Have I just killed my Bongo?

[mp3oplecarrier]

I got out of my car at the supermarket tonight and noticed the unmistakable smell of boiled engine, looked down and there were two brown rivers running away from the car.

When I looked under the bonnet it looked like there was a pinhole in the top hose near the end, squirting out a thin high pressure stream of water. I left it to it and went o do the shopping while it cooled down.

When I came back I put 2 litres of water in the expansion tank, which filled it to the top, I decided not to put any in the radiator as I was not sure about airlocks etc. I took the 2 mile trip home very easy, but when I parked up I could see that there was a line of drips following me.

I took this picture of the hose while it was squirting:



And on looking at it at home it looks like the hose has slipped off the pipe judging by the discolouration showing on the pipe.

My questions are,
do you think that the leak was just coming out the end of a loose pipe? Will I get away with just pushing it further up the pipe and retightening the clip?
Will I have cooked my engine?
Do I have to dig out the bleed procedure?

Steve
(worried)

[westonwarrior]

Its allways dificult to tell from pictures but if you saw a spout of water best get a new hose.
once fitted follow the fact sheets on bleeding and hope for the best if you have done any lasting damage ie cracked head it will show.

have you killed it, no
however its worth finding out why it moved is there a blockage causing too much pressure? maybe worth getting the rad checked.

low coolan't level warning would have helped here

[haydn callow]

I don't think you have done any harm. However you must... Sort out the leak and bleed it. I would put a new hose on and check the metal pipe is not rusted through. If it is (common) I think Bell Hill Garage Will have one.. I would then check the "other "top hose that runs to the engine from the other end of that metal pipe.
If you had invested in a coolant alarm kit this would have warned you you were loseing coolant after about half a cupful was lost. Ithink you have been lucky.. Whatever you do ...when fixed bleed the system correctly.
Check all hoses large and small.

[mp3oplecarrier]

Always happy to help plug a guy's product!

I have read the coolant fact sheet and I wonder if somebody could just carify a couple of points for me?

What is the 'under cover'?

There are several mentions of the drain plug, are all mentions of the same one at the bottom of the radiator?

Thanks
Steve
(still worried)

[haydn callow]

There are 2 drain plugs. Bottom of rad and towards the back of the metal pipe that connects your 2 top hoses. See the schemematic on lushprojects.
If you want to totally drain down the system yoy may have to open this last one. Check the condition of this metal pipe. They do corrode and almost impossible to find pinprick holes can occure.

[mp3oplecarrier]

Must be being thick, I can't find anything relevant at lushprojects.. care to post a link?

Thanks
Steve

[westonwarrior]

http://www.lushprojects.com/bongoparts/ ... 02).html#3

for some reason I can't get the whole link to highlight and can't shorten so copy the whole link and paste into address bar

[haydn callow]

go to lushprojects.....around the engine.....cooling system.

[mp3oplecarrier]

Thanks for your help guys, and just as soon as I know I still have a car I'll order the coolant loss detector Haydn!

Steve

[alphabetter]

http://www.lushprojects.com/bongoparts/ ... 02).html#3

for some reason I can't get the whole link to highlight and can't shorten so copy the whole link and paste into address bar

OK - I've added a link to the parts/schematics on the LushProjects front page (it's in the "Bongo Kitchen" bit). Originally I hadn't bothered because I thought I was going to copy the data on to BongoFury, but at the end of the day Ian and I decided to leave things on my site.

The reason why some of the links don't transfer to this forum properly is that the forum doesn't like brackets in URLs. I have cleaned this problem up on Mk 2 of the parts database which is here. You should generally use Mk2 because it contains all the Bongo models - not just the single model which appears on Mk1.

[johnzbenson]

Since you have added water to your system and may have to replace hoses I recommend that you get your cooling system totally flushed and drained , inspect and replace hoses where appropriate and replace the coolant, ensuring that the correct amount of quality antifreeze is added.
it sounds like a bit of a task, but its the only way to give piece of mind. after this this is done all you will need to do is get your coolant tested every two years.
My local Bongo friendly garage tells me that it is best to leave cooling systems alone if they are working ( but monitor coolant levels /mixture etc) but when you get one leak unless you do a decent service it can lead to other cooling problems one after the other. Best practice really oh and my garage was impressed by the fact sheet on this subject

[Peg leg Pete]

john great advice

[bigdaddycain]

I hope everything works out ok MP3oeplecarrier

As previously mentioned,the coolant does need replacing every couple of years...

Take this leak as an omen!...It does sound like you "caught" the leak in time

In an ideal world,the hose should really be replaced (just in case)Coolant flushed,replaced (using quality anti-freeze).

The system should be properly bled,check for more leaks, then finish of with one of Haydn's coolant loss alarms for peace of mind

[mp3oplecarrier]

Few problems doing this yesterday....

The top hose I ordered off ebay seemed a different shape, but I shrugged my shoulders and attempted to fit it, onlyy to find it was not the right one . I have informed my supplier who is looking into it, but perhaps somebody could take a look and confirm my suspicions?



The original is the 'S' shaped one. I have refitted this at the moment, I trimmed the end that was leaking and made sure that everything was pulled on tight, but there was still a slight leak when the pressure was beginning to rise (temp guage reaching the top of the 'C'). I have decided that this is down to the spring clip, so have bougt a good honest jubilee clip today to try first thing tomorrow.

On the subject of bleeding, I couldn't find a tap under the radiator or at the 'other end' of the top hose to follow some of the instructions I was given so I did it this way:

Put heater levers in hot position
Removed caps from header and radiator
Removed bung from bleed hose under passenger seat
Undid clip and removed bottom hose to drain
Removed offending top hose
Ran water through radiator until water ran clear
Poured water through bleed hose until water ran clear from bottom hose
Replaced bottom hose
Replaced top hose
Poured coolant into bleed hose held up high followed by water until
-coolant appears at radiator
Whilst holding bleed hose above level of radiator, replaced cap
Topped up header tank to just below max
Replaced bung in bleed hose.

This seemed to work, ie hoses and radiator got hot at the right times, but could somebody give me a sanity check before I repeat the job tomorrow?

Thanks
Steve

Oh and yes, as soon as I know the car is OK I'll get a leak detector....

[dandywarhol]

I helped a friend replace his ruptured head to water pipe hose under the driver's seat. Some of you might remember the photo of my badly swollen hose - well, Yeo's was worse and actually ruptured

It took several attempts at bleeding the system "by the book" and several attempts using the "see saw" method to purge out all the air in the system. Fingers crossed it's ok now.

Also interesting to note that this van is the only one I've seen with a plain Japanese cap on the radiator and a pressure cap on the expansion tank. This is the way it should be IMHO - not what the majority have which is a pressure cap on both filler necks. I can only assume then that they've all been replaced at some time in Japan.