Bongo Fury

Posted: **Thu Jan 07, 2010 5:27 pm**

Hi, had another overheat in the beast again, the low level alarm didnt sound when we first switched her on, im wondering if the mix of antifreeze was correct maybe the header tank was frozen

we only trvelled about 3 miles and the temp went up into the red, well this morning i topped her up with 5 ltrs of neat antifreeze and bled the system, i took nher for a drive but only went about a mile when the same happened but not right up to the red, up about three quarters of the way, i suspect the head has gone again.

My wife and myself have had enough of the problems now (what with getting side swiped by a hit and run white van and still waiting for the panel to come from Japan and now this) could it be that the cooling system is patly frozen? i think once we get things sorted we will be leaving the bongo clan and sell our beloved beast, anyone know what an m reg diesel fetches at the mo?

Posted: **Thu Jan 07, 2010 5:35 pm**

Sounds like the coolant mix was poor to me and it has been very cold over the past few days across all of the UK...... my mix is 50% ratio ( which is approx protection to -37) and I use my Bongo daily.....if your mix is low and you don't use often then the the coolant can freeze quite easily

Posted: **Thu Jan 07, 2010 6:07 pm**

nigelginny wrote:Hi, had another overheat in the beast again, the low level alarm didnt sound when we first switched her on, im wondering if the mix of antifreeze was correct maybe the header tank was frozen we only trvelled about 3 miles and the temp went up into the red, well this morning i topped her up with 5 ltrs of neat antifreeze and bled the system, i took nher for a drive but only went about a mile when the same happened but not right up to the red, up about three quarters of the way, i suspect the head has gone again.

My wife and myself have had enough of the problems now (what with getting side swiped by a hit and run white van and still waiting for the panel to come from Japan and now this) could it be that the cooling system is patly frozen? i think once we get things sorted we will be leaving the bongo clan and sell our beloved beast, anyone know what a n m reg diesel fetches at the mo?

V.sorry to hear your bad news

Not a lot I can say except good luck getting it sorted. As for what's wrong, maybe wait and see what the garage assessment is before assuming the worst.

Posted: **Thu Jan 07, 2010 6:15 pm**

Thanks, i just cant see it being anything else, no leaks, we also had a strange bubbling noise coming from the engine when it first happened, another strange thing is , when i bled ithe system i couldnt get heat from the heaters?

Posted: **Thu Jan 07, 2010 8:59 pm**

nigelginny wrote: another strange thing is , when i bled ithe system i couldnt get heat from the heaters?

Sounds like coolant isn't circulating - maybe frozen, or pump/belt gone.
In your position, if you can get it bled properly and are still having problems, I think I'd give serious consideration to spending £30 and using Steel Seal.

Posted: **Thu Jan 07, 2010 9:02 pm**

steel seal, whats that?

Posted: **Thu Jan 07, 2010 9:06 pm**

nigelginny wrote:steel seal, whats that?

Several threads on it if you search for "steel AND seal" - here's one of them http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... al#p366067

Posted: **Fri Jan 08, 2010 9:06 am**

Thankyou, i had a bit of a think last night and the more i think about it the more i convince myself that maybe the fanbelt could be the trouble, anyway i'll check it out later today and let you know, if not then the steel seal looks like the next step. i havent had any white smoke and the van starts with no probs.

Posted: **Fri Jan 08, 2010 11:11 am**

I wouldn't put that steel seal in untill you are sure you have a cylinder head problem

Posted: **Fri Jan 08, 2010 12:28 pm**

haydn callow wrote:I wouldn't put that steel seal in untill you are sure you have a cylinder head problem

Agreed

That's why I said "and still having problems" - no point using it if you don't have to

.

Posted: **Fri Jan 08, 2010 12:32 pm**

all three belts are ok, its fine all the time its idling but as soon as you take the revs up the temp gauge rises.

Posted: **Fri Jan 08, 2010 12:38 pm**

Is the coolant actually circulating? - you should be able to tell with the filler cap removed. If not, and your hoses are soft (not frozen), it sounds like the water pump may be faulty - several members have had that problem.

Posted: **Fri Jan 08, 2010 12:58 pm**

The coolant seems to be moving i.e rising and falling, i bled the system for a while but still have the same prob, still cant get heaters to warm up?

Posted: **Fri Jan 08, 2010 1:54 pm**

Coolant will rise and fall because of the air in it.
You should be able to actually see if it is being pumped around if you remove the filler cap (with, of course, the engine cold - don't want you getting covered in boiling water

). As you can't get either heater to work, it really sounds like the water isn't circulating and the heaters are full of air. When you rev the engine hard, does any coolant come out of the filler cap?

Posted: **Fri Jan 08, 2010 3:21 pm**

Stay calm, eliminate the possibilities as per posts above, don't drive it into the hot zone until other stuff has been checked/actioned. Good luck

PS- does header tank level vary depending on engine revs. I've no idea if it would/should in the event of a faulty gasket but I'd be curious to know.

Bongo Fury

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