Bongo Fury

Hi everyone,

After having read through many accounts of recurrent coolant loss after careful bleeding, replacement cylinder heads etc. I thought I would share our experience. Our Bongo suffered an explosion of coolant from the expansion tank recently. There had been no other symptoms or problems, and the coolant levels had been normal (checked the day before).

The system has been pressure tested and there is no sign of damage to the cylinder head or gasket. The hoses are all intact. The radiator is not leaking. The thermostat is working fine. The water pump is fine.

However, the engine block is porous and there is evidence of water damage. The most feasible fix now is a reconditioned engine.... not cheap but the dealer we bought from so far has been superb.

So, feeling sad at having no Bongo to sleep in, but we'll get there.

That's bad luck dude... Were you going to the bash?

Unfortunately not due to work commitments.

I hope it's back on the road soon though, as the Alps and Pyrenees are calling.

Nice! I wish you all the best...
Took a trip down North Italy meself the other week so i know what it means to have the wheels tip top.

porous block??...........care to elaborate a bit futher, who came to this conclusion , never heard of that one if its porous then thats a manufacturing fault I would imagine, but cant see how it could be possible, if its porous then theres holes in the actuall casting and would have been detected a long time before now

You say evidence of water damage?, how, where, what!!, soundslike it could have an air lock in the system to me which will cause overflow from the expansion tank

I'm just saying what I've been told. I may have misunderstood but do know of other cars which have suffered from porous engine block problems (see Honda Civic). The Bongo had suffered from what appeared to be small coolant losses but we have only had it a few months. The coolant tank blowout occurred just after we had driven all the way to Germany, so it had been worked hard.

If it had been a manufacturing fault surely it would have shown itself before now? The Bongo has done about 78000 miles. There is currently a warranty company involved, and the garage have suggested that the damage could have been caused by a radiator blockage or some other engine defect. It's too difficult to tell. I think the water damage evident was pitting due to the high pressure. They did pressure test the system and said it was running at 0.5 bar above normal, and that there were exhaust gases in the coolant system. So far that's all I know.

It could also be that there were overheating incidents before we got it. I guess we'll never know. We'll find out tomorrow whether the warranty company will contribute.