Bongo Fury

Some of you may recall my poor experience of a having a new rad fitted then not bled porperly. Anyway, to cut a long story short, it still seemed to be having a problem with leaking coolant from somewhere round the top of the rad.

I put the Bongo into the garage (one I knew a bit better) and they rebled and decided all was ok. Drove it home again and had a quick look and lo and behold it was still losing coolant.

Thought I'd use my non-existent skills to investigate the problem myself and discovered that there is a little metal tube projecting from below the rad cap that isn't connected to anything. Looking at the forums, this would appear to be the problem.

I need to block this off now - can anyone recommend the best way to do this. I assume that something like a piece of tubing jubileed on with a bung in the end would suffice. As my garage / junk shed does not contain such items, could I get something appropriate form somewhere like Halfords? I know some others have done similar things.

Also, having dug around a bit, I should probably check my AFT level.

This is interesting, as I recall some old debates about some replacement rads having a stub that could cause problems as it wasn't needed on a Bongo. Might be worth having a search (the discussion might be 2+ years old)

catzi wrote:and discovered that there is a little metal tube projecting from below the rad cap that isn't connected to anything. Looking at the forums, this would appear to be the problem.

Had a trawl through the lusprojects diagrams and couldn't find any rad with this metal tube.
1 - Is it a diesel? and what year?
2 - Can you post a pic of said metal tube?

Sounds like one of those Iezura Radiators to me...... I avoided those when I needed one...just for that reason

mikexgough wrote:.........Iezura ........

That sounds foreign to me Mike. Personally, I'd buy a Japanese one

Iezura brand..... and they are Japanese.......not as exactly like O.E as some....

It does sound like one of the cheap copies that are not proper Bongo radiators - possibly a Ford Ranger.
You should be able to get the pipe from most accessory shops, even Halfords, and seal the end easily enough.
As a matter of interest, I suppose you have the caps the right way round? Try swapping the radiator cap with the expansion tank one, although I think they are marked where they fit

Hi
I have an Iezura radiator...no problem....it has a metal top, which is less likely to come unstuck like the Mazda one.
John is right...the lower value radiator cap goes on the plastic expansion/ degassing bottle, as it's that one which is intended to vent. If you have a radiator with a stub pipe, try using a 2-part epoxy putty to block the pipe, such as "Milliput", which sets under water.....but make sure none gets into the radiator cap area.
Cheers
Helen

Flipping Heck!! The radiator may be a cheap copy but it certainly wasn't cheap!!!!!!!!

The cap on the radiator is 0.9bar and I believe the orginal was 1.1bar so I've ordered the corrct one from the the mighty eb*y. I assume right now the higher value one is on the expansion bottle which is incorrect.

If I used miliputty (which is in my arsenal of bodge tools), wouldn't it just fly out of the tube under pressure?? Perhaps it might work - just checked the web site - good to 130 degrees C and waterproof.

Hi
Once it has set, put a small pin in through the pipe and into the putty....as you have used Milliput, you know it won't budge ...especially with it pinned
Cheers
Helen

catzi wrote:The cap on the radiator is 0.9bar and I believe the orginal was 1.1bar.

No wonder it was leaking if the lower pressure cap was fitted

francophile1947 wrote:

catzi wrote:The cap on the radiator is 0.9bar and I believe the orginal was 1.1bar.

No wonder it was leaking if the lower pressure cap was fitted

Yes. Bl**dy awful considering it's been in two garages and no one noticed. Hopefully the new 1.1 bar cap will arrive in the next couple of days and I can be up and running again!

Being Bongoless is not good

Standard equipment seems to be a plain cap on the radiator and a pressure cap on the tank.

but judging by the number of bongos i've seen with pressure caps on both I'd say they are a common replacement job in Japan.

I'd also be wary that the system is pressurising too much - even 0.9 bar is getting pretty hot unless the systems being pressurised by a leaking head gasket

If you don't want to use epoxy putty, you could blank it very easily with a short offcut of hose of the approriate diameter two hose clips and a bolt to close off the end of the hose. You could probaly get this from a helpful garage, automotive parts factor or possibly Halfords.

The last garage did apparently check for leaking gaskets. Then again, they never noticed the open pipe under the radiator cap which was obviously leaking or that the radiator cap was rated lower than the expansion bottle cap.

Anyway, I've blocked the spurious radiator pipe with epoxy putty.


Touch wood, it will be alright...