Bongo Fury

I appear to have water coming out of the rear core plug faster than i can pour it in . is this easy to remedy? is it symptomatic of the dreaded head gasket being destroyed?Ive got overheating with no movement on the temp gauge and bubbling water (when there was some)

Sorry to hear your woes Matt, I've just been through much the same. It would have been costlier & more time consuming to get sorted had I not been on here.

The crew will be able to point you in the right direction, but be prepared for the worst.

Anything less is a bonus

.

some mention of core plugs on the thread....

'interesting point about your temperature gauge'


did your bongo overheat before blowing the coreplugs?

what were the events that lead up to this??


I'm not really the person to answer this problem, but I'm sure someone will be along.... and these are the sort of questions you'll get asked!


John

First thing to do is replace the coreplug. Then ! when everything is watertight again, try out Bongo again and keep a sharp eye on the temp guage. If it even thinks about going over 11 0'clock stop and find out why.
This is by far the cheapest option.
I would have thought you would have blown your header tank cap long before a coreplug. Perhaps the coreplug was just corroded and gave up.
Fingers crossed and let us know the outcome.

I'm putting this in this post because the post in which Haydn first mentioned coreplugs and their reason for being there is locked

The cores are part of the manufacturing process for the engine. The molten iron/alloy is poured into the cores and air expels from the cores during manufacture.
When everything is cooled down and the engine is ready to be used the cores are blocked up with the coreplugs.
Unfortunately, they're made of steel and as every schoolperson (see, being inclusive here ) knows, steel corrodes. That's one reason the coolant should be changed every 2 years (haha) because the corrosion inhibitor in the antifreeze breaks down and the first parts to corrode are the coreplugs.

Yet another good reason to use some kind of pre-problem alarm.........

History . first heat from handbrake area got me worried. then checked coolant- a bit low. topped up & carried on then bubbling noises and went to garage . He bled the air out & topped up coolant again. 2 weeks later pop! water pouring out. also water was brown in reservoir.At no time did the temp guage rise past 12 oclock.
Is there any chance that if i give this plug a bit of a thump with something that it might stop leaking long enough to get it to the garage? It's the lower plug at the rear of the engine, and a bit of a pig to get to. It seems the water is coming from the sealed edge rather than any corroded holes.

If the core plug has corroded I would expect it to do so from the inside and at the edge, so this could be your problem. Radweld or similar may get you to the garage but I certainly wouldn't want to chance driving far.

The cost of recovery or a tow from a mate could well be less than taking a chance, depends a bit how far the garage is though.

Dandywarhol is right about the cores being necessary for manufacture, but they also provide some protection if the engine should freeze, hopefuly one will pop out before the block cracks.

Good luck

Bob

Thanks for the help folks. I've got a chap coming round during the week to take a look. Apparently he's the bees knees with the bongos. i'll let you know how i get on.