Bongo Fury

Well, just bought a Freda, 2.5td 4x4 and discovered after 3 weeks I have a leak. It uses nothing, oil level the same, water... maybe half a cup in 1000 miles, auto oil fine. I've washed off the engine under the drivers seat (thats where the leak seams to be) and there's a pipe that runs the length of the head, kind of under the injector pipes, it goes along then curves up then down at the front of the engine and is held in place by 2 10mm bolts. This pipe seems to get wet from the flange to about 2inches above. The engine block under the head level gets wet, kind of shiny wet if that makes sense. What does this pipe do? The only thing I can think of is the economy of this royal heap is around 23mpg, down from 25 when we drove back from Northampton a few weeks back so perhaps it's fuel, rather than oil. Engine temp fine, runs well. No lights or buzzers (except the million and one usual ones). Took into local garage, they said could be head gasket, would have to take head off, take it to bits skim it put it back together, replacing front cam seal and belt at same time. Kind of hoping its not, as the highest wet point is said pipe, thinking it could be dripping down and back over the block? What do you think?

Sounds like the EGR pipe - pretty common and best blanked off - plenty bumf in "search"

Would this pipe leak any fluid? Thanks for the reply.

Sometimes black gunge (oil, carbon, soot) over a period of time. Best to blank off the pipe there with a new gasket and blanking plate

Rabbitsquasher, what you're describing is fairly common - all the EGR info you're likely to need is on this link.

Thankyou both, I cleaned everything off day before yesterday, we drove around 250 miles round trip up to Megget Reservoir, near Moffat where we camped out overnight (well worth a trip). When we got home I checked it and once again there was something splashed over the block under the head area. I noticed the pipe had some wetness at the flange, now on closer inspection it looks like the pipe has been brazed in the past. I'm wondering whether the fella who sold it to me had been diagnosed with head gasket and panicked. 1000 miles done, oil level hasnt budged, half a cup of water in the reservoir hopefully equates to the EGR thingy. I'm going to order the plates and give it a go. In the meantime we've booked the Reading bongo bash next month, if we're there, its worked, if we're not look out for a green/silver freda on the hard shoulder!

could also be the dome bit on the fuel pump

does it smell like diesel

Got any pictures of the offending pipe leak??
Always helps to make sure were looking at the correct pipe!

Egr pipe has no coolant or fluid running through it so maybe it could be a coolant pipe to the rear heater matrix or even the air-con pipe which will look wet when the air-con is switched on and will bring the fuel consumption down..

Cheers Steve..

to be honest it's bugging the life out of me! I have an engineers report from 2007 saying there was a minor oil leak to the lower part of the engine, in the same area as it is now. Its done another 30k since, I just dont like seeing leaks! It doesnt smell of anything really. I drove around 100 miles around town, no leak came back, but on the longer motorway drive it returned, thats why I'm suspecting EGR problems also. I'll take a pic and post sometime today, if I can work out how to put one on here! we're off out to Cockermouth car boot for now!

Blanking the EGR will stop the leak at the top, if it's EGR related. It's easier to tell what's leaking with a photo, but it now sounds as though the other leak (at the bottom) is from the head gasket, lots of bongos have a slight oil leak there and they don't worry about it.

ah ha as you can see I have perfected the art od adding photos.. I've emailed it to Allan!

If its getting along OK and you are due to go to Reading before long, why not phone Wheelquck in Wigan and see if you could drop in and let them take a quick look. If there's a problem and its simple, they might just be able to sort it before you continue south, or on your way back

Yep, thats a really good idea! I'll ring them very soon. In the meantime, I put 2 new front tyres on today, 215's as Allan recommended, it's a new beast altogether now, the grumble has gone! And it now goes round corners on 2 wheels... I'll go back for the pots and pans some other time!

ours leaks oil from the same long pipe, its the one that recirculates the gases from the exhaust back into the inlet manifoil. they will get oily and some members have removed the inlet manifold to clean it out completely, you could blank it off here and also at the turbo end which will completely do away with the egr valve. on ours the bolts that fasten the flange down are loose in the inlet manifold and would need retapping to tighten up again, maybe this is what you have. also the crankcase breather pipe goes into this long pipe at the rear of the engine. these bongos all seem to have some leaks on either the rocker cover or head gasket joint, it dosnt take much of an oil leak seeping out to make a huge patch making it look worse than it is.

Thankyou, I think the trouble is I only just bought this and being a total novice didnt know where the dipstick was to check the ATF (evidently it was at the end of my arm, according to my wife, didnt say which end tho...), if I had have known I'd have seen the leak. Lesson learned, although now it seems the problem isnt such a problem(phew!) Funny really, the guy seemed sooo genuine, knew EVERYTHING about this car except how to check the trans fluid. Said his garage always checked the levels before he travelled, mind you his other car was a bmw 7 series! I took to my local garage, he diagnosed head gasket, I panicked, probably same story as fella who sold it me. (now I'm keeping fingers crossed so I can point and laugh at him next time I go past Kettering) Also had a grumbly front diff, my garage said new diff required or maybe wheel bearings. Changed front tyres, problem solved. All this help thanks to this site and the help of fellow bongonauts. Now all I need is 32mpg and I'll be laughing!