all the way along the top seal. Does anyone know the part number so I can order one here in Australia. If not does anyone know anywhere in the UK I can get one from. I need it urgently it's our only mode of transport at the moment.

Are they worth repairing?

cheers BongoMike.

[francophile1947]

These people are selling them on Ebay in UK http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MAZDA-BONGO-2 ... 45ff7740cc
It might be worth emailing them to see if they know the part number.
Failing that, can't your local Mazda dealer help?

[bongomike]

Thanks for your help John. I've emailed him to see if he would post to oz.

I think I met you once. I used to live in Norwich and you dropped an under seat tray over, has your bongo got that pimped suspension?

[francophile1947]

Aha - I remember that I was, indeed, the one with the pimped suspension. I am now Bongoless (gone a bit bigger ) but still enjoy the club and the friends, old and new
Good luck with your search

[cheffy34]

DO NOT QUOTE ME

I could be wrong but i think it is the same rad as the diesal

worth checking out all the same


Dar

[Northern Bongolow]

my thoughts on the rad, or anything else springing a leak under pressure is to replace the stat with a gen mazda one while the systems in bits too.

[bongomike]

Thanks for all the advice guys, I managed to get the radiator out and it has been repaired, they took the top off and replaced the O ring. I'm going to refit it tomorrow.

Just one question when I took off a small pipes from the bottom which hold the oil in. Where do I top up this oil as I lost a few drops (not a lot)

cheers
Michael

[Simon Jones]

It's the ATF oil for the gearbox. You fill up the via the dipstick tube located at the rear of the driver's side engine compartment. Do a search on here for how to check the level as it's a bit more complex that just reading the level of the dipstick.

[mikeonb4c]

Thanks for all the advice guys, I managed to get the radiator out and it has been repaired, they took the top off and replaced the O ring. I'm going to refit it tomorrow.

Just one question when I took off a small pipes from the bottom which hold the oil in. Where do I top up this oil as I lost a few drops (not a lot)

cheers
Michael

That is really interesting. Never heard of anyone managing (opting) to repair a leaking Bongo radiator by taking the top off and fitting a new O-ring. Heard stories about plastic top cracking and unit not being repairable, so thats a first for me. Well done that garage (the frontier spirit of Oz I reckon)

[rita]

Thanks for all the advice guys, I managed to get the radiator out and it has been repaired, they took the top off and replaced the O ring. I'm going to refit it tomorrow.

Just one question when I took off a small pipes from the bottom which hold the oil in. Where do I top up this oil as I lost a few drops (not a lot)

cheers
Michael

That is really interesting. Never heard of anyone managing (opting) to repair a leaking Bongo radiator by taking the top off and fitting a new O-ring. Heard stories about plastic top cracking and unit not being repairable, so thats a first for me. Well done that garage (the frontier spirit of Oz I reckon)

This is one of the sad stories of the Motor Trade,at one time there was a buzzing industry in Britain repairing and reconditioning radiators. almost every large town had a repair centre or two.

[Diplomat]

Now that's interesting.

I assumed that there was some form of seal along the interface, call it an O ring generically, and that is indeed the case.

Presumably, after a time it deteriorates, probably because of the heat at the top of the rad.

Well, that's my theory, anyway, as I wouldn't like to have the bottom one go. At least the top seal is easy to check and repair with epoxy.

I wonder what the Australians used? A genuine replacement, a length off a roll, or something squeezed out of a tube?


Frank