Bongo Fury

lease help! I've just had the cylinder head replaced on our Bongo, it failed the test.. new gaskett, bolts rad hose and thermostat... The bongo was great for 4 whole days then suddenly overheated after the expansion tank started bubbling away.

The mechanic with 30 years experiance fitted a second thermostat, this didnt work.. hes reflushed and bled the rad', took the waterpump apart in case the impeller had broken, checked the slave fan, hoses, rad and expansion tank caps and cannot find the cause. there is no flow beyond the thermostat.. he actually removed this altogether and still none and is convinced its not the radiator.
It takes around 10 minutes for the engine to overheat and to use his own words, is running out of ideas. I'm getting desperate now, can anyone make any suggestions as the vehicle has been off the road for 4 weeks now.. and its cost over £650 in parts, same again in labour.
Pretty please!

Hi charlie welcome....sorry to hear of your woes ...there should be a techie along soon to help you...you make no mention of bleeding the system using the bleed pipe under the passenger seat ...has he been doing this after refilling with coolant

good luck hope you sort it

Hi Charlie

Bongo's are a pig to bleed. Flippa has mentioned the bleed pipe under the passenger seat. It is essential to bleed from here once the thermostat has opened otherwise you are left with one big air lock.

I can vouch for this as i replaced my coolant last week. Just filling up from the header tank and radiator isn't sufficicent. It will take a couple more level checks before it settles to the correct level in the header tank.

I hope this works and wish you the best of luck.

yes, this is true and they are a total pita to me too... my mates (which i have) is getting the head done too...all to common in my opinion...

The mechanic is aware of the bleed pipe under passenger seat side of engine but i will mention it to him.. I'm currently trying to source a new rad' (it wont harm will it) I've read advice on forum and this seems a good bet.. or does anyone think otherwise?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0179062873

Sounds like an airlock, needs a thorough bleeding, when ours suffered the same symtoms, it would begin to overheat in around the same amount of time as yours once fully bled ran fine, are the heaters running cold

"The mechanic with 30 years experiance fitted a second thermostat, this didnt work.. hes reflushed and bled the rad', took the waterpump apart in case the impeller had broken, checked the slave fan, hoses, rad and expansion tank caps and cannot find the cause. there is no flow beyond the thermostat.. he actually removed this altogether and still none and is convinced its not the radiator"

He saying theres no flow after the thermostat, how does he know this, is it because the bottom hose is cool / cold? I think you will find this is quite normal on a Bongo. It may well be the radiator blocked, try searching the forum. I'm sure theres plenty of help on here.

Ours doesnt have a bleed pipe but I bled it by keeping it topped up
and squeezing the top hose as been fine for 5000 miles and uses
no water, but I have noticed a very slight weep from the rad header
tank so ordered a new rad from Japan spares or something like that
they are in Coventry and on Evil-bay, will most likely sort a bleed
system out when I fit it along with new hoses .
When I do it I will try to figure out a fool proof method of bleeding
the beast what I think is happening is that the water pump is air
locked so cant pump water round once you get the pump primed
it will force water round the rest of the system, just my take on it,
we have one of those digi temp gauges fitted and it sits at about 94c
once warmed up, but think a alarm would be a good move.

For the cost of a replacement rad I would change it as they do get blocked,
this may have been the cause in the first place.


Bleeding the system seams to cure most problems of this kind but its entirely possible that the replacement head/gasket could be faulty or rebroken with overheating due to not being bled in the repair.

the other cause is the block is cracked and due to use since the head repalcement water has seaped out causeing the overheating not to suface for a week or so. rare but not unheard of.

I would go for bleed the system first. then compresion test and check the oil for water contamination

All the best

I'd like to thank those that have offered advice to date.. A replacement Rad' is on route. Will advise mechanic about getting a full bleed and post progress.

[ when I fit it along with new hoses from Tigs.
.[/quote]

Is this a new supplier?

Hi all, Update on situation: The "lord of the rings" Bongo (My Precious) has now been off road for two whole calender months.
A new rad' has now been fitted and still the overheating problem persists..
The thinking is that the recon' cylinder head is faulty, so off with her head and away to be tested. This has really been a nightmare for us both logistically and financially, but we shall keep plugging away until its resolved.

Mike and Rowena, Fareham, Hants.

Hopefully the situation is resolved soon charlie...Did your man have a butchers at the bleed methods?

So sorry to hear of your troubles, if its any consolation ive been through all that myself, and am still currently awaiting my bongo back.

Ive managed to purchase a brand new head from ebay for £230 next day delivery as well. I really hope mine doesnt go down the road of overheating after this or my missus will chew my knackers off!.

Ill keep my fingers crossed for both of us eh!

Darren.

Cheeky - It's imperative that a genuine Mazda head gasket is used even though it's a costly one - otherwise the problems seem to reccur.

It would be interesting if anyone out there has used a spurious gasket successfully.....................