Bongo Fury

Just had a new rad fitted after the old one sprung a leak coolant stays same level but the bottom hose is red hot after about five miles of normal driving? I know its warm weather but i could do fifty miles before and hose would only be luke warm, is it because the coolant can circulate better or is something wrong? The temp gauge also rises sooner but stays at 11 o'clock rad fans kick in OK but had to leave it ticking over for about fifteen minutes revving up to 2500 occasionally before they kicked in for about 30 seconds.

Cheers manners.

I have a new rad fitted and my bottom hose is only warm, even after some heavy driving. The temp is mid scale (Mason Alarm fitted) so I have no concerns there and the system was bled correctly.

There are a few threads on overheating - a quick search in tech will turn them up.

Someone with more knowledge of the Bongo cooling system will be along real soon - Good luck

Sounds fishy to me. Is the thermostat in need of replacement maybe and/or radiator not a happy bunny?

Having been playing with my cooling system a LOT recently, "red hot" there after that distance sounds wrong to me, I'd expect it to be starting to warm at that point (stat just beginning to open).

How does the temp of that hose compare to the temp of the top hose coming into the rad, and the two smaller hoses making the path between rad, header tank and thermostat?

If it's cooler than the top hoses, then it may be OK, and your categorisation of "red hot" may be different to ours, but when passing through the rad, the water ought to be getting some cooling (esp when the car is moving; red-hot there is understandable when the car isn't moving, as the radiator will heat up & not be able to dissipate it so quickly).

If it's hotter, then it's kind of pointing to coolant coming away from the engine on the wrong side. Struggling to think what this could be other than a problem similar to mine....

Hi forgot to mention its a V6 just done 15 minutes of stop start town driving and all hoses feel the same temp can only touch them for a second checked after being parked, engine off, for twenty minutes all top hoses still red hot, bottom hose just hot i.e. i can keep hold of it.

manners wrote:Hi forgot to mention its a V6 just done 15 minutes of stop start town driving and all hoses feel the same temp can only touch them for a second checked after being parked, engine off, for twenty minutes all top hoses still red hot, bottom hose just hot i.e. i can keep hold of it.

I suppose that in theory that shouldn't make any difference to the debate over cuases, though it is true to say that all debates (I think) so far have been around diesel engines

Well, would expect a v6 petrol to warm up a bit quicker than a diesel.

I know forums can be helpful but some times they can just make you paranoid!! After having my new rad fitted Ive been checking the hoses temp and panicking because the bottom hose was as hot as the top, having done a search i came to the conclusion that all was lost and the van was going to self destruct in five seconds However thats been over a few days when the air temp has been 27 deg. Today Ive done 20 miles over the hills and back and bottom hose just luke warm air temp 19 deg so Ive come to the conclusion that the bottom hose was hot because the thermostat was doing its job and letting water through and to stop looking for for problems that are not there and just enjoy the experience.
Off to France next week so i hope Iam right better do another search

manners wrote: The temp gauge also rises sooner but stays at 11 o'clock

If that is an unmodified (i.e. no Mason alarm) it doesn't mean a thing - unmodified they all stop at 11 o'clock until it's too late, then they suddenly jump up higher.

Fitting a Mason alarm modifies the circuit so that the gauge reads accurately.

Unmodified a gauge reading cannot be relied on.