Bongo Fury

winchman wrote:Just to add another point you must use tap water in a cooling system too, if you use di ionised etc it will corrode the internals as the water strips the bits its missing from its surroundings, the purer the water gets the more aggressive it is

There are some people that don't share that view including the AA:

"If you are in a hard water area it is advisable to use distilled or deionised water in the cooling system rather than tap water"

http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/ge ... olant.html

Some other links in support of distilled / DI water:
http://www.coolantexperts.com/faq#why_d ... ingredient

http://forums.themustangsource.com/f739 ... nt-481268/

http://www.ask.com/answers/1084041/i-am ... nti-freeze

Hi
Sorry, babes, water is PH neutral at PH 7, at 25C...therefore not aggressive...It's air + water that's the problem...namely CORROSION, but a well looked after system shouldn't give any hassles....the coolant additive (antifreeze) has inhibitors to INHIBIT corrosion, which occurs inside. Obviously the coolant doesn't protect external components! and as long as you regularly check everything, and run the engine up occasionally if not using for extended periods, OR, it's only used in summer, you should be fine. If you change the coolant within the manufacturer's specified limits, you'll have no problem, but, remember, that everything has a shelf life, even if not used, so change the coolant according to the instructions, and all will be O.K. It also means that with a 2-year / 3 year coolant, you are rather forced into checking the whole system over when you change it...
Cheers
Helen

Simon Jones wrote:

winchman wrote:Just to add another point you must use tap water in a cooling system too, if you use di ionised etc it will corrode the internals as the water strips the bits its missing from its surroundings, the purer the water gets the more aggressive it is

There are some people that don't share that view including the AA:

"If you are in a hard water area it is advisable to use distilled or deionised water in the cooling system rather than tap water"
Quote
Distilled water and deionised are very different.
Distilled water is prepared by distillation
Deionised water is prepared by passing water through an ion exchange column
Distilled has even less contaminates in it so can be more aggressive than Deionised

Whilst it shouldn't leave any scale as most of the hardness is removed it can still dissolve many different substances found inside the cooling system, as waters a solvent it naturally wants to dissolve the things around it.
I would have to check but I think modern antifreeze has a component in it that will keep the scale in suspension and stop it baking on to the engine internals.

Hi
PLEASE don't cloud the issue, as what Simon says is perfectly correct...DON'T use tap-water in the cooling system, unless you can verify that it has no dissolved contaminants. Distilled water is recommended because it is sold as being free of the contaminants which would be disadvantageous to the cooling system
Water is known as "Hard" water in certain areas where it comes through levels of rock and soil containing material which is soluble in water....areas of "soft" water are where the water rises , or passes through rock and material which cannot be dissolved by water
Water cannot ....CANNOT dissolve car components in a cooling system...such information, no matter where it comes from, is ENTIRELY ERRONEOUS
Don't believe me, PLEASE, and pop down to your local laboratory glassware suppliers, and buy 3 test-tubes, plus rubber stoppers, and nip into the hardware shop on the way home to buy a candle.
Take some iron filings, and into one test tube , which has been in a warm oven to dry it out, pop some iron filings in, and pop the bung in, and melt some of the candle wax into the lip of the bunged tube, and leave it! repeat with another tube , but put the filings in distilled water filled to the level of the cork, and in the third tube, put some damp cotton wool and the metal filings. Now just leave them.
Now this was shown to everyone at flippin' school, but for those who didn't pay attention, here's the result
Tube with dry air....no rust....Tube with no air, but just water....no rust.....tube with air and water (in the cotton wool)...a rusty mess

There should be NO AIR in the cooling system of the car engine, as that's what PAGE AFTER PAGE of discussion on here has been about...getting air out of the system...no air...no rust...also pretty essential that there's no air , as pockets of air cause overheating.
Antifreeze is put into a cooling system to do what it says...stop the coolant freezing. It contains corrosion inhibitors to prevent corrosion caused by having dis-similar metals in the system, as you will find several types of metal in any system...I won't bore you as to why....
Oh...for those who choose not to believe that water doesn't dissolve metal, please don't wash your knives and forks after a meal...wipe them on the tablecloth and put 'em in the drawer!
LISTEN to what Simon said....DISTILLED WATER in the cooling system , please
Cheers
Helen

I've always used tap water in every car I've serviced but as I'm planning a flush and change to long life coolant, I'll get some distilled water for a change.

Hi Simon
Wellllll.... To be honest, I've never bothered much about coolant, as I've never kept a car long enough...and I always part-exchange, as I can't be bothered dealing with selling, after I sold a car to a colleague, and when they drove off at about 6 million revs in each gear, I had doubts about it reaching the end of the road ...and selling a car to a member of the public can be fraught with problems...so the issue of what goes in the radiator never was an issue ....HOWEVER...it must be emphasised that we have to presume that people want a few years use out of their Bongo, and should take care.
Another point to note, is that it has been mooted that particular regions can have problems with tap-water causing precipitation with some antifreeze....Don't ask me to quote, as I can't remember where I saw it, but it's something to keep at the back of the mind in case there is the remotest possibility of truth in it. I don't use tap water here, as it's hardly good enough to flush the lavvy with.... we actually get grit coming through, and when they add chemicals to the water occasionally, it is WHITE and cloudy for a few hours!....I suspect it dissolves teeth!
Cheers
Helen

Once again it's a case of if it ant broke why fix it !
Best left alone. It's working all right isn't it ?

mellon man wrote:Once again it's a case of if it ant broke why fix it !
Best left alone. It's working all right isn't it ?

One of the biggest causes of failure in the cooling system is lack of maintenance: blocked radiator, perished hoses, rusty pipes, low coolant level, weak mixture resulting in increased corrosion, etc. If the coolant is not changed in accordance with the manufacturers recommendations, then you can't really complain when it all goes wrong and you end up needing a new cylinder head.

helen&tony wrote:Hi
PLEASE don't cloud the issue, as what Simon says is perfectly correct...DON'T use tap-water in the cooling system, unless you can verify that it has no dissolved contaminants. Distilled water is recommended because it is sold as being free of the contaminants which would be disadvantageous to the cooling system
Water is known as "Hard" water in certain areas where it comes through levels of rock and soil containing material which is soluble in water....areas of "soft" water are where the water rises , or passes through rock and material which cannot be dissolved by water
Water cannot ....CANNOT dissolve car components in a cooling system...such information, no matter where it comes from, is ENTIRELY ERRONEOUS
Helen

Lets agree to disagree

Simon Jones wrote:

mellon man wrote:Once again it's a case of if it ant broke why fix it !
Best left alone. It's working all right isn't it ?

One of the biggest causes of failure in the cooling system is lack of maintenance: blocked radiator, perished hoses, rusty pipes, low coolant level, weak mixture resulting in increased corrosion, etc. If the coolant is not changed in accordance with the manufacturers recommendations, then you can't really complain when it all goes wrong and you end up needing a new cylinder head.

So true Simon, we check all sorts of things but often not hoses and Antifreeze, such simple checks can same massive bills

Thanks for all the advice. after reading what everyone had to say, i think it seems like old fashioned water+antifreeze+regular maintenence is the way forward!

i didn't realise that passions ran so high about coolant, best i keep quiet about using Rad-weld!

thank you all for your help.

Rad Welds been a god send on a few occasions when we had no money to fix the car

I have recently had my Bongo converted to Evans. I must firstly add that my view may not be totally impartial as I do graphic design work for Evans....don't hold it against me, I've stayed away from the subject until now as there seems to be a lot of hostility towards certain subjects on here. This isn't meant to be a sales pitch just my experience as an Evans + bongo user. If I'm breaking the rules then I'm sure an admin can remove it before the bongofury-fury decends upon me

I decided to get the van converted after noticing that my top hose had the terminal swelling of a hose ready to pop, this happened on my first bongo and it didn't take long for it to go from swell to pop


Old vs New

Inside the old hose, I tried to show the corrosion :S


Draining time, we dropped a hose at the front and towards the back at the rear heater matrix to get out as much water as possible using compressed air to blow as much out as we could



This is the colour of the original coolant coming out, there was quite a few flakes of corrosion in there (I should have taken a close up)

Once it was all drained it was time for the prep fluid to go in and brought up to temp and bled properly

The prep fluid came out a fair bit clearer

another flying bongo pic


Fluid going in

All bled properly again and it was good to go


There's loads of info on the site http://www.evanscoolants.co.uk/ the wheeler dealers video explains it quite well http://www.evanscoolants.co.uk/news/whe ... rsion-./43

The main selling points for me were that hopefully I will never need to bleed the bongo again (coolant lasts a lifetime) and fact that it runs almost pressureless means that I won't see anymore swollen hoses ready to pop at any moment. This is the first time I have changed the coolant on this bongo but on my old bongo I did it on three separate occasions and not only is it a pain to do, I was always filled with a dread of the unknown just in case I had done something wrong. The thought of (hopefully) never having to do it again makes it worth every penny in my book.
The initial expense is fairly high but compared to the cost of normal coolant every couple of years it isn't too bad.

Obviously this isn't going to cure a clogged system with a water pump full of holes and a blown headgasket but it will help to keep the inards of the cooling system from further corrosion.
I realise that people will be sceptical because of my association with the company but I wouldn't have had it installed if I didn't trust it.

Thanks for the info. I contacted Evans when I was considering the change. They were very helpful, I also read all the information. I got to the point where I felt it was the way to go. TBH the reason why I was dissuaded was because of what was being said on the forums. So I would be interested in how you go on, maybe give it consideration again. One thing that I was bothered about was once it's in there it's unlikely that you can go back again!

Hi
You might wish to know that the thermostat is one item that should be replaced regularly...every 5 years seems popular in Japan, and the water pump needs replacing at coolant changes....mmmm...so the coolant will need to be dropped for changing those items....PLUS...a quick cursory glance at Evans's website seems to suggest that if you haven't got all the Evans gear along with the coolant, you might find someone arguing about damage,,,,and the Evans components only seem to carry a limited guarantee....but looking at their water-pump, it is pretty impressive....now, I don't reckon they'll carry a Ford Ranger pump?.....anyway....I prefer to change coolant and apply maintenance to the system....fit and forget is rather like ignoring upkeep....but that's in my book....and not checking things over on a "fit and Forget" basis is not good maintenance.
Anyway, good luck!
Cheers
Helen