Bongo Fury

mikeonb4c wrote:Did you get back home OK? (assume so).

We did, thank you Mike, left Kent at around 2030 (initial attempted departure time was about 1600) and got back to Letchworth around 2215.

mikeonb4c wrote:I wonder if just siphoning off as much header tank water as possible and replacing with 'anti-freeze' might not be simple and provide a measure of protection until the job can be done properly?

Yeah, I wondered this also, I could perhaps buy a couple of litres of water and dig out the pela-pump, syphon down a little way, add, coolant, run bongo, rinse-repeat, might be able to get a litre of two in there over the course of the week, without risking air introduction.

would get 1-2 liters in ....you need about 6 ........better than nothing....don't drop the level in the tank below the top outlet hose !!

haydn callow wrote:would get 1-2 liters in ....you need about 6 ........better than nothing....

Thanks Haydn, am hoping better than nothing will be good enough for a couple of weeks until I can drop the lot and start again, afresh, with a proper bleed (and using your funnel method to hopefully avoid needing to buy enough coolant to ensure Halfords is fine through this depression).

haydn callow wrote:don't drop the level in the tank below the top outlet hose !!

No indeed, don't want to send new evil bubbles into the system again.

It's odd, I'm now more scared of bubbles in my cooling system than I am of bubbles in my blood when I go diving

Without the engine running - I would just top the header tank right up to the neck with full strength coolant and then drain some water off from the bleed hose until it is at minimum - top it back up to the top with full strength coolant and drain down to minimum again - then repeat that until you have added 2 or 3 litres of neat coolant.

From what I've read if you don't let the level drop below minimum, you shouldn't allow any air into the system.

Got a pint in there last night (just taking up space), 1.5 litres in the tub to go in over next day or so, will prob drain a pint at a time from bleed hose and top up into header.

GICarey wrote:Got a pint in there last night (just taking up space), 1.5 litres in the tub to go in over next day or so, will prob drain a pint at a time from bleed hose and top up into header.

It'll be interesting to see if the Bongo continues to behave after your efforts

mikeonb4c wrote:It'll be interesting to see if the Bongo continues to behave after your efforts

Indeed, especially after it managed a 100 mile journey following the garages efforts, only to overheat again a day or so later... we shall see.

So, bank holiday weekend. What a scorcher!

Few journeys during the week, all fine, and then drove the Bongo 100 miles down to Kent again Saturday evening, on Sunday morning I grabbed a 5 litre container of anti-freeze from Halfauds, and the step-father and I "had a play". First attempt was opening the tap in the bottom of the new radiator and filling the header tank. Fluid started to turn pink after about an litre had been pushed in. Damn. Still 4 litres to go.

Then decided to drain from the bleed hose, again, pink rather quickly, but we persevered, and got the entire 4 litres in, without much/any of it coming out. Upon testing with the floaty-ball specific gravity thingy, the water coming out was pretty much all water, dyed pink by the litre of coolant i'd got in there during the week (that dye goes a long way!), and the 4 litres going in from the header tank didn't find its way to the bleed hose. Ran the car up to temp with header cap off and bleed hose open (per the bleed instructions), just to be on the safe side (no major burps from either location, however - as expected, nothing we did ought to have let air in).

Ended with a little too much coolant in, plan was to drain it when I got home using my Pela.

Sunday afternoon, drove the 100 miles home again. Fookin warm, air con blasting, etc, and then an accident on the M25 caused me to sit stationary with aircon blowing for 5 mins before shutting down for the following 2 hours.

Decided to wander on the motorway for a while (the novelty always takes me), and noticed a wet puddle under the Bongo - appears that, upon shutting down, no more pumped circuilation & cooling meant the water warmed up a bit too much and pushed itself out of the header tank - oh well, level set & no need for the Pela pump then. Slight concern, given what had gone before, but fingers crossed for when I could start up again.

Remiander of the journey fine, as was a 20 mile each way trip to the local National Trust site with misses & dog on the Monday.


So - all in all, Im starting to build up a little confidence in the Bongo again. Another couple of weekends (don't go anywhere in it during the week) and I think i may start to forget all about it!

Will keep fingers crossed, and thanks to everyone for all the sympathy/support/advice!

Gav.

GICarey wrote:So - all in all, Im starting to build up a little confidence in the Bongo again. Another couple of weekends (don't go anywhere in it during the week) and I think i may start to forget all about it!

Will keep fingers crossed, and thanks to everyone for all the sympathy/support/advice!

Gav.

I SO love a happy ending.

GICarey wrote: Decided to wander on the motorway for a while (the novelty always takes me), and noticed a wet puddle under the Bongo - appears that, upon shutting down, no more pumped circuilation & cooling meant the water warmed up a bit too much and pushed itself out of the header tank - oh well, level set & no need for the Pela pump then. Slight concern, given what had gone before, but fingers crossed for when I could start up again.

Gav.

Maybe not. I've had this before on a different vehicle, and got really worried. If the A/C is working hard, ice forms on the heat exchanger. Switch of and it warms up, melts, and you have an alarming but harmless puddle under the car. Its normal.

Good news Gav

I'd still put the Bongo on 'special measures'. If you've not got a Mason alarm or TM2 I'd fit one so I could watch the temp. like a hawk.

Personally, I like the idea of over-ride switches for the fans (I have one on my scavenger fan) but some peeps worry it could stuff the ECU. My scavenger fan one hasn't done that to date and if I was worried about my engine having a cooling problem I think I'd happily do the same to the rad fans.

But all in all, the water underneath could well have come from the aircon, and maybe wait and see if the Bongo behaves. If you've not got some kind of temp. alarm though I think It'd be worth fitting one (the Mason is a v. cheap option)

Keep us posted

Aethelric wrote:Maybe not. I've had this before on a different vehicle, and got really worried. If the A/C is working hard, ice forms on the heat exchanger. Switch of and it warms up, melts, and you have an alarming but harmless puddle under the car. Its normal.

Nope, t'was definitely coolant in this instance, popped the bonnet to confirm, could see header tank was full to the brim with the remainder dripping off of my paintwork onto the floor.

mikeonb4c wrote:Good news Gav

I'd still put the Bongo on 'special measures'. If you've not got a Mason alarm or TM2 I'd fit one so I could watch the temp. like a hawk.

Personally, I like the idea of over-ride switches for the fans (I have one on my scavenger fan) but some peeps worry it could stuff the ECU. My scavenger fan one hasn't done that to date and if I was worried about my engine having a cooling problem I think I'd happily do the same to the rad fans.

But all in all, the water underneath could well have come from the aircon, and maybe wait and see if the Bongo behaves. If you've not got some kind of temp. alarm though I think It'd be worth fitting one (the Mason is a v. cheap option)

Keep us posted

Thanks Mike,

Yep. I will, I think, get one of Haydns combined coolant alarm / TM2 devices in the not-too-distant future (read as: once I've (a) paid off this last months not insignificant Bongo expense; and (b) gained enough confidence in the car again that it's worth worrying about).

RE the sacvenger fan vs ECU concerns - what's the major concern, is it sending electrical spikes the wrong way into the ECU? if so, wouldn't some kind of diode help protect against this?

You say in a post above .."I ended up with a LITTLE too much coolant in the tank" in a later post you say " it was FULL to the brim and dripping down".. from cold to hot the coolant in the tank only expands about 1.5 cms up the tank...so what happened to you was NOT normal. Either you had a large air lock in the cooling system or somthing more sinister is going on.
A low coolant alarm would not have pre warned you of this happening. A Hi alarm "add on" would have warned you before a temp alarm.
However if the damage has been done (head gasket or head) and you have never (to your knowledge) either lost coolant or overheated because of lost coolant or just overheated then it seems this could be a case of a head/gasket just expiring.

Just reread the start of this topic....I see you did overheat....I fear the worst.