Bongo Fury

Hello, hope someone can help...

My diesel Bongo has been putting out white smoke.
It was doing it when starting from cold - accompanied by rough running initially for a few seconds then fine.

Now it has started doing it more and on a long journey up to Scotland at the weekend was pouring quite a lot out especially when we pulled up to a junction.

From what I have read of other peoples white smoke problems it seems likely that it is either fuel starvation or water getting into the combustion chambers? On the fuel issue I have had a look at the banjo connections on the fuel pump (as suggested in other threads) - the banjo on the rear end has a very fine filter inside the bolt itself which I tried to clean didn't help.

I recently had a local garage replace the cam belt and fuel filter amongst other things and they ended up draining and replacing/bleeding the coolant - which they did a rough job of - but seems ok.

Any ideas?

I have had this unfortunately, and it could well be a head gasket im afraid!.
Are you losing coolant?, is there white smoke even when the engine is warm?.

I had coolant being thrown out of the expansion tank, and had white smoke bellowing out the back even when it was hot.

I hope that i have diagnosed the problem wrong!! for your sake but definitely get it checked out.

If the garage fiddled with the cooling side they might well have bled it wrong, and this can lead to big troubles.

Also is your fans blowing out cold air?

Was it running o.k. before the garage got hold of it ?? If so then it sounds as though they did not bleed it properly...Are they bongo friendly...??
Has the temp gauge ever gone above 11 o'clock??
As far as you know has it overheated??

Is it white smoke or steam? not the same thing at all.

White smoke is incomplete combustion usually due to wrong injector timing (retarded I think) Steam is water in the combustion chamber which can be blown head, gasket cracked head or even something serious.

White smoke smells like hot oil or paraffin, but steam smells wet or musty.

I too remember the white smoke episodes Mine was a head problem.

On the other hand, mine pumps out a fair bit of bue/grey smoke (it could be described as white I guess), when I boot it. Overtaking, steep long hills etc. I only really notice it at night though, when the clouds are lit by headlights behind me.

I've put this down to oil burning off. Probably piston rings, I'm getting through a litre of oil every 1000 miles or so. Not an immediate problem as long as I check it often enough.

Yours may be something similar??

Is there a simple way of telling if its steam or smoke? Its definitely white.

I have had two breakdowns due to hose leaks over the last 12 months so yep the engine has definitely been overheated...

If it is the head does anyone know how much a new one might be?

In that case my guess is a blown head gasket or cracked clyinder head. If you take the header tank cap off (careful...do it when cold) and run the engine can you smell exaust in there?? Is there water in the oil or oil in the water??

I paid £750 for a new made-up head. With labour, a service, cam-belt & new waterpump it cost £1100 all in.

A tough pill to swallow but its now as good as new, full 12 month parts & labour warranty, so money well spent.

I'm sure that if worst came to the worst, this could be done much cheaper but piece of mind is worth the outlay for me.

Best of luck, keep us updated.

I got mine from Iezura for £230 with next day delivery, this was a bare head.

If you want to save time you could buy a complete head with the valves for around or over £300. Obviously then you also have to think about new head bolts and gasket e.t.c.

If i were you i would stop using it now, and get it looked at, before your head cracks, If that truly is the cause of it all.

Sometimes people are lucky enough to get away with it if you have caught it in time that is, but not even i was that lucky.

I thought mine was a split hose, and just kept on topping up, unknown to me that it was chucking coolant out through the expansion tank breather tube.

The place that pressure tested my head said that most of the Bongo heads he has tested has been cracked.

Ovingham wrote:Is there a simple way of telling if its steam or smoke? Its definitely white.

I have had two breakdowns due to hose leaks over the last 12 months so yep the engine has definitely been overheated...

If it is the head does anyone know how much a new one might be?

The smell - white "smoke" smells oily, steam just smells damp and musty.

I must say that yours sounds like head gasket or whatever, problems.

Keep us posted on your findings, and im keeping my fingers crossed for you.

Its looking ominous at the moment.

It is definitely losing water so it is going into the garage tomorrow. I was planning on getting them to pressure test the cooling circuit and if that shows up a problem with no obvious leaks the head is coming off.

How common is the cracked head problem as against just a gasket failure?

If the worst comes to the worst is it worth buying a complete head with valves etc - and where is a reliable place to buy from?

There are some for sale on ebay but how trustworhty? eg:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Mazda-Bongo-Ford- ... dZViewItem

Why don't any of the main suppliers offer built up heads?
Is it worth a rebuild using the existing valves/camshaft withd a new bare head?

Ovingham wrote: How common is the cracked head problem as against just a gasket failure

VERY common i am afraid

Does the garage have a "sniffer" test faciity Ovingham? It's a very quick an easy way of telling if the head gasket has gone....

This may sound silly, but did you drive through any deep water previous to the white smoke/steam? (what, with the weather of late n' all )