Bongo Fury

What sort of size is the caravan is it? Have you previously towed it without problem? I'm just wandering if the problem is actually with the caravan: perhaps the brakes are binding, or the hubs are a bit stiff? Plenty of Bongo owners tow small to medium sized caravans & they generally comment that they are hardly know its there.

Have you had the cooling system thoroughly flushed out when you had the head done? It could be that the radiator is partially blocked & the extra load of the towing the caravan is highlighting the inablility to cool the water as well as it should.

I tow 1 and 1/4 ton caravan......no probs at all.

Brian

the trailer brake isnt sticking is it,they can be buggers....

rogreck
take it striaght back to the garage before anymore damage ocours sounds like they might not have bled the system properly

Apart from the above, it sounds to me like the cooling system isn't coping with heat generated by engine working under heavy load. Since we know the Bongo can tow caravans without probs, what could be done to improve cooling. Two random thoughts:

1) What is the condition of the radiator. If in doubt, fit a (quality - see Dandywarhols advice) new one
2) Are the radiator fans coming on when they should? (not sure how you test for that except did you hear them on when gauge was at 2.00pm). I'm a demon for fitting over-ride switches (did this to my scavenger fan)

Can't think of ought else right now but if I do.....

Good luck getting it sorted

Mike

Its likely that although the head has been replaced, the initial fault that caused the overheating still needs to be resolved otherwise it'll blow again.

Best of luck.

rogrech wrote:The radiator was checked and the fans come on loud and clear when the needle rises above norm.

The only further cross-examination I can think of is how was the radiator checked and was the check really valid? Also, what about thermostat. Are we confident that was replaced and is working fine (mind you you'd think the car would overheat even when not towing if that was the case)

Good luck - keep us posted.

There is a theory that the bongo coolant system mostly copes with the normal running without the thermostat opening and then only when under pressure it opens fully and the full circuit comes into use.

This would explaine why a normaly behaving bongo plays up when towing and can be a reason why a sudden failier happens like a damaged gasket or head.

the way it was explained to me was the bongo runns for years with no problams and the crud settles at the bottom with the thermostat not opening properly , then a long run or start towing and the themostat opens fully and all the silt gets disturbed and goes round the system blocking, say, the rad which causes an overheating problem.

This also explains why the bottom hose mostly stays cool when in normal use and why a coolant change is needed every 2 years.

All that said to say check /change the radiator,thermostat and flush the system as there must be a blockage somewhere

Not my theory but some ones who knows far more than me.

westonwarrior wrote:There is a theory that the bongo coolant system mostly copes with the normal running without the thermostat opening and then only when under pressure it opens fully and the full circuit comes into use.

This would explaine why a normaly behaving bongo plays up when towing and can be a reason why a sudden failier happens like a damaged gasket or head.

the way it was explained to me was the bongo runns for years with no problams and the crud settles at the bottom with the thermostat not opening properly , then a long run or start towing and the themostat opens fully and all the silt gets disturbed and goes round the system blocking, say, the rad which causes an overheating problem.

This also explains why the bottom hose mostly stays cool when in normal use and why a coolant change is needed every 2 years.

All that said to say check /change the radiator,thermostat and flush the system as there must be a blockage somewhere

Not my theory but some ones who knows far more than me.

That sounds reasonable enough to me...

Rogrech? It could well be an airlock in the cooling system, There's no way your bongo should overheat with the caravan attached in this weather.

The radiator fans can be unplugged where the connector block meets on the side of the engine under the drivers side, this (unusually) makes the rad fans run constantly, as opposed to the temp sender switching the fans on and off.

It may be an idea to try the bongo with caravan in tow with the fans running constantly, to see if that stabilizes the temp,get it straight to the garage, plug the connector back in, then let the head mechanic take the bongo up the road to see for himself.

It might be worth him checking the braking system of the caravan too whilst there. (just in case)

Lastly, you haven't had a mason alarm fitted recently have you?

I'm afraid I know nothing about cooling and overheating. Our caravan tows great with the Bongo, but something rings a bell here. We had a large caravan very long time ago now, which we towed with a Citreon automatic and overheating was a problem. Turned out to be something wrong with the caravan, which was pulling it back. Doubt if that helped, but thought I'd mention it.

Cheers Anna

I had a problem with overheating when driving up long steep hills - a similar load to pulling a caravan.
I tracked it down to a defective fan radiator. There are two in parallel and they both come on together so listening for the fan was of no help. I found the problem when I removed the radiator to change it. The entire nylon fan blade assembly had came off the fan.
Just a thought

Dave

Aethelric wrote:I had a problem with overheating when driving up long steep hills - a similar load to pulling a caravan.
I tracked it down to a defective fan radiator. There are two in parallel and they both come on together so listening for the fan was of no help. I found the problem when I removed the radiator to change it. The entire nylon fan blade assembly had came off the fan.
Just a thought

Dave

An excellent thought too. I wouldn't be at all surprised if one of these thoughts turns out to be the key. Certainly worth running through them all to eliminate them from enquiries