Bongo Fury

Hi all

My Bongo has a cracked cylinder head and I am debating what to do. It is around £2k for a new head, on a fairly high mileage (230000km) engine. For £895 I can buy a new engine off these guys and my (BF approved!) garage will fit it for about £1k. So not much difference in price.

I worry that I will not know the history of a new/secondhand engine. I came across these on ebay (I wonder how you guarantee they're under 30,000 miles?)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MAZDA-BONGO-FRIEN ... 7C294%3A50

Any advice?

Simon

I don't know how they can guarantee that either but, if they've done what they say, it shouldn't be a problem. I have a sneaky feeling that somebody else got one of those, so you may get to hear of their experience
£2k for a head and £1k to fit an engine seem high charges to me - maybe cos' it's posh at Twickers

francophile1947 wrote:I don't know how they can guarantee that either but, if they've done what they say, it shouldn't be a problem. I have a sneaky feeling that somebody else got one of those, so you may get to hear of their experience
£2k for a head and £1k to fit an engine seem high charges to me - maybe cos' it's posh at Twickers

Have to agree with the last bit, we relocated from South London to the Midlands and pricing is a lot more sensible - maybe worth getting comparative quotes etc. It's the coolant bleed that I'd be worried about but most imporatntly making completely sure that the cause of the head failing is identified.

A grand to fit an engine, what are they gonna do to it, gold plate it first, do they wear huge shoes and funny makeup or what, I would certainly shop around that is far too excessive.

You can give Robert and Gordan a ring for a quote. Tell them Sue (with the Bongo in Fulham) gave you their number. Their garage is NW10 way - I've never been there because they always pick up and return to the doorstep!

I trust them, and they've serviced and repaired for me pre-Bongo days, and sorted Bongo coolant leak, and the bleeding as well as a full service, fitted engine and coolant alarms - though I realise new engine involves a bit more. I've bought the manual, so they're welcome to borrow that. Robert's number is 07976 935 862, and Gordon is 0793 0313 494. You can at least get a quote from them.

Good luck.

Discount Trucks at Newbury (who have an excellent reputation on here) have I know offered a very reasonable engine transplant service in the past (they once had a supplied and fitted advert for £1k on ebay though it was 2-3 years back), if you can get the Bongo to them. Try giving them a call?

my mate got a new head for £300 he is a mechanic so no labour there,i will try and find out where he got it from for ya

Great advice coming here, guys. Thanks!

Any recommendations of alternative garages greatly received, this is the second garage it's been at. This one came highly recommended by BF members, but I guess you pay a high price for peace of mind.

I have no doubt we all have local guys who are s..t hot, lol, I know mine are, they did the sheared manifold stud for me for £30.00 in about 2 hours or so and got me accelera 215 tyres for £35.00 each fitted. I will have to ask em out of curiosity like how much an engine change would be.

So what is the name of the garage charging £1000 for an engine fit? Don't be shy you are only repeating their quote

Hi our bongo is with Bell hill near Bath (bit far i know) Bongo experts and have quoted nowhere near that.

We had a bad experiance with a local chap who came highly recomended who took on our's and was only realy interested in completeing a job i.e. doing a Head gasket. 12 weeks goes by, a new cyclinder head later and he gives up.

As time is getting short for our Honeymoon we went to some experts. Tom at Bell hill has recomended a new engine as the block is wobbly and we would only have to come back in 6 months for a new engine. Which is going to be done Thurs fri next week.

So if your going to keep the van longer term go for the safest option fitting a new cylinder head on a susspect block will cost more in the long run. We have paid loads out and havent even driven ours 2 feet yet.

Good luck

Neal

Still trying to decide what to do on this one!

Been offered a grand for the van as is, with cracked cylinder head.

If I had a new engine put in, at a cost of two grand (If I can't get it to a cheaper garage) - would it be worth more than 3 thousand?

The garage quoting this price is Lakeside Garage Services at Wraysbury.

barclay wrote:Still trying to decide what to do on this one!

Been offered a grand for the vas as is, with cracked cylinder head.

If I had a new engine put in, at a cost of two grand (If I can't get it to a cheaper garage) - would it be worth more than 3 thousand?

The garage quoting this price is Lakeside Garage Services at Wraysbury.

Well first I'd see if you can get a better quote than £2k (assuming you can get it to the garage even if more distant).

It may be you wouldn't get much more than £3k and you'd have to hope the Bongo behaved itself after the head work (some have had problems recur). On the other hand, you might struggle to find a better Bongo as a replacement for £3k if yours is otherwise solid. Plus the work on the head should sort it if done by a garage that knows their Bongos.

So I guess it all turns on whether you want to still have a Bongo. If not, maybe better to sell it and let someone else with the energy and enthusiasm for a Bongo look after getting it sorted.

Good luck whichever you choose.

barclay wrote:Still trying to decide what to do on this one!

Been offered a grand for the vas as is, with cracked cylinder head.

If I had a new engine put in, at a cost of two grand (If I can't get it to a cheaper garage) - would it be worth more than 3 thousand?

The garage quoting this price is Lakeside Garage Services at Wraysbury.

a question if i may
are you in the AA or RAC??

the reason i ask is
if you are they can get you to a good garage like wheelquick or ian taylor and these 2 garages are about the best you can get in your area and they could do the head for around £1,500 all in with no hassle

I was in the AA, and they recovered the van to my home when it originally failed. Unfortunately the garage next to ,y house couldn't fix it, and the AA refused to do a 'secondary recovery'.

Solution to this was cancel my AA membership, and join the RAC! They towed it to Wraysbury no bother, but again I doubt they would re-recover it. Could always join green flag, too!