Bongo Fury

My beautiful Bongo had its first outing today. Registration came through this morning so I loaded the kids in, sat the wife next to me and off we went for a jaunt. Imagine my upset and my wifes sneer when, after 3 miles the temp gauge went past hot and by little darling (the bongo) started leaking coolant all over the place.

A very nice man from the AA came to my rescue and initially used his temp gauge to tell me that the thermostat was not opening. All other tests came back as OK. He then noticed the rad getting warm and changed his mind, saying the thermo is now OK!

He followed me home and the temp stayed at mid level all journey.

After much head scratching he said he did not know the problem but it could be a sticky thermo.

Is this a poss cause or should I be worrying about any thing more sinister?

The van came from auction 2 weeks ago so I cant take it back to be looked at. Should I be getting someone to look at it or should I drive and see if it happens again??

Cheers, Mark

could be sticky thermostat, but you have overheated so it could be bad.
could have cracked the head, do a search and loads of issues and fixes with bongos overheating.

you say coolant all over the place?, does this mean a hose went or the header tank expansion cap let coolant/steam out?

I would get the coolant system checked, I would flush the system, check the thermostat, replace the coolant, Bleed the system, check before doing this that you have no leaks, some leaks are not obvious when the engine is not running i.e. pinprick leaks, when flushing, give the radiator a good check too good luck

we had the same thing happen, although we had our beast for two years before any coolant probs, keep an eye on the oil for water contamination, and for white smoke when your driving, ours turned out to be thermostat and water pump plus small hose to the turbo, i was also warned about head problems but touch wood nothing bad yet, gonna get one of haydn's coolant alarms and full set of hoses from flippa,
hope it turns out to be something small and inexpensive.
nigel

Thanks guys! I am going to attempt to replace the coolant tomorrow and take it from there. I have two batteries which would suggest the van is from colder parts of Japan - hopefully th coolant is just too gunky! I have had no smoke coming from the van so hope there is no further damage!

Anyone hears swearing in Southampton tomorrow pm, just ignore it, its me under the bonnet!

Mark

aughton9 wrote:Thanks guys! I am going to attempt to replace the coolant tomorrow and take it from there. I have two batteries which would suggest the van is from colder parts of Japan - hopefully th coolant is just too gunky! I have had no smoke coming from the van so hope there is no further damage!

Anyone hears swearing in Southampton tomorrow pm, just ignore it, its me under the bonnet!

Mark

make sure you bleed the system correctly, there is some good coolant fact sheets in the members section on how to do it, as long as you make sure you get the air out, using the bleed pipe under the passenger seat.

mine had a sticky thermostat, well actually it was staying open a nat hair, so to be sure spend a few quid and replace the thermostat, saves going through the coolant change again if its sticky.

Good Luck hope it all goes well

Cheers Wayne

Steady as you go aughton9. You may have got away with no damage. But you need to get to the bottom of the problem. If the old coolant looks rusty/ gunky then as well as fitting a new thermostat you may want to flow test the coolant system (rad. especially and get a new one if in doubt). And fit temp and low coolant alarms. I know it all sounds like cost but its a wise investment in your precious Bongo, which will be a great machine once sorted.

Good luck - keep us posted.

Mike

I couldn't agree more with what the guys have been saying, ive had overheating probs, and have replaced almost everything.

New rad would cost £130 ish and is well worth it, also print off the bleed method for your mechanic, and tell him to follow it to the letter. Dont worry about teaching granny how to suck eggs, it's a Bongo. It has it's own way that is probably different to others.

Most mechanic's ive spoken to have all said to rip out the radiator and get a new one. The thing is none of us know how many years our Bongo's have been sitting on the dockside for. It's definatly done them no favours.