Bongo Fury

Reading various forum posts here, pondering, and considering, I was of the same opinion as scanner, no matter what the chap says, sounds like not bled properly / for long enough, esp. with the "bottom hose not getting hot" thing, so decided to give a specialist a call. Mike at Wheel Qucik gets a lot of good press on here, so called him. What a lovely bloke.

Confirms that he's of the opinion that it's still not bled properly, if there's some water going through the rad, then that bottom hose ought to be getting hot eventually and needs some perseverance.

Offered to talk it through further when doing it, so have referred my mechanic to Mike, and will certainly find some reason or other to give him some business when I'm passing, maybe treat myself to some new alloys

So, fingers crossed, garages will talk, my local will understand what he needs to do, do it, and the Bongo might run properly again! If no join by tomorrow night, guess I'll need to book a hire car for my journey to Kent this weekend (Wedding to attend).

Regards,

Gavin.

Got to agree with that as a course of action, your garage may actually listen to another mechanic who knows what they're doing. Fingers crossed
As I said, it'd be worth sticking the old stat in a pan of water to see if it does actually open when it should, at least you can then eliminate that as a possible.

missfixit70 wrote:3/4 hour isn't too bad for a rad swap, but then you've got to factor in up to an hour to refill & bleed it properly.

just to confirm, the quote was "3 or 4 hours" rather than 3/4 of an hour.

missfixit70 wrote:As I said, it'd be worth sticking the old stat in a pan of water to see if it does actually open when it should, at least you can then eliminate that as a possible.

Cheers, will ask if they still have it when I stop by!

Soory to hearof your problems. When this happened to me the AA man quickly diagnoised the problem as a fault thermostat which he removed by the side of the road and refilled to get me home. No need to bleed the system without the Thermostat in. Drove the three miles home and fitted a new Thermostat which I tested as MissFixit suggests. It isn't beyond possibility that the new Thermostat may not be working properly!

Dillion Dog wrote:No need to bleed the system without the Thermostat in.

Wasn't aware of that, is that because there's no real "choke-point" in the system when the stat is out, so the bubbles can whip around with the coolant without any problems?

Having spent a day with the stat out doing a thorough Holts 2 part flush, I'd have to disagree & say it does need bleeding, it's just a quicker process in that you don't have to wait for the stat to open.

Well, possibly approaching closure on this one!

Phone call from the garage today, "bongo all ready to pick up, taken it for a run, seems fine now". Curious, I endquired what had been done (hoping it was to be answered with "spoke to mike at wheelquick, bled properly, all good") I was, in-fact, told "new radiator, and a proper bleed following instructions from that bloke ".

Have subsequently picked it up (was passing this evening and one of the mechanics was there working on their own motor, so had him call the owner & get permission to release the car to me to test it properly), and, it does indeed seem to be back to its old self (initially circled the town tentatively, then stopped, checked tyres, whilst ticking over, bit more driving round, then hit a country road at 50mpg, all OK, and finally about 15 miles of motorway at increasing speeds, getting up to 85mph for about 5 miles, then back home via the station to collect the misses).

Let it cool fo 45 mins whilst having dinner, and then did a block test using the blue liquid stuff (tested via header tank, assume this works?), no bad turning yellow hydrocarbons in water nastiness.

Have now put the Bongo to bed for the night, planning on getting up and taking it on another run from completely cold, if all's well, I may have enough confidence in it to take it the 90 mile journey down to visit parents and attend a wedding in Kent on Saturday! (other option was a hire car).


Will, of-course, have to discuss payment terms with the garage tomorrow also. Radiator was petty much unauthorised work (he'd told me he thought it needed doing "cos bottom hose wasn't getting hot" prior to my giving him Mike at Wheelquicks number, but I'd never said go ahead), and it still seems entirely suspicious that the problem started so immediately after they'd worked on it. I shall have to ponder what I consider fair before I wander round to see them tomorrow.


Night all!

Gav.

Stinger £ though it is, I can't help feeling from the various stories on here that a new radiator can never do anything but good for a Bongo. Bit like the op. for unclogging arteries to the heart. It should be a lot fitter now, even if it was arguably not essential. Fingers crossed it all settles down from now on. Look forward to an update in due course

Thanks Mike!, I've got the old radiator, and stat, in the back of the Bongo, may chop it open to see what its like inside when I get a spare afternoon!

GICarey wrote:Thanks Mike!, I've got the old radiator, and stat, in the back of the Bongo, may chop it open to see what its like inside when I get a spare afternoon!

It would be interesting to see that!!!

Run out from cold this morning, all seemed well again, I did:

4km, at low revs.speeds (20/30mph) at which point i noticed the first movement up from the cold end on the temp gauge
2km further at similarly low speeds, and it was getting onto the line.
2km futher and it got to the standard 11 o clock spot, i'd just hit a country road and did a further 2km before stopping to check hoses - bottom rad hose warm to the touch (like a cup of tea you'd forgotten about) - stat just starting to open I guess.
Turned around, 2km back down the country road then onto dual carriageway, and climbing a fairly steep hill for 2/3km at 3000 rpm in "S" (2nd) to try to get the heat up. No problems there, then back into D and drove another 3 or 4km home, rad and bottom hose now properly warm (but not HOT as they were when I'd finished my various runs out last night, which I suspect is to be expected).


So, it would appear that, fingers crossed, my overheating problems are, finally resolved! I shall now prepare myself for work, and stop into the garage on the way to the station to discuss payment.


Working from home tomorrow, so may treat the Bongo to a good clean inside and out, and another decent run during "lunch break".

Cheers,

Gav.

Good news Gav Looks like you may have been very lucky, now I'd seriously consider fitting at the very least a mason alarm - http://www.townace.plus.com/ie/ietemga2.htm & for a bit more peace of mind a coolant alarm from Haydn.

Would you F-ing believe it?

90 mile drive from SG6 to ME9 on Friday night, 2 hours at a pretty solid 2250rpm/60ish MPH, and no problems at all, stopped to check all hoses etc warm as expected after 20 miles, and they were.

Wedding on Saturday, got there, got back without issue, maybe 6/7 miles each way.

Time to leave mother/step-fathers house at 4pm today, loaded car, loaded dog, checked fluid levels (all good) drove 3 miles through country roads (40mph-ish) to the main A2, and, as I pulled out, watched the guage rise upwards, once again, from 11-o-clock.

GAH!

Pulled into handily placed petrol station, all pipes at the front are, once again, cold, no hot water moving from the engine into the top of the rad or to the header tank, the only temperature in the system being in the pipes nearest the engine (I am assuming convection here). Lots of pressure in the system, with cold water dripping out of the header tank overflow pipe once more.

Turned the car around, and with 3 stops each time the guage moved, limped back to parents driveway, and am now writing this here.

Not really sure what to do at the moment, Green Flag might be getting the call to tow me 100 miles home again. Work tomorrow.

GAH!!!

Probably should call credit card company and see if they can hold the payment back from the garage. Clearly the new radiator and thermostat were not necessary, and whatever they've done hasn't fixed the issue.....

Gav.


PS: Apologies for once again coming here to vent my frustrations.

oh cr*p.

Not a lot more I can say really

except it started to rain just when I was about to go out and wash the Bongo (oh and the other car ).

You really could use some specialist help, but of course all this is getting expensive.

I don't want to re-read all the previous postings, but was the water pump checked for proper operation at any point? Also, are we 100% sure the system isn't pressurising from a head gasket problem? I know you won't like this kind of questioning just now, but got to ask I fear.

Really sorry you are having this much trouble