Coolant alarm woes...

[marthana79]

Hey!

I'm quite new to Bongos, had mine just over a year and am a total novice when it comes to vehicles. When I bought the Bongo I asked for a low coolant alarm to be fitted after having a good read through the forum.

A couple of months ago I was driving down the motorway and the alarm went off, so I pulled in and unfortunately a stone had come up from the road and gone through the radiator so I had to have that replaced. A few weeks after I got the van back we drove it up to the Lake District; the following day we heard a loud gurgling noise which sounded like it was coming from the glove box. It didn't last very long, so we carried on driving and about twenty minutes or so later the low coolant alarm went off.

We called out the AA, and the chap reckoned there may have been an airblock after the radiator was replaced. He couldn't find an obvious leak, so said we were fine to drive home (slowly - 50mph) and if the alarm went off we should stop and top it up with water. We only had to do this once on the way back. So, the van went back to the garage we bought it from (and who had replaced the radiator) so they could investigate.

They couldn't find anything, and said they had tightened all the clips etc, so we went to collect it and brought it home without incident.

We went back to the Lake District last weekend, and on the second day had the alarm going off again. We topped it up with about 1.5 litres of water, and it eventually went off again. We drove about 10 miles, and the alarm began going sounding and stopping intermittently. My husband did some searching through the forums and thought that it might be because we'd only recently had new red coolant put in, and had read about it coating the screw and causing a false reading.

We drove it back from the Lake District, and half way through the journey the alarm started going off again. We kept an eye on the temperature guage and that didn't shift so carried on driving. The alarm eventually went off, came back on again for a good half hour or so, then off.

We're going to have a go at cleaning the screw tomorrow, but I'm just a bit concerned as we were able to put the 1.5 litres in initially which would suggest we have a leak (would it??) even though the garage couldn't find anything. I don't have any reason to doubt the garage (Ian Taylor in Stoke) but would really appreciate any thoughts/suggestions you might have.

Sorry my first post turned out to be an epic...

Cheers,
Martha

[Bob]

Welcome aboard, Martha.

Sorry to hear of your problems, but I can say Ian Taylor knows Bongos very well.

Had it not been a Bongo Friendly garage I would be wondering if the bleed had been done correctly, but IT will be ok I'm sure.

[haydn callow]

Sounds as though the alarm has been doing a valiant job under difficult circumstances.
The fact you had to top up so much points to a serious problem

[haydn callow]

How full are you filling the tank??? Put a dry stick vertically down the filler and it should show a depth of 2 cms when cold....do NOT overfill.

[Bob]

Good thought, Haydn.

[Simon Jones]

When the alarm went off, could you see the coolant level had dropped below the level of the screw? If it had, the the alarm is correctly warning of a problem in the cooling system, if it hadn't, then it could be the screw needs cleaning. I've changed to a red long life coolant using quite a strong mix (60:40) and not had any problems with the alarm going off when it shouldn't but some people have reported an issue with the screw needing to be cleaned.

[winchman]

How full are you filling the tank??? Put a dry stick vertically down the filler and it should show a depth of 2 cms when cold....do NOT overfill.

Thats how I do mine,McDonalds wooden cofffee stirrer is ideal

[marthana79]

The level hadn't dropped below the screw that I can recall, but I'll definitely check that this morning before I start doing anything else to it. I'll do the dry stick thing too, a good excuse to send the husband out for a sausage and egg muffin

Thanks for the advice, I'll let you know how I get on.

[haydn callow]

If the level hadn't dropped below the screw and you put 1.5 litres in you must be full to the brim.....this would cause pressure problems and coolant would be ejected via the small outlet.

You need to get the level correct when cold and go from there....?Did you top up with water or coolant?

[marthana79]

Did the stick test and it was bone dry. Unfortunately can't see through the tank to see what the level was, so topped up cautiously (with water) until reached a 2cm marker we'd put on the stick. We ended up putting another litre in today, so there's definitely something going on somewhere! The good news is, the alarm is definitely working as it should Will be giving the garage a call again tomorrow to see if we can get it looked at again... Could there be a problem with the new radiator perhaps - cracked fins?? There's no obvious drips/leaks but definitely losing water, which we didn't have before.

Thanks loads for your advice, really appreciate it

[Northern Bongolow]

They couldn't find anything, and said they had tightened all the clips etc,

Cheers,
Martha

there shouldnt be any clips to tighten, they should be these

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=const ... B500%3B375

[haydn callow]

Sounds serious/expensive to me..
The coolant alarm was doing its job and must be taken seriously.

[marthana79]

Indeed, noted, thank you.