Bongo Fury

Mike.... they are not £70 ....much less...well a bit less!!

Lost the plot or what.....!you will get 15-20 years out of a set of genuine bongo metal pipes wazzup with fitting them? bet you can get a set knocked up for around £25 each side ...... there is too much hassle working in a confined space with large bore hyd hoses ( do it day in day out !) even if single braid is used ... You cannot beat the set of hoses for quality and price from flippa...TAKE A LOOK AT THE PRICE FOR 1 MTR LENGTH OF SILICONE OFF EBAY?? thats it in a nut shell when hoses get old they get hard, have you seen an engine jump when starting ?? its a wonder the rad top ain't ripped off the core.... silicone its another matter SOFT PLYABLE/ FLEXABLE comes to mind ooooooh i love it, these bongos have an inherritant problem from day one to spring a leak... why bother with an alarm some cry, your off your trolley if you don't fit something, bongos "LEAK" its a fact, slap flippa's hoses on fit an hadyn alarm
.... JOB DONE ...thats my opinion and i will not move on it ! by the way Hadyn's kit can be on in mins.. ok ..ok hoses a little longer, but worth the effort .......just get it done! many thanks Rich

Why must we be off our trolley to not fit an alarm I check levels the old fashioned way, I also check hoses on a regular basis just like the tyre pressure, screen wash etc. Fitting a alarm will not prevent hoses splitting. A regular change of coolant and regular check do the same job. I am not knocking Haydns alarm, but think to make a statement that we are crazy not to fit one is unjust.

Hi first things first, i don’t have a Hadyn alarm fitted i have a TM2 type, now back to the hoses. Check the levels the old fashioned way ?? is there any other way ?? Top off finger in is it wet yes/no ??? then you have done!! . you cannot check a hose ! how do you check yours then ? get under the bongo drop the belly plate ? get your hands up under the bongo? how do you check them ? feel them, squeeze them ? stroke them ? what are you looking for a bleb ? a leak? a drip? Cracking? you simply have a motor 10 years plus, 9 times out of ten with perishing rubber If i can use mine as a litmus paper they were hard as nails at 64 k and mine has been looked after! I have had 2 heads in 9 months both down to hoses springing a leak...(pin holes)... ok ok your going down the road "pop" a hose develops a pin hole...what's going to save you ?? your temp gauge? NO CHANCE before it lets you know you have cooked it ! cast block alloy head = none survivable over 130 - 150 dec c We are dealing with a different beast here, take a car... rad with engine few inches away few more inches then the heater matrix quite short hoses....Bongo nope its S-P-R-E-A-D out around 4 foot with LARGE dia hoses and a lot of them... you cannot compare the bongo’s system with a cars, Check the forum on cooked bongos and freda’s … epidemic is the word I would use..

I WOULD SAY THAT THE SET OF SILICONE HOSES DEVELOPED FOR THE BONGO, HAS PROBERBLY BEEN THE MOST SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENT FOR US ALL.

On alarms ? Hadyn’s or TM2 take you pick! the bongo gauge will not save the engine, My Freda is too valuable investment to neglect the cooling systems short fall
Hope this helps many thanks Rich

there's an old saying ,a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
the weakest link will be the hose clips ,the water pump, a faulty pipe the top off the radiator, i could go on but you see my point, an alarm will tell you one of these has failed no matter how over engineered the pipes

Rich sorry to hear you have had 2 heads go, when my head went, due to a pinprick in a damaged hose, I went the way of a replacement engine, after teething problems, replaced most of the hoses. I will replace with silicone as and when required as flippa already knows. I think it is also important to emphasise the importance of a good quality coolant that is changed every 2 years, A build up of crud in the coolant system was also a factor in my first engines demise. So it is worth checking the coolant on a regular basis too, no alarm is going to do that for you I also do not believe that there is an epidemic of overheating Bongos and fredas, we just here about the problem ones and not of the thousands that run fine. I am not saying that you should not fit an alarm, that is down to personal choice

Hi Pete
Head number one …hose split from block (sharp bend ) next to diesel pump no warning … smelt it at traffic lights.. done under warranty

Head number 2 drain/ bleed hose split while waiting for wife shopping with engine running passer by pointed to leak …whoops here we go again! ( under passengers seat ) out of warranty did it myself … easy job (also fitted TM2 alarm)

I fitted a set of silicone hoses last weekend, now interestingly prior to fitting I drained down to around 80% and used 2 bottles of HOLTS rad flush left it in 3 days … flushed it out … on removal of the hoses they were STILL heavy staining and what looked like calcium build up, but only on the hoses ??? And in header/ expansion tank? Engine and metal galleries were squeaky clean! Fitting the hoses were ok but took most of the day inc bleeding down…. Pete my hoses looked ok from the outside but perishing badly from the inside…. Bongos cooling was a little ropey from day one, Mazda in desperation, stuck a fan in trying to move hot air from under the camels hump! Also due to above problems I buy my antifreeze in 25 litre drums hi…hi…hi thanks Rich

it seems storemen in aberdeen have been...giving away ...one too many ...off cuts

http://aberdeen.gumtree.com/aberdeen/08/20060508.html

not wrong there flippa! Regards big Rich ps any chance of some steak off cuts

Well, that certainly did provoke some response and it would appear that there is nothing you can do to totally eradicate the cooling problems on the Bongo.

Fitting new hoses to replace the ten year old ones, flushing and replacing coolant, fitting a level indicator and temperature alarm may ultimately give some degree of confidence.

Looks like the Bongo has more inherent cooling problems than even the rear engined VW Type 2 van, with engine at the back and radiator at the front, connected by two exposed 3.5 metre thin walled steel tubes, exposed to everything.

After all that, it would appear that a good breakdown recovery policy would not go amiss either.

I do some pretty long trips to the continent during the summer months and at least I know now that doing nothing is certainly not an option.

We do have breakdown cover Interestingly as I did my checks this morning, Coolant level etc, The drain that takes away all the water from the windscreen was blocked, it had just been raining lightly and the tough was full and running over the heater fan I unblocked the drainhole and dried the heater cover and fuse box. I had checked the drainhole 4 days ago, so did not take much to block it. I have placed a thin plastic flexible rod from a kite in the trough ready for unblocking I also gave all the area around the wipers a thorough clean to remove the build up of unwanted crud. So please be aware, I know this has been covered several times, but it was a shock to find the drainhole had blocked up so quickly

Okay. The leaking was whilst the van was stood still, from start...without the engine even running. The garage gave it the once over and found that the water pump was broken. It's not been replaced and so far (fingers crossed) seems to be not leaking.

Cheers

Bernie

I agree that little drain hole could cause some meggar problems. Could we not put a fine gauze like a tea strainer type material over it. Just a thought...

just a thought, would it be possible to add 2 more drain holes?

maxheadroom wrote:just a thought, would it be possible to add 2 more drain holes?

You do wonder whether it could be modified so a bigger hole and tube could be fitted. Its all very accessible. As Pete says, they block up at the drop of a hat (or leaf) and it's hard to predict when they will do it. Annoying, if not very