Bongo Fury

Right Here's the deal. My Bongo Has been running fine. With a mason alarm fitted, Then i noticed over the last 3 weeks it was just running a little Warm up a long hill temps fine around town. Now I am pretty handy with a spanner and my first thoughts where check oil and water both fine. I have an inkling it's an airlock or possibly the water pump Thermostat on the way out. No big deal could check that out myself but the van has a 6 month warranty with 2 weeks to go. So foolishly (i think) i took it to a local garage. And all the guy keeps banging o about is it runs lumpy when starting. Mine has always been lumpy for 10/15 secs All i want him to do is check the coolant. If it was not under warrenty i would do the checks myself. Simple Question does everyones bongo start smoothly right from turning the Key!!!.The garage says its running lean thats why its lumpy to start and getting hot up a hill. OOoohh and there is no white smoke coming out the back and all fluids are fine,

Regards Nick

Hi Nick,mine runs smoothly from start up I have not got a coolant alarm yet, but I dont get any change in visible temp gauge going uphill, so lets see what others experience. Colin

Is it a diesel?
and if so, are you waiting for the glow plug light to go out before turning the key?

With the colder weather you need to leave it a few seconds, after the glow plug light goes out, before starting it. Failing that, glow plugs may be on the way out.

You won't get a visable change in temp on the gauge co's the Bongo gauge is pretty useless...I assume yours sits at the 11 o'clock position and dosn't move.......It reaches that position at about 60C and will still be there at 110C.......Then if it moves you have very little time to react...
You can make the gauge work for a few pence....visit the web shop below...on the home page there is a free download showing you how to do this....or contact me and I can send you the bit you need.

haydn callow wrote:You won't get a visable change in temp on the gauge co's the Bongo gauge is pretty useless...I assume yours sits at the 11 o'clock position and dosn't move.......It reaches that position at about 60C and will still be there at 110C.......Then if it moves you have very little time to react...
You can make the gauge work for a few pence....visit the web shop below...on the home page there is a free download showing you how to do this....or contact me and I can send you the bit you need.

Chasleton's Mason alarm should be doing this already

Lumpy starting is likely to be glow plugs -- you don't need to do anything about it until it gets worse, unless it annoys you. I don't think glow plugs are too expensive -- although I haven't needed glow plugs on mine in 3 years of ownership, so I don't know the cost.

With a Mason fitted you should see the gauge climb on hills. If it goes up past the first line on an English hill, then the cooling system may need some attention -- as you say, a coolant flush and new thermostat as a start. If the temp still goes up after doing this, you may need a new radiator.

I was refering to Colins reply...sorry for the confusion

As already mentioned, leave it a few more seconds before turning the key. Mine lumps, unless I wait for the Roof light to go out, then its crisp & smooth.

Hopefully that will shut up the spannermonkey so he can get on with fixing the actual problem.

chasleton wrote:Right Here's the deal. My Bongo Has been running fine. With a mason alarm fitted, Then i noticed over the last 3 weeks it was just running a little Warm up a long hill temps fine around town. Now I am pretty handy with a spanner and my first thoughts where check oil and water both fine. I have an inkling it's an airlock or possibly the water pump Thermostat on the way out. No big deal could check that out myself but the van has a 6 month warranty with 2 weeks to go. So foolishly (i think) i took it to a local garage. And all the guy keeps banging o about is it runs lumpy when starting. Mine has always been lumpy for 10/15 secs All i want him to do is check the coolant. If it was not under warrenty i would do the checks myself. Simple Question does everyones bongo start smoothly right from turning the Key!!!.The garage says its running lean thats why its lumpy to start and getting hot up a hill. OOoohh and there is no white smoke coming out the back and all fluids are fine,

Regards Nick

I'm trying to work out how you can be sure its running warm to the point of being unhealthy. I would imagine that - with a Mason alarm fitted - you will see the engine temp rise when the engine is working hard, because that is, up to a point, a normal phenomenon. In the absence of good comparative data, its hard to know whether the rise is abnormal. If the dealer had sold the car to someone who had just left the std. gauge in place, they would not have noticed any change, so well damped is the standard gauge. If it was doing something abnormal/unhealthy, the first they would know is probably when it boils over.

But say the rise is abnormal. It will be hard to argue the toss with the dealer so you may need to just take action anyway if you are worried. Thermostat has to be the first (cheapest) thing to change. Then water pump as its the next cheapest. So maybe change those and fill with water only (no point wasting money, though you could consider doing a Holts radflush before draining the system) and bleed it properly so you can conduct tests for any improvement. If it has obviously improved, then drain and refill with 50/50 water/antifreeze mix and bleed properly again. Job done. If it hasn't improved, then the next thing is to fit a new radiator. That really ought to fix it and you should have a v. healthy cooling system. If it doesn't, I'm all out of ideas! (there's the radiator fan sensors/ECU failing to activate the fans of course but since its behaving around town then that seems unlikely)

Thanks for the input pm's and phone calls I fitted the Mason alarm myself early summer so have had my Eye on It. I have decided to do it myself and will be retreving it from somebody who calls himself a "Car Doctor". I will keep you posted as to my progress. Just don't like thought of my beloved Bongo being tampered with.

Regards Nick

ps Thanks Kirsty

chasleton wrote: my first thoughts where check oil and water both fine. I have an inkling it's an airlock

Regards Nick

Have you done a full bleed to make sure the head is free of air before you start spending ££££££££......?

chasleton wrote:Right Here's the deal. My Bongo Has been running fine. With a mason alarm fitted, Then i noticed over the last 3 weeks it was just running a little Warm up a long hill temps fine around town. Now I am pretty handy with a spanner and my first thoughts where check oil and water both fine. I have an inkling it's an airlock or possibly the water pump Thermostat on the way out. No big deal could check that out myself but the van has a 6 month warranty with 2 weeks to go. So foolishly (i think) i took it to a local garage. And all the guy keeps banging o about is it runs lumpy when starting. Mine has always been lumpy for 10/15 secs All i want him to do is check the coolant. If it was not under warrenty i would do the checks myself. Simple Question does everyones bongo start smoothly right from turning the Key!!!.The garage says its running lean thats why its lumpy to start and getting hot up a hill. OOoohh and there is no white smoke coming out the back and all fluids are fine,

Regards Nick

Hi Nick, just to clarify... Where on this gauge would you say yer running hot on the hill..??

Using Dave Masons own picture as reference..

Drive around all day at 65. go up a hill and it slowly climbs to 90 alarm chirps. get on flat comes back down to 65. As i said i will rescue bongo from garage and go over coolant system this weekend . got a thermostat ordered and will flush system out and see what happens. It didn't do that in the summer i don't its a winter thing, I think its crap/airlock in the system and a knackered thermostat. at worse a new water pump.

Nick

chasleton wrote:Drive around all day at 65. go up a hill and it slowly climbs to 90 alarm chirps. get on flat comes back down to 65. As i said i will rescue bongo from garage and go over coolant system this weekend . got a thermostat ordered and will flush system out and see what happens. It didn't do that in the summer i don't its a winter thing, I think its crap/airlock in the system and a knackered thermostat. at worse a new water pump.

Nick

What is the little adjustment setting on the Mason head unit/black box? (should be a little blue turn adjuster with numbers round it.)