Bongo Fury

Hi Anna
When we were going round europe, it was February, and cold. The fact that we had too much "STUFF" on board, and in the van probably helped, and the fact that the radiator was starting to weep round the top is a good sign it wasn't working all that well. You may have no trouble at all with a few clothes and possessions in an Eriba, as they are lightweight, and well constructed, and pretty well aerodynamic for a caravan....Just my opinion, I think they are the best...what model do you have?
Haydn's right on your temp on the TM2...no worries.....the only thing with a TM2 is that it will give a different reading wherever you put it, and what it says in the instructions is that you are looking for an abnormal increase over the usual readings. A bit of "warming up" when towing is normal....just keep your ears open for the alarm....my experience was with an overloaded setup as we had been living in the van for a while before departing, and the amount of un-necessary rubbish accumulated has to be seen to be believed.
Towing is something no car is actually DESIGNED for, it just so happens that from time-to-time a good tow car is thrown up.
The Bongo isn't too bad at towing, as the height helps, along with the wheelbase, but I've towed with better and worse.
Cheers
Helen

hey you guys, are you trying to frighten every one into getting rid of their bongo through overheating or just running too hot ?

luckily ive now ran mine for 13 months and not had to add a drop of water

a mechanic has checked my hoses ( original ) as tells me they all look fine

i wanted to replace the hoses , and my mechanic said ( why ? ) they are fine

i totally understand the need for the low coolant alarm and will be looking into buying one very soon..... just for the fact of split hose etc etc

i understand the experimenting on the temperature devise.....

so if i put one of the devises on my bongo and thought it ran too hot,,,,what do i do ?

even though no evidence of problems, do i then get rid ? do i then spend loads of money in trying to make it run cooler ?

just as i get comfortable with my running and fear of over heating and enjoy the driving again,, another thread comes on and slaps my confidence right down.

i was planning a trip to france with my mechanic bro in law in september, that means running the bongo for 5-6-7 hours at a time.............is this a bad thing

someone even says letting the transmission cool down ? wow

like i said i understand the need to understand what your bongo is doing whilst running, but if you do find a problem, is it a problem ?

is my bongo ok to run 7 hrs non stop? in the summer ?

or do i have to stick to local runs,,,,,,,,or sell and buy a merc vito ?

sorry to sound negative, but i now love driving my bongo ,,,, and want to travel as much as my pocket can afford,,,,,,,,,,will be interesting on the resistor issue

again what happends if i un resist my temp gauge and it reads tooooo high
do i reresist it and sell on ? to some poor chap hoo will start all over again

im confused lol

andy

dandywarhol wrote:I suppose this thread goes to show why Mazda damped their guage................

Spot on Dandy. Just as with medical issues, you could have a big debate about whether knowing what is going on makes you feel better or worse

andyb36 wrote:hey you guys, are you trying to frighten every one into getting rid of their bongo through overheating or just running too hot ?

luckily ive now ran mine for 13 months and not had to add a drop of water

a mechanic has checked my hoses ( original ) as tells me they all look fine

i wanted to replace the hoses , and my mechanic said ( why ? ) they are fine

i totally understand the need for the low coolant alarm and will be looking into buying one very soon..... just for the fact of split hose etc etc

i understand the experimenting on the temperature devise.....

so if i put one of the devises on my bongo and thought it ran too hot,,,,what do i do ?

even though no evidence of problems, do i then get rid ? do i then spend loads of money in trying to make it run cooler ?

just as i get comfortable with my running and fear of over heating and enjoy the driving again,, another thread comes on and slaps my confidence right down.

i was planning a trip to france with my mechanic bro in law in september, that means running the bongo for 5-6-7 hours at a time.............is this a bad thing

someone even says letting the transmission cool down ? wow

like i said i understand the need to understand what your bongo is doing whilst running, but if you do find a problem, is it a problem ?

is my bongo ok to run 7 hrs non stop? in the summer ?

or do i have to stick to local runs,,,,,,,,or sell and buy a merc vito ?

sorry to sound negative, but i now love driving my bongo ,,,, and want to travel as much as my pocket can afford,,,,,,,,,,will be interesting on the resistor issue

again what happends if i un resist my temp gauge and it reads tooooo high
do i reresist it and sell on ? to some poor chap hoo will start all over again

im confused lol

andy

I shouldn't worry Andy - a healthy Bongo (as witnessed by many stories on here) should run happily for hours on end. But I can recall many of my cars losing finesse (clutch getting fiercer etc.) if they got hot due to prolonged running/v hot weather/long periods in stationary traffic. It may well be that the parts not reached so well by the cooling system (and not intended to be) build up local heat. Its for that reason I suspect that the Bongo has a scavenger fan i.e. to flush out the hot air that would otherwise be held in the inverted bowl of the engine covers (hot air rises). The 'bowl' is a good design feature in terms of heating the car when parked up for an in-car picnic on a cold day, but a potential problem on hot days. A problem on an old Bongo could be that the circuits and sensors that should cause this fan to kick in, may have failed with age, so the fan may not kick in until temp. has got higher than is good, or maybe it won't kick in at all. Unless failsafe mode makes the fan start, you could get a situation where the engine / gearbox / peripherals get overly hot. It may not cause immediate failure, but it is generally bad for long term wear etc (consider the cooling fans in your PC - a similar scenario). So the idea of a manual switch to control the scavenger fan is appealing, as you can decide if you would like to give your engine bay and its contents a good flush to remove heat build up.

There's been debate (me included) on whether the scavenger fan can help the coolant system cool the engine core. It should follow from the talk earlier on that it can have but a limited effect but I would imagine that, if the coolant system is not functioning efficiently, every little helps. I can imagine a scenario where on a hot day, a poorly functioning coolant system means the coolant is hotter than the optimum. If you pull in to a motorway services after being in a traffic jam and switch off, any fans at work then stop. The heat from hotspots will dissipate in all directions and may drive coolant temp over the boiling point. This could be one explanation for the mysterious header tank brew-ups after stopping that have been described on here.

Over to the experts I think......

Phew, thats a long post!

helen&tony wrote:Hi Anna
When we were going round europe, it was February, and cold. The fact that we had too much "STUFF" on board, and in the van probably helped, and the fact that the radiator was starting to weep round the top is a good sign it wasn't working all that well. You may have no trouble at all with a few clothes and possessions in an Eriba, as they are lightweight, and well constructed, and pretty well aerodynamic for a caravan....Just my opinion, I think they are the best...what model do you have?
Haydn's right on your temp on the TM2...no worries.....the only thing with a TM2 is that it will give a different reading wherever you put it, and what it says in the instructions is that you are looking for an abnormal increase over the usual readings. A bit of "warming up" when towing is normal....just keep your ears open for the alarm....my experience was with an overloaded setup as we had been living in the van for a while before departing, and the amount of un-necessary rubbish accumulated has to be seen to be believed.
Towing is something no car is actually DESIGNED for, it just so happens that from time-to-time a good tow car is thrown up.
The Bongo isn't too bad at towing, as the height helps, along with the wheelbase, but I've towed with better and worse.
Cheers
Helen

Hi Helen,
Thanks for that. It is very helpful.I don't think any auto gearboxes like to tow. It confuses them Our Citroen had problems towing and the gearbox eventually gave up. We had it replaced and it broke again, so we gave up. Anyway now that we are towing again I hope not to have that problem with Bongo. The Eriba is a Familia 310 which I bought in Sep last year and only took out for the first time last weekend. As soon as I had bought it , I was wishing I had got the Triton, but now I feel happer that I went for the smaller, lighter one. Nice van . bit short on storage though and I still have a headache from banging my head on the door entrance Thanks again for your help and advice.
We should have been at a motorhome show today, but Jimmy says its too cold , So can't buy more stuff to put in the caravan

mikeonb4c wrote: If you pull in to a motorway services after being in a traffic jam and switch off, any fans at work then stop. The heat from hotspots will dissipate in all directions and may drive coolant temp over the boiling point. This could be one explanation for the mysterious header tank brew-ups after stopping that have been described on here.

Over to the experts I think......

Phew, thats a long post!

The scavenger and radiators come on regardless of the ignition switch being on if I remember correctly - at least the scavenger fan does - but I think the 2nd stage of the radiator fans also come on then.

When I pulled into a service station in Germany after a long hot haul, as I walked away the fans came on.

dandywarhol wrote:

mikeonb4c wrote: If you pull in to a motorway services after being in a traffic jam and switch off, any fans at work then stop. The heat from hotspots will dissipate in all directions and may drive coolant temp over the boiling point. This could be one explanation for the mysterious header tank brew-ups after stopping that have been described on here.

Over to the experts I think......

Phew, thats a long post!

The scavenger and radiators come on regardless of the ignition switch being on if I remember correctly - at least the scavenger fan does - but I think the 2nd stage of the radiator fans also come on then.

When I pulled into a service station in Germany after a long hot haul, as I walked away the fans came on.

But then isn't that something that isn't really recommended anyway?

scanner wrote:

dandywarhol wrote:

mikeonb4c wrote: If you pull in to a motorway services after being in a traffic jam and switch off, any fans at work then stop. The heat from hotspots will dissipate in all directions and may drive coolant temp over the boiling point. This could be one explanation for the mysterious header tank brew-ups after stopping that have been described on here.

Over to the experts I think......

Phew, thats a long post!

The scavenger and radiators come on regardless of the ignition switch being on if I remember correctly - at least the scavenger fan does - but I think the 2nd stage of the radiator fans also come on then.

When I pulled into a service station in Germany after a long hot haul, as I walked away the fans came on.

But then isn't that something that isn't really recommended anyway?

Sorry to be thick, but you've got me confused there scanner - what isn't recommended?

dandywarhol wrote:

mikeonb4c wrote: If you pull in to a motorway services after being in a traffic jam and switch off, any fans at work then stop. The heat from hotspots will dissipate in all directions and may drive coolant temp over the boiling point. This could be one explanation for the mysterious header tank brew-ups after stopping that have been described on here.

Over to the experts I think......

Phew, thats a long post!

The scavenger and radiators come on regardless of the ignition switch being on if I remember correctly - at least the scavenger fan does - but I think the 2nd stage of the radiator fans also come on then.

When I pulled into a service station in Germany after a long hot haul, as I walked away the fans came on.

Well that interesting and it makes me wonder why some cars are designed to do this. And if the spewing Bongo episodes are linked to cases where the fans should have come on but - due to ageing dodgy sensors - did not. You'd think three fans running for any length of time would jeopardise the battery too so I wonder how long they are programmed to run for

francophile1947 wrote:

scanner wrote:

dandywarhol wrote:
The scavenger and radiators come on regardless of the ignition switch being on if I remember correctly - at least the scavenger fan does - but I think the 2nd stage of the radiator fans also come on then.

When I pulled into a service station in Germany after a long hot haul, as I walked away the fans came on.

But then isn't that something that isn't really recommended anyway?

Sorry to be thick, but you've got me confused there scanner - what isn't recommended?

Just pulling in and stopping the engine straight after a long hot haul - of course

I'd idled it enough to allow the turbo to slow down then turned it off - I was bursting for a p*ss after all!

The heat soak when stopped brought the fans on - it was in the mid 30s.


..................or did you think I'd an army of fans following me to Germany

mikeonb4c wrote:
Well that interesting and it makes me wonder why some cars are designed to do this.

Used to be popular with carburetted cars - the float chamber would empty with evaporation and it became difficult to start again.

scanner wrote: Just pulling in and stopping the engine straight after a long hot haul - of course

Ah, of course

well after reading this thread with interest, i spoke with my mechanic bro in law yesterday about the high temperatures etc and the muffling of the temp gauge

his reply was, has any one considered sticking a 80 deg,s stat in

all i could say was ,, i dont know lol ,, i will ask

at least the stat would open at 80 degs and stay cooler

should solve most probs with some bongo,s running hotter than others

im no expert , but just passing on information that may be some use,,,,,

so dont stone me

i will give you my mechanics address and you can all attack him



andy

Hi
Strangely, I have only ever had the fans come on when idling after a run, and the scavenger cuts in only very occasionally. I have never had the fans come on here...and summer is usually in the upper 40s. It probably means that the cooling system on a Bongo works adequately, in spite of it looking like the digestive tract of a hippo, with miles of tubing.
Anna:
please let me know how you get on with your Eriba....I really like the Triton , too...however I would love ANY model, but we sold our caravan, as the roads here are unsuitable...one or two brave souls are trying to sell caravans, but I think it's a mug's game towing here...except for a trailer.....
Cheers
Helen