Why's it bubbling / boiling?

maglett · Post by **maglett** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 8:25 pm

Drove home to North Wales from scottish borders on Monday.
Dropped friend off in Chester.
Was driving round a roundabout and heard a noise similar to a plastic bottle stuck to the wheel and being repeatedly squashed on the front near side.
Drove round the roundabout again, noise gone, no plastic bottle to be seen.
Drove the remaining hour home.
Pulled up on drive, engine off, boiling bubbling noise front near-side.
Leapt out of van, bonnet opened. As you look at the engine the tank at the back right hand side was boiling and bubbling.
Left it to cool.
Left it to dad to sort!
Dad assumed it was just from driving up a steep hill at the end of the journey.

Anyway, today mum took the van out, drove 6 miles, parked up and it was doing the same thing.
As far as we have noticed none of dials read anything unusual.

The radiator hose burst and was replaced and serviced in November.

Anyone got any ideas as to what's going on / what to do???

Will take it to a garage to be looked at but some prior knowledge would be good.

Thanks
Maglett

Peg leg Pete · Post by **Peg leg Pete** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 8:31 pm

Airlock, blockage in the system, leaking hose, etc

Peg leg Pete · Post by **Peg leg Pete** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 8:33 pm

You need to check coolant level and quality, if dirty looking you need to do a coolant change and BLEED once you have eliminated any leaks etc

Peg leg Pete · Post by **Peg leg Pete** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 8:34 pm

check out overheating in F.A.Q section

maglett · Post by **maglett** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 8:40 pm

the FAQ section in the members only bit??? Still haven't got round to renewing my membership!

I'm not familiar enough with engines and stuff to have a go!

Peg leg Pete · Post by **Peg leg Pete** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 8:43 pm

No it is above the bongo chat section

Post by **Ian** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 8:55 pm

maglett wrote:the FAQ section in the members only bit??? Still haven't got round to renewing my membership!

Is there an action point here?

haydn callow · Post by **haydn callow** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 8:57 pm

I think the noise going round the roundabout in Chester may just have been a plastic bottle or something and not related to the boiling. Wouldn't have thought you could drive for an hour with a boiling system. Why wouldn't it regeister on the guage?? very odd !!

Peg leg Pete · Post by **Peg leg Pete** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:00 pm

Faulty guage perhaps, and if bongo only got 6 miles before overheating, must be a airlock or head problem

maglett · Post by **maglett** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:00 pm

maglett wrote:
the FAQ section in the members only bit??? Still haven't got round to renewing my membership!

Is there an action point here?

I will renew my membership, if only so that I can display my factsheet to my parents!!!

Busy reading all about overheating on the FAQ bit... brain ache!

maglett · Post by **maglett** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:11 pm

Going to give it back to the mechanic who sorted out the radiator. Get him to fix it. I've digested half of the FAQ info and don't understand without having a look at what it's all on about.

Dannyboy · Post by **Dannyboy** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:34 pm

Hi Magleet. I've had problems with overheating also, as have lots of bongo owners. I would suggest that you DO NOT USE YOUR BONGO UNTIL YOU HAVE REFILLED YOUR COOLING SYSTEM AND BLED IT CORRECTLY!!! I think you probably have air in the cooling system now and if you drive it you will at least burst your cylinder head gasket and quite possibly crack your cylinder head. Very expensive! Well, mine was.

Now the difficult part. You have to find out why it overheated. It could be lots of things, blocked system, faulty radiator, loss of coolant, faulty pump. etc. Go through things systematically and with luck you will find out what is wrong. If it was only loss of coolant, refilling and bleeding may be adequate, an it is certainly worth trying this first.

Good luck and don't use that bongo until you have refilled it with coolant and bled it correctly. And as someone else pointed out....why did the overheating not register on the temperature guage?

dandywarhol · Post by **dandywarhol** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:59 pm

haydn callow wrote:I think the noise going round the roundabout in Chester may just have been a plastic bottle or something and not related to the boiling. Wouldn't have thought you could drive for an hour with a boiling system. Why wouldn't it regeister on the guage?? very odd !!

The gauge is designed to read coolant temperature, not air temperature once the water has escaped/boiled off. If you miss the gauge showing hot then it can drop back to cold. The gauge might show cold/warm but in fact the engine is beyond boiling point

haydn callow · Post by **haydn callow** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 10:11 pm

Yes ! that makes sense, but surely very quickly after boiling, the engine would overheat and seize ??

dandywarhol · Post by **dandywarhol** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 10:24 pm

You'd think so haydn.......but these ol' buses just keep going til the head cracks