Bongo Fury

I now walk a lot just in case.

Ever checked on the pedestrians' forums the trouble they have with crossing the road and cyclists on footpaths?

Walking is way more dangerous than Renault switches and Bongo hoses.

nfn wrote:As others have noted, the poll will not give an accurate indication of the likelihood of head problems because there is bias in who responds to the poll -- people are probably more likely to respond if they've had a problem. A better way to do it would be to send a pm to around 100 or more randomly selected BF members, then calculate the percentage who have had a problem with the head and/or head gasket.

That IS a better idea nfn - you got any spare time over the hols??

I'll await your PM when I get back from a wee bit of Chianti sampling in Tuscany between Boxing Day and New Year

I don't mind constructing the survey, entering the results into a spreadsheet and doing the statistics. I do this sort of stuff for a living. The end result could be put up as a factsheet. The part that I can't do is set it up so that a sample (or all?) BF members are polled in a mass e-mailing.

I also thought of a survey, I also do similar work. If you want to run it NFN, I will gladly give you some of the questions I have thought of. PM me if you go ahead.

Warning, there are a LOT of factors, IMO, so we will need a decent sample of people with problems and people without. I doubt 100 invitations would be enough to give a statistically significant result.

When we do surveys at work, we are often pleased to get a 30% response, so that will mean a lot of people to be invited.

John the sparky wrote:I was thinking it would be interesting to see where the problems lie in terms of age of vehicle.....

I'd bet a mince pie most problems occur with M and N reg, probably a few with P and R and then next to none....

I suspect this because I think as mentioned it is a preventative maintenance issue, after 10 to 12 years there are issues with the hoses, and because of the engine position and limited airflow, this is made worse....

I know this will be distorted by the numbers imported... but it strikes me there is nothing inherently wrong with the bongo, has anyone had a hose fail on a 10 year old car elsewhere... ( I haven't, that I can think of!)

if it was a front engined vehicle with more airflow over the engine, would we get away with it?


John

Thing is though I expect 90% of bongos in this country are M/N reg at the moment, so even an age related poll wont neccessarily give you a definitive answer.

Do Ford Rangers and Mazda B200s suffer from similar problems? AFAIK they have the same head, but different pipe runs and engine position.

I am still in the age of vehicle/maintenance issue camp, as in my response posted a few days ago.

I am wih Haydn on this one.

My Bongo has undoubtedly suffered an overheat in a previous life, it is just a shame that the head was not properly checked before reassembly. If the vavles are not removed, then visual examination is a watse of time. Pressure checking is the only conclusive check.

All the cars I have owned have been old. 10 years plus is where the poblems start, as plasstic and rubber (hoses, seals, couplings and hose clips) all go brittle over time, augmented by heat and a salty atmosphere (dockside?). The wost car I owned was a Siera which spent the last two years before I took wnership in a coastal village in Suffolk. The hoses were shot a 10 years. I replaced them all with ones from a scrappy of a same age car that had oviously lived in land. These hoses were a lot better.

Preventative maintnance is the key. Getting to know your Bongo and all it's colling system will gve you a better chance to act before a real problem happens. Fitting a coolant alarm (as I will be) will prevent a cooling system issue becoming an engine/head/gasket issue.

The answer is simple though. For worry free motoring, inspect, drain, flush and keep maintained annually. Fit some kind of alarm (Haydn's looks to be the easiest) and enjoy.

Here's a sequence of events which are likely to cost you head gasket or worse. The first two are mine and the third is one from a friend's Bongo. He'd noticed the bulging, ordered a new hose but it burst before we got round to fitting it. He was VERY lucky - he'd the good sense to stop when he smelled the antifreeze and knew from info here..............

I have a 1995 65k (miles) bongo, with no inherent cooling problems...I dont have my fingers crossed,nor do i avoid walking under ladders,i wouldn't let the number thirteen affect my decisions in life in any way at all come to think of it....

I dont consider the bongo to have any more of a hose problem than any other 12-13 year old vehicle with rubber coolant hoses.

Like dandy says,its sometimes a little more effort to lift the seats and do a quick visual check...

The only issues i've had in the past was actually part of my preventative maintenence routine...when i'd accidentally left the expansion tank cap off the bongo after topping up,then drove a 120 mile round trip with the coolant slowly boiling away

Luckily i caught it before any damage was done,(i could have done with a coolant loss alarm then i tell ya!)

A very quick indication of the overall condition of a bongo's cooling system is to have a look at the transparency of the expansion tank...all the bongo's i've seen that have had a previous KNOWN cooling issue has a badly stained header tank.

Like i say, this isn't a definitive solution, but i feel it has some bearing on the amount of gunk in the radiator/coolant strength etc...

bigdaddycain wrote:A very quick indication of the overall condition of a bongo's cooling system is to have a look at the transparency of the expansion tank...all the bongo's i've seen that have had a previous KNOWN cooling issue has a badly stained header tank.

What an excellent and simple tip (just like checking the horses teeth as an indication of its health). I've wondered about this myself but never heard it said before. I guess the only caveats are you need to know how stained is stained, and stained doesnt necessarily mean game over in terms of purchasing. But it should put you on alert as the machine may have a problem.

There may be no connection mike, but it seems a little coincidental that bongo's with current/previous cooling issues more often than not have the discoloured/stained expansion tank...

In good (preferably sunlight) light conditions, you should be able to easily see the fluid level without "wobbling the bongo" to get movement out of the coolant.

Ive had new rad, water pump, thermostat, various hoses. And now new head and gaskets.

Hope now all this has been done that will be it (i hope). But this is quite an issue with the bongo's is the overheating and cracked heads.

The place in Plymouth where my new rad came from said that they always have bongo rads in stock, and he sells anything up to nine a week!!.

And the new rad thats in there was slightly bigger in size than the one that came out, but after it was fitted it was running a treat.

Now the problems ive had with the head, apparantly the head had been done before and was not pressure tested or skimmed!!. So obviously someone along the line has shoved a new gasket in, and shoved it out the door.

And the place in Plymouth that tested my head, said one in five bongo heads crack (wether that info is a load of crap, i dont know) and he apparantly sells four a week. At £475 for a bare head (i picked one up new off ebay for £230).

Alot of mechanics that i know pretty much all say, that when a bongo, or the mitzi pajero comes into this country, the rad should be ripped out and thrown away. Im sure some of you here will agree on this one, but still..Real good quality inspection and maintanance will keep your bongo where it should be.
Hoping to get mine back for next week!

no and hope it stays that way

an option should be added in to the poll....not yet !