Bongo Fury

ok folks, got my new bongo today, picked it up brought it home, around 8 miles back to my house. temperature gauge went up to about 9 oclock.

got it home, fitted my masons alarm and swapped the clock to a 626 clock.
went out for about an hr drive, to check speedo was working ok, noticed temperature gauge was going to about 9 o clock then dropping back to zero , so i put heaters on full, but it wasnt getting as hot as it should be (compared to my old one anyway).

any 1 any ideas?

Not a very encourging start.
First off bleed the cooling system properly.
If that dosn't cure the gauge dropping to zero you may have a problem.
Take it back for the seller to look at.
Was it bought from a dealer.

Could be an airlock or thermostat perhaps ??

yes, got 1 months warranty, but if its a cheap fix i will do it myself, another thing is part of the deal, it had a slight oil leak around the rocker cover so i asked for a new one put on, but they just put gasket sealer on it.

my initial thought was that they may have dropped the coolant to do it, and not bled the system properley. but i doubt they would have dropped the coolant

No reason to drop coolant for that job.
Was the oit on the drivers side front of engine behind fuel pump??
If so it is not likley the rocker cover but a silacone seal and they all seem to weep a bit of crud.

Sounds like a missing/faulty thermostat.

missing stat wouldn't make the gauge rise / fall would it? Just slow to warm up.

haydn callow wrote:No reason to drop coolant for that job.
Was the oit on the drivers side front of engine behind fuel pump??
If so it is not likley the rocker cover but a silacone seal and they all seem to weep a bit of crud.

no it was leaking at the back of the rocker cover towards the back of the engine.

i am going to take the masons alarm off tomorrow and check the wires, i may have not tightened the screws properley but am sure it didnt rise past 9 oclock on the way home from picking it up

Loose wires would not affect the heater Wayne, so check coolant system too

Unless 100% confident about it, I'd give it a coolant system service - new thermostart, backflush, check discoloration etc, refill and bleed. If I then had probs, start head scratching. Mind you in the 1 month guarantee you could be asking them to do it if can be sure they will do it as well as you would (not likely ). But you might have to let htem do it as you don't want them saying 'it was fine until you meddled with it - warranty voided' so need to be careful about DIY approach. But she'll be right mate, perfect time of year for testing trials, all sorted for Spring. Yippee

when fitting the mason alarm,be careful not to overtighten the screws.
i did this once and it must have shorted the circuit out,temperature gauge wouldn't work at all afterwards.
i would remove mason alrm then take it back to dealer,as if you do any work yourself this could invalidate your warranty.

well just been out and tightened the screws on the masons alarm, then went out for a drive, the temp went to 11 oclock and stayed there. but didnt rise as if it should with the masons alarm , so i wonder if its faulty

The thermostat stuck open on an old skoda that I had for a while -- the temp gauge took a long time to rise, and only went up to about 3/4 of normal much of the time. With a Mason alarm fitted to your bongo, you should be able to get the temp gauge up to 1 o'clock within 10 miles.