Bongo Fury

wynnie wrote: i drove about 4 mile and it overheated, i took it back and he said, "i guess it was disconected for a reason." after bleeding the system and trying again unsuccesfully he has come to the conclusion that the radiator could be blocked with gunk because its cold at the bottom and hot at the top (having searched for info already this appears to be the norm) the car will idle with the gauge at 11 oclock but as soon as i go anywhere the temp rises.
the car was running perfectly well before the thermostat was conected

I still think it may also have a Mason alarm fitted too!??

Do you see anything like this on or under your dash Wynnie??

if the car is boiling up in that short a time then the thermostat definitley isnt opening, either due to incorrect bleeding or a faulty unit. If the car isn't bled correctly then you trap air on top of thermostat and it cant get to temperature to open. so first off try bleeding the car properly, the rad would be cold at the bottom as you dont have any flow til the thermostat opens so not necessarily blocked, you have to remove the rad and 'kettle test' to be more specific. Rebleed, take your time and run the car to temp til bottom hose warms, there are several techniques for bleeding and you have to find 1 that works for you

Julian

Wynnie , sorry to be the bearer of possibly bad news but after having the exact same problem I know that unfortunatley there are some unscrupulous people out there and it is indeed possible to cover up a cracked head overheating problem by butchering a thermostat so that there is only a ring left , I had a head replaced due to boiling up within only a few miles of driving by a local garage in nov 2005 along with rad , waterpump, thermostat and pipes only 10 months later it was doing the same thing and returned to said garage where I then paid for a replacement engine , less than 18 months and yet again overheating yes the replacement engine had blown its gasket , took it back to garage and he pressure tested the head( fine ) and replaced gaskets and thermostat guess what overheated again I assumed not bled properly and so went back to garage again , he returns it all fixed but no heat and loads of steam from exhaust.
Eventually took it to a trusted recommended mechanic in plymouth, and he finds that the thermostat that I had supplied from mazda had been butchered to leave just a ring, and that this had been done to cover up a multitude of problems including a blocked rad that was only 2 years old ? and yet another cracked head,

so it is possible for someone to (disconnect / unfit/ leave out / butcher) a thermostat how ever you want to word it to cover a problem and this is what I believe as been done to yours , good luck with this , where did you buy it? and any chance of returning it to the seller for them to foot the bill as it could be very expensive and they obviously were aware of a problem




a photograph of the cut out thermostat that had been hiding my problem ,this was given to me by Allan to show what the previous mechanic had done

thanks everyone

i am sure this was done to hide a problem.

we are going to start by flushing out the system and making sure there are no blockages anywhere,
seems like a good place to start.

thanks again, i'll keep you updated

bongoing-mad-simon wrote:Wynnie , sorry to be the bearer of possibly bad news but after having the exact same problem I know that unfortunatley there are some unscrupulous people out there and it is indeed possible to cover up a cracked head overheating problem by butchering a thermostat so that there is only a ring left , I had a head replaced due to boiling up within only a few miles of driving by a local garage in nov 2005 along with rad , waterpump, thermostat and pipes only 10 months later it was doing the same thing and returned to said garage where I then paid for a replacement engine , less than 18 months and yet again overheating yes the replacement engine had blown its gasket , took it back to garage and he pressure tested the head( fine ) and replaced gaskets and thermostat guess what overheated again I assumed not bled properly and so went back to garage again , he returns it all fixed but no heat and loads of steam from exhaust.
Eventually took it to a trusted recommended mechanic in plymouth, and he finds that the thermostat that I had supplied from mazda had been butchered to leave just a ring, and that this had been done to cover up a multitude of problems including a blocked rad that was only 2 years old ? and yet another cracked head,

so it is possible for someone to (disconnect / unfit/ leave out / butcher) a thermostat how ever you want to word it to cover a problem and this is what I believe as been done to yours , good luck with this , where did you buy it? and any chance of returning it to the seller for them to foot the bill as it could be very expensive and they obviously were aware of a problem




a photograph of the cut out thermostat that had been hiding my problem ,this was given to me by Allan to show what the previous mechanic had done

Are you sure that's a Mazda stat? No Jiggle pin. Not even a copy (Blueprint) for same reason.

And sadly, yes - the only reason I can think of to remove the working parts is to cover up an underlying fault as you suggest.

Hi widdowson2008 , I have no idea what make it is , I myself ordered all parts and collected , paid for an original thermostat from mazda at Truro , I then supplied parts to the local mechanic, It was only when Allan took apart the cooling system that he found this in place as the thermostat, so your guess is as good as mine whether the mechanic chopped up the mazda one , kept it , sold it on or whatever but just goes to show that even when you supply your own parts you cant guarantee they will be even fitted let alone correctly .

bongoing-mad-simon wrote:Hi widdowson2008 , I have no idea what make it is , I myself ordered all parts and collected , paid for an original thermostat from mazda at Truro , I then supplied parts to the local mechanic, It was only when Allan took apart the cooling system that he found this in place as the thermostat, so your guess is as good as mine whether the mechanic chopped up the mazda one , kept it , sold it on or whatever but just goes to show that even when you supply your own parts you cant guarantee they will be even fitted let alone correctly .

Yes, I've had a similar experience in the past, a garage was replacing a couple of hoses for me, I gave them the hoses and constant pressure NORMA hose clips. They just used normal Jubilees. I went back and got the NORMAs back to fit myself.

I'm a sad bastard I know, but I chop things up to see how they work.
Here's a stat in bits.
The part on the bottom left of the pic is the component part that has been posted earlier.
If you look carefully, you will see at about 1 o'clock,a thingy affectionately called a jiggle pin.


This pic shows a close up of the jiggle pin.


A jiggle pin is an integral part of most thermostats, and is definitely present in both Mazda and Blueprint stats.
In your pic, the pin is missing, so it doesn't look like he fitted the one you bought.

thanks for all the replies.

we decided that as we hadnt had any probs with the car as it was, and time was against us, we would take a chance and make the journey to Bulgaria. i am happy to report that she made it there and back towing a trailer over mountains with no problems at all.
although i know the problem still needs addressing, we were thrilled with the performance and all four of us were very comfortable throughout the journey

wynnie wrote:thanks for all the replies.

we decided that as we hadnt had any probs with the car as it was, and time was against us, we would take a chance and make the journey to Bulgaria. i am happy to report that she made it there and back towing a trailer over mountains with no problems at all.
although i know the problem still needs addressing, we were thrilled with the performance and all four of us were very comfortable throughout the journey

Great stuff ,what was your fuel consumption like?

Great stuff ,what was your fuel consumption like?[/quote]




havnt got a clue, we were in a mini convoy of two Bongo's, and our travelling partners where keeping an eye on things like that, but they were very happy with fuel consumption. i can tell you that if you go over 70mph we started guzzling fuel, also knocking about town..
60 or 70 seems to be best for fuel consumption so if your planning a long trip like ours, find routes with the best roads, once we left Hungry and entered Romania the motorways are practicaly non existant, so we noticed we were using more fuel.

sorry i cant be more helpful

I think the question was more directed towards your bongo in particular, to see if your issues had an effect on fuel economy. Did you notice whether you were using the same amount of fuel as your travelling partners?

oh sorry
yes about the same