Bongo Fury

Collected bongo yesterday The previous owner talked me through how to drive around any potential heating problems.
Has a rally car builds his own engines and works in the nuclear industry so knows his onions.
Anyway with the bongo coming from malton in north yorkshire ie hillcentral and living there for 18 mths thought it was a good idea to listen.
Basically if u stick it in drive and go eventually ull be in 4 th and pulling up hills which it does with relative ease .But on long hills the coolant temperature starts creeping up,due to the fact that the water pump is mechanical and ur stuck in top
Anyway using the hold button on approach to steep long hills to increase revs(dropping down a gear) drops the coolant temperature due to the mechanical pump working harder to circulate the coolant.
Everything he said made sense i think of my bongo as a manual car to a degree ,using the lockout /hold function even on decaleration no gas pedal to drop temperatures when approaching built up traffic .

Anyone else use this method ? or is it leave it in drive all the way?

Sounds okay to me...... I just stick it in D and go, I only tend to use hold on slippery surfaces..... muddy fields and snow..... I'm sure others will tell you their tales

First question! does your temp gauge normally sit at 11 o clock when driving ?

veebug74 wrote:Collected bongo yesterday The previous owner talked me through how to drive around any potential heating problems.
Has a rally car builds his own engines and works in the nuclear industry so knows his onions.
Anyway with the bongo coming from malton in north yorkshire ie hillcentral and living there for 18 mths thought it was a good idea to listen.
Basically if u stick it in drive and go eventually ull be in 4 th and pulling up hills which it does with relative ease .But on long hills the coolant temperature starts creeping up,due to the fact that the water pump is mechanical and ur stuck in top
Anyway using the hold button on approach to steep long hills to increase revs(dropping down a gear) drops the coolant temperature due to the mechanical pump working harder to circulate the coolant.
Everything he said made sense i think of my bongo as a manual car to a degree ,using the lockout /hold function even on decaleration no gas pedal to drop temperatures when approaching built up traffic .

Anyone else use this method ? or is it leave it in drive all the way?

Yup - I do exactly that. I use the HOLD button just like changing down a gear almost every time I wish to decelerate and might otherwise use the brakes. The engine offers good braking so I like to use it and save on the brakes. I can recall being heavily loaded and going up and down the Yorkshire Dales on a hot summers day. Even using D, L, S and the HOLD button, there was one long hill where I could feel a bit of fade from the hot brakes as I braked to a halt at the bottom of the hill. I'd never considered the water pump issue, but it sounds as though my habits won't have done my engine cooling any harm either....which is nice.

i do the same do a lot of towing caravan makes towing easy.

coolio.
Found on normal driving, ie. flat ground etc no reason to press button,definitely drops the temperature on hills ,quite a lot as well.Wouldnt put a manual 2ton plus car in 5th for steep hills tho.4th gear must be quite long to acheive the 109mph top speed ive read somewhere.

veebug74 wrote:coolio.
Found on normal driving, ie. flat ground etc no reason to press button,definitely drops the temperature on hills ,quite a lot as well.Wouldnt put a manual 2ton plus car in 5th for steep hills tho.4th gear must be quite long to acheive the 109mph top speed ive read somewhere.

I live in the lowlands of East Anglia so D is fine for me...... hills ....what hills.....