Head gasket gone

[Phill.greg]

Hi,
I recently bought a V6 petrol bongo. After 400 miles it started cutting out and not restarting. Local garage have confirmed a blown head gasket and are quoting £650 to have it pressure tested and skimmed. A lot of money if it doesn't solve the issue.
What are my best options here
Many thanks
Phill

[Bob]

Oh dear, sorry to hear this, but welcome to BF.

Options - not very helpful, but it depends. If Bongy is in great shape, no rust, smart conversion... worth doing.

If it's going to cost a packet at the next MoT you might consider breaking it or selling as 'spares or repair'.

Threre are several breakers who will give you a price, but personaly I'd get a quote for repair from a Bongo savvy garage. List in Members' Area, or if you pop a rough location in your profile we can likely recommend one.

The thing with Bongos is the cooling system must be bled after any coolant loss and far too many mechanics don't know this.

The V6 is less prone to overheating problems than the diesel, but bleeding is still very important.

The 2 ltr is self bleeding, but that won't help here. Just info for anyone else reading.

[Phill.greg]

Thanks Bob for swift reply. I'm in Southport. It's a non conversion with a little rust on arches etc.
Bought it in good faith in the summer for £3300 !!!
Was told no problems with it..
Cheers

Phill

[Bob]

Worth talking to Wheelquick, Wigan.

Someone may know a good garage a bit closer, but Wheelquick are very well thought of.

Real sickener when you spend that kind of money and have problems.

[Phill.greg]

Will do Bob
Many thanks

[JulesMartin]

Hi and welcome. That seems like a lot of money for a skim and pressure test although I guess they are going to do both heads. Just had my diesel skimmed and tested for just over £200. Depends if you've been bitten by the Bongo bug really. having had mine now for over 3 months and bought it for spares and repairs so expected the worse I'd still prefer it over the VW T25 I had before. I think a lot of people on here would agree that it's not about the money I've already poured more money into mine than I would expect to get back if I were to sell it. They don't have the kudos of the VW camper's but they are very appealing and challenging to own

[Phill.greg]

Haven't had it long enough to get the bongo bug. Only had 2 trips in it so far. I'm taking it to a specialist for their opinion so fingers crossed

[Bob]

Good luck.

Let's hope Bongy is soon fit and well.

[Phill.greg]

I will keep you posted with outcome. It's likely that they won't start anything till January
Cheers
phill

[mikeonb4c]

Its quite unusual for the head on a v6 to go (esp if there's been no overheating incident. Could there not be many other (more likely) reasons for cutting out? Defo get a Bongo specialist to look it over IMO. Also, sadly, a £650 bill is nothing exceptional on a lot of cars these days and that may be lot younger than yer average Bongo. Good luck getting it sorted and keep us posted.

[Phill.greg]

I've had bongo at Wheelquick. They have found the distributor loose and likely cause of cutting out.
They have not done any diagnostic checks on head gasket because bongo is running fine.
Oh, and water was completely empty when the bongo was picked up from my local garage !!
I didn't know that, Wheelquick told me, and luckily it was not driven more than half a mile !!
Wheelquick are not guaranteeing the head gasket is ok, but it's showing no symptoms . I've never driven it whilst overheating but can't say if previous owner ever did !

[Bob]

Fingers crossed, but sounds good.

A Bongo savvy garage is worth a lot.