Hello and 2.0 problem.

[Erubus]

Hi all. Not a bongo owner, but a bongo fixer for my friend's van.

The issues boil down to (pun intended) overheating of the 2.0 petrol engine but I'll give a little background first.

My friend asked me to check her battery after saying the bongo was stinking and had cut out and was really sluggish to turn over. I checked the battery and alternator (a couple of days later) and couldn't find an issue, it turned over and started perfectly so I said I couldn't find a problem and she drove off to do some errands.

She phoned later on and said it kept cutting out coming to junctions but the fuel gauge was showing zero fuel and assumed that was the issue and she'd phoned the AA. The AA didn't show up so she ended up getting fuel and driving home.

It turned out that a tee on the end of a long steel pipe underneath had corroded and dumped out all the coolant and the van was driven for several miles with no coolant. I suspect the initial hard starting was a partial seizure due to overheating.

what I've done so far

I've pulled all the plugs and looked inside the cylinders. The factory honing is still visible and there is minimal, if any, evidence of scoring. The fire rings on the head gasket are clearly degraded and burned away in places.

I've done a compression test. Cylinders 1 and 2 showed 70 psi, 3 was 80 psi and 4 was 85 psi test done cold and dry. I repeated the test with some gear oil in each cylinder and all cylinders read 80-85 psi.

All cylinders are discoloured, yellowish from the heat.

I tried filling the engine with water in order to move it onto my driveway (it was recovered to my farm from the city) but could hear it running out straight away as fast as I poured it in. That's when I discovered the corroded pipe underneath. It had clearly burst before as it was coated in JB weld or something.

Questions

I can't find much information on this engine at all. It was always extremely slow, I'm guessing it's overheated before and the rings are shot hence the compression figures. I did test my compression tester against my calibrated test pump (I'm a boiler inspector/insurance surveyor) and it's accurate. Id guess the compression figures should be at least 100 psi, probably nearer 120 psi.

Is there an online source for an engine manual? I'm happy enough stripping it, skimming the head and refitting but torque figures would be handy. I've found more information on the forklift variant but no torque figures.

Is the 2.0 petrol really that slow? We're talking 0-60 in 30 ish seconds. Adding up he cost of all the parts, plus a skim and pressure test, it's already at nearly £600. If it's meant to be so slow, I'm happy to do the top end but my pal isn't wanting me to end up doing a full engine rebuild, new rings and a home and all the other things that are inevitably going to need doing, so if it's terminally worn out, it's probably the end of the road for it.

I'm going to cut the end off the burst pipe and make a replacement, or see if I can clean it up enough to braze it. I reckon 15mm copper pipe would fit the hoses. I'll just crimp an olive onto the hose ends and join it back onto the main pipe with a bit of hose. The replacement pipe appears to be around £100 and a pain to fit.

Sorry, long post..... Mine are always like this

[g8dhe]

Your aware that until the coolant has warmed up the ECU won't allow you to go into highest gear? You need to run it for 10-20 minutes before it will engage the highest gear.
The manuals are available to buy but not seen any online copies as I believe the rights owner is quite savvy at tracking down copies! The manuals are available for all the engines in the shop on this site.

[Erubus]

I wasn't aware but I know it was running fine until it dropped it's coolant out of the pipe. I've only driven it myself once but been a passenger in it a few times and it is horrifically slow, but it's a heavy vehicle, develops very little power for a 2.0 and has a pretty lazy autobox so I wouldn't expect sports car performance. Id be interested if someone with the same engine could confirm though.

No disrespect intended but £85 for a manual is loads and I only need the head bolt torquing specs. If nobody can tell me, I'm sure I'll be able to find a forklift manual, the FE engine was used in plenty old Hysters.