Bongo Fury

Oil from breather pipe - after blown head gasket

Hello there, recently my head gasket went (after various other problems outlined recently!)

Anyway whilst dismantling it (haven't taken head off yet) the induction pipework after where the breather joins was all covered in black gooey oil quite profusely, all through to the inlet manifold which which was even more gunged up because of the EGR.

Are bongos notorious for oil out of the breather? I'm hoping it's nothing too serious being due to the head gasket blowing or valve seals but worst case scenario it could be rings

What are people's thoughts/experiences?

Anyone routed the breather to the atmosphere? (I was thinking long pipe to the back of the Bongo)

Also the head gasket was leaking visibly out of the side of the block/head join on the inlet side. Is this common?

Any thoughts - Russ

The signs are bad I'm afraid.



Worst case scenario is a new head from the sounds of things.

Get help fast. If the work was carried out by a company, get in touch & ask it to be sorted. If you did the work yourself, get some local help. Allans of Plymouth may give you some help over the phone to diagnose it but you really need a kowledgeable Bongodoc to check it out.

Good luck.

Anyone else had oil in the breather?

Some bad news but also some good news!!!!

Firstly got the head off and.........

One of the bores is completely scored, the others are a bit rough but low and behold it has in the past (in darkest Japan) had a very rough hone probably just using a drill and honer in the bores without removing pistons!!

The cause, a while back changing the glow plugs the one in cylinder 3 had broken off at some point (they looked like the originals) but the engine had been running fine apart from needing a glow plug (as bodges go how this engine kept running is impressive!) anyway the missing bit of glow plug had made a dent in the head and piston and possibly broken up in cylinder number 2!!! Said glow-plug had been removed and engine bodged together in Japan using the old plugs! Thankfully the turbo is in really good nick.

Strangely the head gasket looked fine, no sign of blowing, the head which was obviously a new replacement (before the glow-plug incident) seems perfectly fine, the water leak was from the temp sensor in the head.

Before anyone says about taking it back from who I bought it from, I'm in the process of buying it from my brother in instalments and he imported it from Japan as well as a Starlet for our Mum and got a bit ripped off (the previous cars from other Japanese dealers were fine) as the Bongo was filthy, wonky mileometer, various dents etc. and the Starlet smelt!

Previously we had borrowed the Bongo last summer and driven to Wales without a hitch so was running fine!

Thankfully Rob at J E F Mechanical Services, Saltash (01752 849951) has sourced me a bottom-end for £250. Sounds like a shameless plug but he has done me proud. All I got to do now is take out the old lump and fit the replacement.

I also have had a few ideas about the engine build - watch this space!

And change those glow plugs!!!

Russ

Sorry tale Russ - I'm surprised the broken bit of plug got by the pre combustion chamber plate but anythings possible. Is the pre con plate damaged?

If the broken bit was out of no.3 glow plug - it couldn't have got into number 2 cylinder so I think something else may have caused that damage. Worth another look maybe - good luck.

That was my point - plugs were obviously removed and re-used!! Damned bodgers

Pre-combustion chamber plate/plug is fine, head is fine apart from a little glowplug end shaped ding!

So did the end of the glowplug get past the pre com plate flame hole? The only faulty plug I've come across is where the complete glow part came out of the body of the plug - must be around 30mm long - is it possible for it to get past the pre com plate?

Snapped of - about 15mm section - corresponding dents in piston and head!

Thankfully only one dent in piston and head - missing bit from glow-plug must've brought engine to a halt pretty sharpish or shattered rather quickly!

Is there a FAQ/thread about engine removal?

Got some interesting plans whilst it is apart if I have time

Russ