Bongo Fury

I don't have a high/low coolant alarm
I don't have an over-temperature alarm
I didn't check any of my fluids before I left home
I'm still using the faulty header tank cap
I've lost the good one you gave me
I didn't plug the data logger in
Perhaps I should have bled before now, as a preventative measure
The thermostat housing that we noticed leaking has not been fixed
I think that flaky stuff in the header tank may have been a leak repair
Despite rigorous cleaning, I still can't see the level through the side



Only joking, I know exactly where the good header tank cap is.

im going to wait till your in bed and come round and fix that bloody van--------------------------sorry bongo

Northern Bongolow wrote:im going to wait till your in bed and come round and fix that bloody van--------------------------sorry bongo

I was planning to save up a grand and then come and visit you!

What's the breakfast order... square sausage and what? There's a butcher in Comrie (on the way to the Red Squirrel) that does square sausage with haggis and black in the middle.

no thanks, that sounds like one for muz to test before i dive in. .
tony mountaingoat does a mean brecky, ask him. .

Small leak from the exhaust manifold gasket, too.

Arg! I've just fried two pressure sensors (£8 each) by connecting the pins the wrong way round.

Still, the third has now been epoxied into a small hole in the front of the header tank, just below the cap. Fingers crossed it doesn't blow out, or get soaked in coolant. I'll take the necessary to attempt a repair in the case that I'm left with a compromised header tank.

I'm alarming on pressure outside of the range 2-15psi and on a rate of change greater than 3psi/s. Not logging TPS or any temperatures this time. Got the dash gauge, a digital temp gauge and the new coolant pressure alarm.

Double arg!!!

I thought I had fried the third sensor but turns out I had epoxied a duff sensor onto the tank! I tested them on the bench but they looked very similar, no excuse really.

So, behold... FrankenTank!



Some waterproofing is in order before I drive. And I'll get the hairdryer onto the epoxy too - 10 minute cure but not to full strength, and not in this weather.

Driver+Passengers wrote:Arg! I've just fried two pressure sensors (£8 each) by connecting the pins the wrong way round.

Still, the third has now been epoxied into a small hole in the front of the header tank, just below the cap. Fingers crossed it doesn't blow out, or get soaked in coolant. I'll take the necessary to attempt a repair in the case that I'm left with a compromised header tank.

I'm alarming on pressure outside of the range 2-15psi and on a rate of change greater than 3psi/s. Not logging TPS or any temperatures this time. Got the dash gauge, a digital temp gauge and the new coolant pressure alarm.

the alarm at 2 psi on the low end may be too high matt. when starting from cold (relaxed) well about 1 pound negative, it may take 5-10 mins of driving to get to that pressure, to turn off your alarm system. this may drive you nuts mate .

Northern Bongolow wrote:

Driver+Passengers wrote:the alarm at 2 psi on the low end may be too high matt. when starting from cold (relaxed) well about 1 pound negative, it may take 5-10 mins of driving to get to that pressure, to turn off your alarm system. this may drive you nuts mate .

It's the top-end alarm at 15 that drives me nuts. Beasting up a hill and the alarm goes off, I'm listening for it venting, but can't hear a thing cause my brain's reverberating! I need a snooze button on the touch screen.

The Great Pretender wrote:I did speak to Matt without realizing this thread was here.
After reading it all tonight, some posts I disagree with............

I'm now in the early stages of measuring temperature and pressure with my Bongo system returned to 'near' standard.

Matts graphs don't correspond with my readings with regards to pressure but I'm in the early stages of testing, but the graphs lack an important input, accelerator or throttle pot position as I try to view input as I blast up the road looking at the pressure rising instead of the road ahead.

My first impression is that if Matts temp and pressure readings are right, there is a restriction somewhere in the positive side of his system, that also includes the bypass that communicates with the negative side (before the pump).

You probably don't have a cracked head.

There have been so many variables in my setup thus far, I can't quite get my head around it all.

Ady's been very supportive, and if it was up to him, I'd have fixed it by now. But I want the data to support the theory and have a basis for comparison before/after swapping parts out (like the head!).

But as always, every time I change something, it raises more questions. Like how good a seal have I got around the sensor with the putty? Answer: not very good.



Summary:
800 - stopped to apply more putty.
1000 - stopped to apply more putty and have a cuppa
1500 - got onto motorway
2100 - repeated acceleration from 50-60
2400 - home
2700 - 0psi - that's less than half an hour

just wondering why when you get on the motorway your temps go up, they should be lower with the ram air cooling effect through the rad.

re what mel was saying about a restriction on the pos side, could that simply be the stat, or link that to the above and you get a rad blockage.

Northern Bongolow wrote:just wondering why when you get on the motorway your temps go up, they should be lower with the ram air cooling effect through the rad.

re what mel was saying about a restriction on the pos side, could that simply be the stat, or link that to the above and you get a rad blockage.

Hmm...

Well, I made it. 270 miles and no major dramas. I'm making a right pigs ear of this, though... overpressuring every time I put the foot down, leaking out of the header tank, one near overheat this afternoon which seemed to sort itself and otherwise a light foot and a keen eye - all in all a tense drive.

Almost certain it's the head.