Bongo Fury

not sure what your getting at kirsty with the diagram?...............i think you mean if you join Z and Y together you can bypass the rear heater matrix?

if so then its still in a contant flow AROUND the system you dont just cap the ends, so if the rear matrix WAS connected and it was blocked then surely it will affect the flow of coolant around the system?

Read it again Wayne , don't join them together, cut it off at each T piece, turning it into an elbow at Z & Y, thus eliminating the loop/bypass completely.

I never use my rear heater and have thought of doing away with it but, as everything is working at the moment, I don't want to tempt fate
I think you're right Kirsty, if the rear heater is removed the capacity of coolant will be reduced and, with the reduced cooling effect of the rear rad, the thermostat should open more and the main rad made to work for a living

Yay someone understands what I'm getting at
Plus it's not acting as a bypass either, so it's all being forced through the rad/head .

Would this also help with bleeding? Without the rear matrix then surely there's now where for air to get trapped?

Having issues with my bongo, about to do my second head gasket, the rear matrix is the only thing left to look (everything else is ok) so I'm considering by passing hte matrix completely ...

How much less coolant would be in the system?

Miles69 wrote:Would this also help with bleeding? Without the rear matrix then surely there's now where for air to get trapped?

Having issues with my bongo, about to do my second head gasket, the rear matrix is the only thing left to look (everything else is ok) so I'm considering by passing hte matrix completely ...

How much less coolant would be in the system?

I've not been following this thread for the last couple of days but I think the answer is 'Yes'. I seem to recall a discussion on here before about the Ford Ranger head (the Bongo engine is basically the same as the Ford Ranger) having at least one difference that distiguishes it from the Bongo head, and that is that it does not have a fitting for a system bleeding pipe. The view was given that this is because the Ranger does not have a rear heater system and - as a result - does not have the same bleeding problem with entrapped air. The inference has to be (you'd think) that the rear radiator system is what makes Bongos tricky to bleed. I wonder if looking up coolant capacity for the Ford Ranger might give a figure that approximately equates to a Bongo without a rear radiator?

I'm no expert though so it will be interesting to see what comment others with more knowledge make on the above etc.