ATF leakage - stuck in France - advice please

[levon]

Hi I am camping at Bourg D'Oasians and tried to go up Alp D'Huez. Near the top the Bongo blew a ATF feed hose to the radiator off and we dumped 5 litres of ATF on the road and lost drive. I reconnected the pipe and the recovery man filled up the transmission fluid. We set off back up to pick up the rest of the family who were still up there since the recovery truck only had 2 spare seats. On the re-assent the other end of the feed pipe blew off and we were in the same situation!! When the recovery man came he filled up with fluid (I had reconnectedthe pipe) but when we started the engine there was a slow drip from somewhere of ATF (not from the pipe connections).

The Bongo is now at the garage - my worry is there is a blockage in the ATF matrix in the radiator causing back pressure which is blowing the pipes off? Any one have any experience/knowledge of that?

I have had trouble with the pipe causing the problem and got it fixed on by 321 away and no problems or leaks since March.

Anyhow, if that is the trouble I am obviously rather concerned at the French garage changing coolant! I will bue a couple of funnels today in case so I can rerun the coolant bleed procedure and drop off the relevant fact sheet (pre-printed!) to the garage today.

Luckily the breakdown people have been really good and we have a Quashqai as a replacement until Friday. Hopefully Bongo will be sorted by then ready for our return.

Thanks for reading, hope someone can shed some light on possibles. I have tried searching because I am sure I have read about this in the past but haven't been able to refind it? Thanks.

[mikeWalsall]

To by pass the fluid cooler (bottom of the radiator) the pipes two pipes can be linked together to form a 'U'...

[helen&tony]

Hi
There's a simple way of testing the oil cooler in the radiator. Connect a pipe and funnel to one side, and watch how quickly the water flows!
In any case, if you previously had trouble with the pipe, what was the cause?. Either way, don't run with the oil cooler totally by-passed, as some Bongos have problems with transmission overheating, or it may be the transmission running at high pressure (I don't know anything much about auto transmissions)...but running without a cooler over long distances, you will heat the ATF and burn some of the internals causing glazing .
Cheers
Helen

[mikeWalsall]

It's tranny fluid not water which flows from the box ..through the bottom of the rad .. then back to the box ...

My Toyota as a similar mid engine layout to the Bongo .. when the long 'oil' cooler pipes 'went' on mine .. until I replaced the two pipes .. I linked them together close to the box so the flow and return pipes where in a 'U' shaped loop ..

BUT ... I was not up in the Alps ..!!

[teenmal]

It is not advisable to By Pass any oil cooler on a automatic gear box,AT boxes do not like any excessive Heat. I believe the cooler on these vehicles is a simple tube construction, I would imagine that the plan of attack would be to check the pipe work (collapsed hose etc) and cooler for obstruction.

Good Luck.

[levon]

Thanks for the replies. I will get the garage to check the flow through the rad - where the ATF goes - perhaps with an air hose to check the flow. They are trying to get a new pipe sent over for tomorrow, so we'll see how they get on.

Previous trouble with the pipe was it kept leaking from either end of the connection to the metal pipes. We'd checked it and put on tight jubilee clips which had solved the seepage until I drove up the 21 hairpin bends on Alp D'huez!

We spent all day on the ascent breaking down and waiting for recovery! Not a good day of the holiday. My wife and I both cycled up there this morning in 2.5hrs and 1hr 10 mins respectively! A much nicer experience.

[Northern Bongolow]

dont put a high powered air line up it, you may pop it.
it is basically a very thin walled tube of copper, this has a very fine copper gauze/mesh inside. this would seem to increase the surface area of the tube enabling better cooling of the oil as it passes through it. the outer tube is directly in contact with the coolant in the bottom of the rad.

your problems do seem odd, the oil would have to be very very sludged to not pass through the mesh.
maybe the fault lies with the flow of oil back into the box or the box itself.

[levon]

Off to look at the Bongo this morning. Don't beleive the garage has even looked at it, and all they say to the breakdown people is we need a new pipe and they can't get one made up or get one sent within 14 days.

I believe the pipe is OK (if a bit short, I will replace in slow time when I get home) so I'm off to check if there is indeed another leak or if the dripping was just left over ATF in some hollow that was vibrated out whent he engine was started.

If things look OK I will attempt to drive home with it, taking it easy so not to stress things too much. Even if we get to another area with a better garage designated as the breakdown service then that would be a positive thing! Shame that the garage is so poor given the excellent service we've received from the Aria breakdown people.

[the laird]

Don't put compressed air through as previous stated it'll blow the back end out the cooler
Fit a connector to rad and adt a cycle pump and try for blockages this way ,don't think it'll be blocked think probs elsewhere I'm afraid

[levon]

Thanks for your help.

I went to the garage Thursday morning and looked at the Bongo. The garage was claiming the pipe was leaking and the insurance people couldn't get one to him so it looked like we'd have to get the Bongo back on a low loader - at a cost of £2700!! (They were then querying if the Bongo was worth that much?) or wait until they could get a pipe and then I'd have to go back to collect the Bongo myself.

Well, at the garage it was obvious Mr Garage man hadn't even looked at the Bongo, so I did. I had brought some more jubilee clips so double clipped both ends of the hose and checked the ATF level and checked for leaks. Level OK and NO leaks after 10 mins running.

I then phoned the insurance and got it OK'd that they would cover us on the journey home if we drove it away. They were happy and let us keep the hire car for an extra day so we could drop it off on the way through Grenoble to save getting the Bongo back up the hills to where we were staying.

We drove home slower than planned over 2 days and the Bongo made it fine (even when loaded with the French Supermarket essentials on top of everything else!).

I will get a new pipe and check the flow now we are back but just pleased to get home without any hassle.

Thanks for the advice.

So a big up for Aria breakdown via the Camping and Caravan Club who were great. (I have given them feedback about the French garage they are using for the area )

[Doone]

I love a happy ending. Well done Aria and you.