Bongo Fury

Having replaced the head, gasket, etc after a serious overheating episode my Bongo is now suffering quite a substantial oil leak from the joint between head and block on the drivers side of the engine.

Anybody suffered a similar fate? Where is the oil leaking from? I'm not suffering any overheating problems and the sump oil is uncontaminated.

This is very frustrating having spent a great deal of time replacing all the cooling hoses, water pump, thermostat, drive belts, cam belt and generally sprucing up the engine bay.

I can smell the oil after a drive and its become an annoying occurence everytime we go out on a run.

Any clues, anyone?

Rocker Gasket???

just a thought!!!!

Hi Aitch

I will double check. In fact i need to gunk that area now and start from scratch.

good luck Tim keep us posted

THIS THREAD suggests where to look for a couple of the common leaks.

Doone wrote:THIS THREAD suggests where to look for a couple of the common leaks.

Yup, and to follow up that thread: I did gunk the engine, and after I'd gently tightened the bolts in the area of the leak it has not leaked since

Hi Tim,

Mine used to do that too & I used to get a whiff of hot oil now & again. After I replaced the head gasket & cleaned the whole area up, I thought it has gone away. However, there are signs of oil there again now, but on a much smaller scale. I've never been able to find out if its engine oil, or the black gunge that has seeped out from the inlet manifold. Either way, this seems to be a common issue & nothing bad seems to happen as a result.

http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... ak#p243396

The stop leak worked for a while, now it's back again, but much slower. I have changed the oil since and have just re-dosed with stop leak. I have done over a thousand miles since and theres now loss of oil. I will sometime (If I ever get round tuit ) clean the area and re-check.

Thanks for all this info Guys.

Did a quick check this evening and it looks to me that the source of leak is somewhere to the front of the engine on the drivers side. The dip stick level has gone down so it is oil i am using. In fact the oil that is missing is evident on the drive!! I call it a puddle.

There are actually pools of oil in the bits of casting adajcent to the cylinder head bolts. When the engine has warmed up i can smell this oil and it is horrible.

This weekend will see me get in there, gunk it and take some time in finding the leak.

All your tips mean i can start looking at it in a logical sequence.

Brorabongo? Didn't know that stuff existed.

Will let you all know the outcome after the weekend.

Good luck in finding your leak Samual, mine was'nt half as bad.

Wynns stop leak.......

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... 65750#dtab

Was there not a thread on earlier this year about someone with a similar problem and there was a bolt missing from the new head?

I think Doone or Allan replied to it...........................

Was there not a thread on earlier this year about someone with a similar problem and there was a bolt missing from the new head?

That one's HERE.

Both bolts are there but may not have tightened them enough.

Spent this morning closely examining my engine having gunked, rinsed and dried the engine.

I think i have discovered another problem which might be of interest and which i don't think has been covered yet. I apologise now if it has. Here goes.

It was clear that the rocker cover gasket was the problem. With the engine running the little wells on the cylinder head were rapidly filling with oil. Oddly enougn the leaking oil wasn't that obvious as it was leaking uniformly around the cylinder head from the gasket in a very thin film which wasn't that clear to see although the oil is black!

I tried to tighten the rocker cover bolts but there was nothing left to tighten up. Therefore i couldn't squeeze the gasket. It was brand new having been on only for a matter of weeks.

I removed one of the bolts to have a closer examination. Ah! Ha! Things were now starting to make sense.

Each of the bolts has a cap, a rubber grommet and a steel bush and the reason i couldn't tighten up any more, was because the bush wouldn't let me. It was too long to allow any more tightening.

Each bush measures 18mm so i removed 4mm from each one. The theory being that this at least would allow me to tighten the bolt further.

I have probably gone an extra unecessary step by applying blue hylomar to both top and bottom surfaces of the gasket. I know. Its a pleacebo for me if nothing else! What with the bongo engine being virtually out of sight out of mind for the majority of the time.

But there you have it. I now have a perfectly sealing rocker cover gasket. NO LEAKS .

So remember check the length of those little bushes. Its something i wouldn't normally expect. Incidentally the gasket set was supplied by the club. Thats no inditement on the club of course. The same sets could be supplied by other outlets.

Thank you to the contributors for your support. Again! what a great club. And we still adore our Bongo even if she does have her occasional off day.

Your powers of deduction are exemplary my dear Samuel (sorry got Poirot on in the background ) Good heads up, glad it wasn't anything too scary . Have you informed the Bongomeister of the issue?