Bongo Fury

OK, any help would be hugely appreciated.

Nov '06 radiator hose ruptured. All got sorted by the garage. Bongo not used for few months. Drove 600+ miles with no noticable problems, then on arrival home there was bubbling in the expansion tank. Nothing else noticed. Took bongo back to garage, think he treated it as an air lock, sorted out the coolant and squeezed air out of the pipes.

Drove bongo yesterday - 4 miles in bubbling in expansion tank again. No other symptoms noticed. Drove back home slowly - no problems.

Read this forum again!
Just done the following on the driveway:

Coolant level normal.
Ran engine 10 mins approx. Temp gauge 11 o'clock. Hot air blowing from all fans. No bubbling.
Ran engine for ? 8 mins at 2500rpm. Temp gauge gradually rose, then reached HOT, no hot air from internal fan, bubbling started+++, coolant hot, pipe hot, engine fan working fine.
Exhaust fumes clean and dry, no white smoke.
Dropped revs back to normal, everything returned back to normal.

We've had a look at everything under the seats, and there might be a damp patch roughly in line with the gear stick on the drivers side... not sure.

Going to take it back to garage, but any ideas so we have a better understanding/explanation would be appreciated.

maglett seems they have not bled the systom properly,
print the instructions on how to bleed your bongo from the fact sheet and give it to the garage
good luck
Neil

bongo going in to garage tomorrow, with the relevant factsheets and the 'cooling schematic' diagram.

Hopefully it'll be sorted by saturday so that I can take it to my MTB Enduro event... otherwise it's crawling in and out of a tent

I have just replaced radiator and filled the system and then to ensure I was as safe as possible went onto to bleed and refill. I would recommend that owners who do not own a tecnical handbook pay the $5 for the download from http://www.repairmanual.co.nz. The extra information is well worth the investment.
Now my fingers are crossed that all work has been done correctly! I dread the consequences otherwise.

Nick.

Good luck samuraisue. Stay local for a bit and carry some spare 50/50 mix just in case. That way you can beat a retreat to home if need be, until Bongo has completed and passed its trials. Thats how I played it anyway.

The nz web link was 'under construction' when I checked it just now

Bongo went to garage yesterday - sounds like the mechanic is taking it to bits!

Overheated 3 times on the 6 mile drive there!

Maglett, sounds like a airlock

They still have my beloved bongo up on the ramps.

Apparently the thermostat was the wrong one for the vehicle so they changed it... no change in symptoms!

The reality of using a little car and a tent is looming for saturday

The guy who bled mine said it was a swine to get air out of the rear heater matrix, could it be trapped there? It may be worth mentioning. Hope it all goes well and you are re-united soon.

I still reckon the see-saw method works the best for air-lock problems

I'd go along with that advice Peter. A few warm ups and cool downs with heater on coupled with see-saw method to "burp" the engine does it for me.

yes but to be honest it is a good way to do it but we all dont have the luxury of having a seesaw big enought for the bongo to fit on

Wayne This method works, much simpler than NZ site method

BONGO IS BACK!!!

Thermostat was faulty - new one needed fitting.

He followed the instructions for the coolant... apparently a bit of a nightmare!!!

Now Bongo is fine... only tested on 3x 20mile round trips, but no bubbles so far and temp gauge holding at 11 o'clock.

Going to stress it over higher revs for longer duration to check it's really all sorted before I trust it for a proper trip.

Survived in my tent... though didn't sleep very well!