Bongo Fury

I've had my beloved 96 Bongo for about 3 years, in which time I've done around 40,000 miles. I religiously get the van serviced every 3500 miles.
Just recently the water level keeps disappearring, with no visible trace of any leaking pipes or seals. So I have to top up the water every time I drive it. What's more worrying is while the car is moving it seems to be working fine, however when the van is in traffic, the smell of radiators and thick white smoke belches out the exhaust.
My mechanic reckons that the head gasket could have gone. Does anybody know how to rectify this, and how much did it cost to fix.
Please Help

stickypool wrote:I've had my beloved 96 Bongo for about 3 years, in which time I've done around 40,000 miles. I religiously get the van serviced every 3500 miles.
Just recently the water level keeps disappearring, with no visible trace of any leaking pipes or seals. So I have to top up the water every time I drive it. What's more worrying is while the car is moving it seems to be working fine, however when the van is in traffic, the smell of radiators and thick white smoke belches out the exhaust.
My mechanic reckons that the head gasket could have gone. Does anybody know how to rectify this, and how much did it cost to fix.
Please Help

The only way to "mend" a head gasket is to get it replaced and how much it will cost depends on who replaces it and what they charge.

If your mechanic has serviced the car for the last 3 years, ask them if they have ever done one on a Bongo and if they understand the bleeding process needed by the cooling system when it's refilled afterwards?
If they do ask them for a price to do the job.

Hi and welcome

Got head gasket written all over that one! Stick your location in your profile and a few peeps may recommend some good garages in your area for quotes if nothing else!

yeap that looks like a head gasket to me.
Time to stop driving it before you warp the head past its ability to be skimmed!
that will be expensive then.............

good luck

Majorbloodnock wrote:Hi and welcome

Got head gasket written all over that one! Stick your location in your profile and a few peeps may recommend some good garages in your area for quotes if nothing else!

As the man says smoke and rad' smell, shame you bin goin' so well


Sparky

How strange. Has there been no overheating episode to have caused this. What else might cause it to happen?

mikeonb4c wrote:How strange. Has there been no overheating episode to have caused this. What else might cause it to happen?

Poor quality or old coolant with insufficient corrosion inhibitors?

Sorry to hear your woes Stickypool - been thru episode of head gasket failure myself - feel free to pm me if there is anything I can help with.

mikeonb4c wrote: What else might cause it to happen?

MGF owners seem to have more than their share of 'HGFs' - see here for details of why, when & how:

http://www.mgf.ultimatemg.com/group2/co ... ntents.htm

The garage I use for all my repairs has done many head gaskets (none of mine yet - every thing crossed ). A new head and all the bits usually involved in such a repair generally come to around £1000 . But that should be a proper job).
Hope thats not too depressing, but at least you have a ball park figure, and I guess by now you know your mechanic is more than likely spot on .

The MGF owners site (see Simon Jones's link) has some interesting advice on minimizing head gasket failure: 1. Don't use high RPM until the engine is warm. 2. let the engine idle (or drive gently) before turning the engine off after a hard drive. Letting it cool down after a hard drive should also extend the turbo's life. I assume that not turning the engine off until excess heat is carried away by the cooling system will reduce the difference in head and block temperatures as the engine cools down? (A big difference in head and block temps puts stress on the head gasket). The reasoning behind a slow warm up must be the thermal shock theory that they talk about on the MGF site.