My names Chris, recently bought a bongo 2.5 v6 petrol on a bit of a whim, I've no doubt l'll need some advice so I thought I'd sign up here and introduce myself.
I'm 39, a maintenance engineer from Nottinghamshire, I've a life long history of fiddling with cars and bikes, the bongo is the fifth edition to the fleet alongside my 2008 bmw 530i estate which is the daily, a 2002 bmw x5 4.4i, a 1998 ducati 916 and the wife's 2013 mini countryman.
This is the bongo I bought for not alot from a lovely guy called Marvin in Sheffield. Marvin had it for awhile and used it on a few decent trips away but lately ran into a few issues with and due to his circumstances (young family and doesn't do his own spannering) decided to move it on.
I found it on ebay and decided that as i work shifts and have a 3 year old it would be good for nights away with my daughter and occasionally the wife when it suits.
Marvin had problems with it overheating since the waterpump had been replaced, I took a punt that the system just needed bleeding properly but did some maths and had a look around and found a full headset isn't more than £500 if I found the headgasket had gone.
I originally planned on parking this up till nearer Easter as I've alot of other stuff on but this week due to other unforeseen circumstances I needed to use it to take me to work for the week.
I spent an hour bleeding it after watching videos on youtube, the radiator was virtually empty, I wonder if the last garage didn't know it needed filling seperately, the rad cap has had it so I'll need to source a replacement.
I bled it on my own through a complex arrangement of cable ties holding the funnel to the grab handle on the a post whilst I'd dash to the front to keep fluids topped up whilst using a long stick across the car to press the throttle and so on, the outcome is the bongo no longer overheats, I've done a round 60 miles in it now, but the heaters are stone cold.
I think a better attempt needs making with bleeding it (probably with a spare person), I plan to remove most of the cooling pipes and flush everything through at some point whilst making sure everything else is at mechanical standard too, and I'll probably throw a new thermostat at it too.
Think that will do for an intro,
Thanks
Chris
Spherical Visions
