Bongo Fury

Dear All,

This is my first post on this forum. I have jst purchased a 4WD 96 Bongo . My wife and I have just taken it out for a test away trip (one night only). I have encountered a couple of problems and was wondering if I could seek some advice?

Firstly, it is a bit noisy. Hard to pin down exactly what is noisy, however, once up to about 60-65mph, it quietens down. There are no obvious individual noises. There was also a couple of spots of diesel on the ground after being parked overnight. My thoughts (after searching the forum) are that it may be the injectors or at least one of them, or the fuel pump. Could the noise be related to this, or are Bongos inherently noisy? I am yet to check the manifold.

So, what I am really trying to ask is, how noisy is a 96 Bongo supposed to be?

In the cab, perhaps a bit more than front engine diesels. But really not bad. You will know if you have a manifold problem co's it sounds like a loose fan belt.

Whereabouts in Wiltshire are you? We're in Salisbury & you're welcome to have a ride in ours. There are quite a few owners near Swindon/Chippenham/Laycock etc - I'm sure they'd offer the same.

Bongos are a bit clattery at low speed, which then at higher speeds gets drowned out by wind/road noise!

the best way I would describe the noise, is that its like a black taxi.. But as already suggested your best option would be to meet up with a fellow Bongo owner, and see what their ears sounds like.

Hi Chris

The spots of Diesel bit is a common problem, due to worn O rings in the fuel pump assembly. See this post to fix it:
Replacing Fuel pump seals (with pics)

As far as noise goes, thats a difficult one, but check the following:
1. The big black plastic engine undershield is present and not flapping about. Just look under the van and if you can see the underside of your engine the undershield is missing! It makes quite a difference noise-wise.
2. The heatshield on the exhaust manifold is intact and not all bolts are tight.
3. The big black plastic air pipe is tightly connected to the metal curved junction on the end of the inlet manifold (lift drivers seat then look upper right and back a bit).......there is also a small rubber pipe which runs from this junction to the fuel pump.this should be tightly connected too. If either of these are loose you would get 'sucky' noises and a marked sluggishness.
4. Follow the air flow route from black plastic intake under bonnet, (top )left) to air filter (under drivers seat), then around the back of cylinder head to turbo (under passenger seat) then down and to the bottom front (intercooler) then back up to the inlet manifold joint mentioned above.
Check all joints are tight....lid of filter casing is correctly fastened, and filter is present.
5. Check all exhaust joints.
6. Check drive belt tightness
7. Valve clearances may not be set properly which will give a taxi-like rattle most noticeable at low revs.
8.The test for faulty injectors is to slightly slacken them off one by one (being very careful to avoid high pressure diesel spray, especially protect eyes)....you should notice distinct engine note change when they're slackened slightly like a misfire.......if there is no change to engine noise then there is probably a problem with that injector. If you do this test be very careful not damage the fuel return pipe (the curly pipe which links each injector).
9. Check the egr pipework (metal pipes running around the back of cylinder head from exhaust to inlet manifold), check all connections are tight.

Generally it's fair to say the Bongo is quite noisy on tickover but not as soon as revs are lifted a little. However they do all vary, I've just changed my engine and the replacement engine which has done 132,000km's, is much quieter than the old one.

Oh you may also like to try disabling the egr (exhaust gas recirculation) system, as mine seemed to quieten a bit when i did this, you'll notice a smoother and more responsive drive too. There are various methods of doing this, just do a search for 'egr' and resaearch the subject a bit.

If all else fails try going out without the wife.....it might be this simple!


Good luck

Rob

Welcome to the forum ChrisB

As stated above, the fuel leak is probably down to worn O rings on the pump itself,plenty of info on this on forum if you do a search chris (put FUEL and PUMP in the search)

There is a lot of variation on engine noise from one bongo to another too chris,for example, mine is noisier than most on tickover, but is quieter than it used to be cos i use 30% veg oil...

That's a good point that kirsty came up with,check the clamps on the engine cover....

Thanks for all your help already. I will be spending the day tomorrow checking all the above and see how it goes.

when you have checked all of the above and still not happy with the noise levels there is specific noise killer kit available.

I have fitted this and it did improve things.I also went further with extra material from noisekiller around the inside and outsideof the engine bay plus the use of B&Q builders flashing roll [insde door panels etc.] and used foam anywhere it would go behind panels.

Result is a reasonably quiet Bongo.

good luck Petebee.

I had a Toyota Hilux once and that had a similar problem, sounded like a tractor and spots of Diesel on the floor and a strong smell of Diesel from under the bonnet.

It was an injector dripping and also blowing back out.

A dripping injector on the piston makes a hell of a knock.

New injectors and fuel rail fitted and it was a differant vehicle.

I used a heap of foil backed bitumen stuff, and covered all the flat surfaces around the front seats and braces, around under the centre console, and under the carpet, with the seats lifted up. I lifted the sliding door footwell plastic and covered it well there too, an eliminated quite a lot of noise just doing these areas, and I am mostly happy with how quiet it is now.
There's also a bit of road noise from around the sliding door.