Bongo Fury

i had my coolant alarm (mark 1 ) because dbo noticed a puddle of water under my bongo one day and i found out it was my radiator £160 later job sorted and then £70 for the coolant alarm to warn me if water level drops again

i was a lucky one as caught in time could have been a new engine otherwise

if you had the coolant loss alarm fitted it will only alarm if theres no coolant in the header tank after you have overheated and lossed coolant.

Not so !!.. The Low Coolant alarm will "alarm" long before the tank is anywhere near empty, in fact the level only needs to drop 1cm. This happens long before the engine starts to overheat and long before any temp gauge starts to move...All the various alarms have their merits but please keep to the known facts.

Yes would recommend having one , with all the problems I've had with the cooling system and overheating it gives me a little more piece of mind that there is coolant in the system and would alert me to if there was a leak somewhere before i did any serious damage , all though I've been told by some not sure on the facts that in the case that I had the system was pressurising and so the coolant alarm wouldn't have alerted me until nearly all coolant was lost. I still think it is a valuable piece of kit and who knows what may have happened to my old engine in the first place ,perhaps whilst with the japanese owner it had developed a leak and overheated , the alarm would have stopped the damage in the first place . Hadyn fitted mine for me at Brokerswood excellent service and a really nice chap

I have not fit an alarm, prefer to maintain the system, new hoses and regular coolant changes, plus bleeding the system

Well y'all know I have a coolant alarm. I've meant to fit either a Mason alarm or an engine block alarm but haven't got round to it. One thing that made me a little cautious about the Mason alarm was reading on here that the normal coolant temp sensor probe (which for anyone not aware is what the engine temp gauge uses - all the Mason alarm does is undamp the needle response from that sensor) relies on being surrounded by coolant. In the event of a coolant loss, it fails to give a proper reading if it only has air around it so that the gauge could read cold whilst the engine was in fact in meltdown. Anyone able to give a view on that?

mikeonb4c wrote:Well y'all know I have a coolant alarm. I've meant to fit either a Mason alarm or an engine block alarm but haven't got round to it. One thing that made me a little cautious about the Mason alarm was reading on here that the normal coolant temp sensor probe (which for anyone not aware is what the engine temp gauge uses - all the Mason alarm does is undamp the needle response from that sensor) relies on being surrounded by coolant. In the event of a coolant loss, it fails to give a proper reading if it only has air around it so that the gauge could read cold whilst the engine was in fact in meltdown. Anyone able to give a view on that?

I have both the coolant & the Mason alarms Mike.

You write as if the Masons damping function is almost insignificant. Its simple, indeed, but works a treat. Just having the one can give a false impression i.e. overheating can be caused in ways other than just losing coolant, which has been mentioned a few times before. Stick 'em both in & there's a back up device to let you know if other troubles are lurking. (Plus, if the Mason needs to be bathed in coolant to work, Uncle Hadyn will watching your back. A win - win situation.)

I like the way the Mason glides up & down through what I used to regard as "normal driving conditions" A long uphill struggle through some of our more out of the way Northern landscapes brings the needle up to 2 'o clock. Sliding down the otherside or cruising at 65 on a motorway brings it down to 11.

I get a more realistic idea of what the engine is going through & peace of mind that back up protection is there.

Combined they provide an essential bit of kit IMHO.

I'd say that the Mason alarm would sound off well before all the coolant has emptied from around the sensor. You could miss the gauge climing up (before it falls through lack of coolant) but the alarm will sound well before IMO

haydn callow wrote:if you had the coolant loss alarm fitted it will only alarm if theres no coolant in the header tank after you have overheated and lossed coolant.
.

Who said that? I cant find it.

dandywarhol wrote:I'd say that the Mason alarm would sound off well before all the coolant has emptied from around the sensor. You could miss the gauge climing up (before it falls through lack of coolant) but the alarm will sound well before IMO

But I'm confused now as I imagined that if you had a coolant loss, especially a rapid one, then the coolant may well stay at normal temperature but simply drain away past the standard coolant immersed temp. probe, so there would be no rise to trigger the alarm.

As I say though, I only think any of this stuff as it was written on here by the great and the good a long time back. I'm happy to be guided

there are two probes into the expansion tank ,when the level drops below the first probe the alarm sounds, the bottom probe is the earth , so when the coolant drops below the first one it stops making contact between the probes, and the alarm sounds.
the mason alarm warns you when the engine is getting too hot via the temp guage rising.

Our coolant alarm, warned us when the radiator was leaking, thus making the level in the tank drop. I would not of noticed the drop in level otherwise I hate to think what could of happened if the level dropped too low.

I do fancy fitting a Mason alarm as well. Is it a case of pm'ing Mr Mason to organise one?



At the end of the day both alarms are good at what they do, and both have their pros and cons, so ideally fit both!!

daveblueozzie wrote:i have a coolant alarm i fitted myself last year, it gives me a reassurance that when i start my engine in a morning i still have coolant in there to do the job its supposed to. and to know that with any luck ,it will tell me in time that i am losing coolant as i am driving.
it does not replace checking the levels ,but it helps me being a lazy person not to worry if i miss checking now and again.

Dave fitted mine for me.....(thankfully)

Got the mason alarm too,(which DOES give an audible alarm),and the flippa hoses,plus the constant checks,and the bi-annual coolant replacement...I don't feel i could do much more really.

I gotta agree with Mr Munkey,all are tools in the bongo owners arsenal,together they give great piece of mind.

missfixit70 wrote: I'm currently trialing Simon Jones alarm which is designed to alarm if there's any flow coming out of the expansion tank overflow due to pressurisation of the cooling system - just to add to the options & beeps

??? It's a form of coolant alarm.....I'll take one.

Just make sure you mention my name so I get my commision

If you crank up the Mason alarm it will turn off the margin for the warning rendering it silent..
If as was mentioned about overheating the Mason was set to the thresh hold (set 4.5/5) & If the coolant emptied quickly, then there would be no coolant around the probe of the temp sensor for it to give a warning..?

Would the Mason alarm not sound off like mad just before going quiet if the coolant was to purge the system in this scenario?