Mysterious noise from behind the dashboard

[Helen44]

The other day when we were driving our bongo back from the North, we got stuck in a traffic jam for about half an hour. It was a hot (but windy) day and I had already been complaining that my "blower" had not been blowing out cold air, so we had had our windows down whilst we were in the jam. Once we started moving again, my partner put the windows up (cause the Bongo is hard to drive in the wind when the windows are open), and turned the blowers back up to four. Almost immediately we noticed a bubbling/ticking noise coming from behind the dashboard in front of the passengers seat. We switched the blowers off, and continued driving for another few minutes. The noise continued. We were freaking out a little because we were on the motorway, and wanted to get to the nearest services. We stopped after about 4 mins, switched off the engine and sat for a while. Everything looked normal and the temp gauge hadn't suggested that the engine was overheating.

We set off again after about 10 mins and the noise didnt start again. Nevertheless, we are still a bit worried about what the noise might have been. Any suggestions? We dont want to head off on a long journey again until we have a better idea.

[g8dhe]

Could it be this http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... 23#p530723

[Helen44]

I don't think it was that, based on the descriptions given in your thread, and the location that the arrow points to on your picture. I thought the noise could even be coming from somewhere under the bonnet, but that is where my partner and I disagree. If anything it sounded like it was coming from behind the leftmost blower.

It was a fairly loud noise we heard, to be honest. We had the radio on loud, and spotted the noise over that. It was loud enough to freak us both out a lot. I think during the traffic jam, someone may have also knocked the hold button, which made matters worse, as we had both forgotten about its existence and briefly thought it was indicative of something awful. I dont think that relates to the noise though.

After we had calmed down a little, we drove the rest of the way home, and didn't notice any other problems, other than a lack of window cleaning fluid, but i dont think that was related either.

[windywatson]

From your description & the hot weather conditions, I would have a good look at your cooling system. Passenger side of vehicle behind the dash correlates to coolant header tank. This could produce noises that sound like water bubbling if the engine was on the verge of an over heat as any air/steam produced by water breaking down into steam would/could bubble vigorously back to the header tank. Once you were under way and the engine/rad getting plenty of cooling it would have possibly stopped, as you had described.
Have you checked that the electric fans are kicking in and cooling the engine down etc. As this happened whilst stationary in a jam on a hot day the engine would have been relying on the fans to work correctly & also the scavenger fan may well have also been needed in extreme cases.

Hope this gives you some ideas what to have a look at.

Cheers

[haydn callow]

Check the level of your coolant in the tank under the bonnet.if it's empty don't just top it up and don't drive it anywhere.
Do you have a Low Coolant Alarm fitted??

[Helen44]

We do not have a coolant alarm, as far as I know. Will check the coolant levels tomorrow.

We are due to take our bongo for a service next week, but the garage we normally take it to is 30 mins drive away, and I keep reading on the boards that it is foolish to let an non-bongo garage look at the cooling system. Argh, worried now

[haydn callow]

We do not have a coolant alarm, as far as I know. Will check the coolant levels tomorrow.

We are due to take our bongo for a service next week, but the garage we normally take it to is 30 mins drive away, and I keep reading on the boards that it is foolish to let an non-bongo garage look at the cooling system. Argh, worried now

Check the level as you say....if the tank is empty DO NOT TOP IT UP OR DRIVE IT...if you cannot see the level cos the tank is dirty dip a dry lolly stick vertically down through the neck....you should be showing approx 2 cm of wet stick......if it is empty get it to a Bongo garage to sort out.....get it wrong and it can be expensive.....

Do fit a low coolant alarm

[Helen44]

The tank is empty, if we are looking at the right tank

I called our garage and he advised me to top it up half way with water, drive for 15 mins and then see if there level has gone down tomorrow morning. The garage we use is a Bongo garage which we found advertised on bongofury.

[haydn callow]

I can only repeat.....DO NOT REFILL THE TANK AND DRIVE IT..YOU WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY crack the cylinder head if you have not already done so......YOU MUST refill the system whilst bleeding it,,,see YouTube videos .....link on website below......failure to do this could easily end up costing you £2000....your garage is wrong and I wouldn't trust them to sort the problem out.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

[teenmal]

And when you have soused the problem as has been said Get yourself a Low Coolant Alarm, you can purchase them on Ebay for £20.00,its a no brainer.

Good Luck.

[Helen44]

Is it possible to tell if the head is already cracked? We drove for over an hour after the initial incident.

Our mechanic assured me that it would be fine to drive it, which I was obviously apprehensive about after your warnings. I posted what he said as it made me nervous, having previously looked at a few coolant threads on here.

Can anyone recommend and good bongo garages in the south east?

[haydn callow]

When the incident happened did the temperature gauge move over to the H position?
If you drove for a hour I fear the worst...
But
First ( before you drive anywhere ) get it bled according to the videos or instructions. Then see if it happens again.
You could be lucky

[rita]

This might sound daft but ...... have you recently checked the washer bottle for water.

[Helen44]

Rita, we ran out of window cleaning fluid earlier during the day, if that is what you mean

[Helen44]

Haydn, thanks for your advice. We will definitely be getting an alarm if the Bongo survives, although it may not if we are going to be looking at £2000 of repairs.

The temp gauge never went higher than 10 or 11 o'clock (I believe that the gauges are not that accurate though?).

Even after watching the bleed videos you sent I still feel like I couldnt do it by myself without risking further damage. I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place...our closest mechanics are not Bongo experts, and previously told us that they are not confident working on it (even though they would love to tinker).