Bongo Fury

Just returned from my first Spanish Bongo trip, what a motor for distance driving!

We left Middlesex much earlier than planned at 20:30 on the 23rd July, Dover bound for the 02.05 ferry. Managed to get on the 00:45 ferry with no dramas, with the 18inch alloys gripping French tarmac at about 03:45 and started driving the Paris- Millau- Benidorm route.

Paris wasn’t the nightmare we had anticipated but even at 06:30 the roads were quite busy but moving. The roads around Paris did seem to change direction and lanes a fair bit and I definitely wouldn’t like to attempt it without the aid of a Sat Nav.

Refuelled between Vierzon and Bourges at a big Aires, then bopped down to Clermont FD for 11:45 after a 1 hour tail back before the Toll, then on to the magnificent Millau Bridge for about 15:00 and the second fuel stop just over the bridge. Still feeling fine and the Bongo running sweetly we drove in awe through the fabulous scenery before it changed and got hotter and we could see the sea!

We did plan on an overnight stop but we both took it in turns to drive and felt fine so we pushed on.

At Perpignan we saw the only other Bongo of the fortnight, a Silver AFT, N plated Freeda, we did exchange a few pleasantries as we crawled passed in the traffic jam, was it you? Hope your hols went fine.

Next Barcelona and a fuel stop and a Mac Donald’s, then onto Benissa, about 30k north of Benidorm for 00:30. We met up with the in-laws at their place for a brew, before going to the Villa 10 minutes up the road. Nothing for it...POOL! Me and the 2 boys fully clothed, 2am in the morning, straight in, no messing! Nice and refreshing after 28hrs travelling.

On the Return trip we decided to leave in the morning and get to Clermont FD find a place to stay and continue the next day for the 19:30 ferry, that didn’t happen.
The Bongos rad fans decided to fail just over the Spanish border and the mason alarm chirped every time we hit a hill, selecting 2nd and hold with both the heaters on and windows open kept it moving and dropped the temp a bit. I then pulled over and disconnected the front fogs and wired the fans into their circuit. This did the job and got us home with no other issues.

The stop at Clermont FD didn’t happen as all the rooms in the 8 hotels we stopped at were taken, so we ploughed on and went the Chartres- Rouen route rather than Paris, that in my opinion was a mistake as the roads were badly potholed and slow until Rouen. Paris route back again next time.
We got to Calais at 11:00 for the 19:30 ferry! The nice lady on the P&0 desk said she could put us on the 17:30 ferry at no extra charge or on the 11:20 for £55......sold!

A great trip, tiring but very enjoyable and in a vehicle (Black N Reg 2.5 AWD AFT) which proved to be brill to drive long distance. Definitely will drive that route again.

Lesson learned, Mason Alarm, LCA and Sat Nav essential. Book accommodation or get to a Hotel before 16:30 when the reps flood the places, yes we could have slept in the van and did try, but with 2 adults and 3 kids, no one could fall asleep, so we pushed on.
Next time I will fit some coil assisters or those suspension bags as it did bottom out quite a few times.

But for now I will just sort the fans out properly as I will be braving queues on the M3 and M27 and bopping to Weymouth this weekend for some boat fishing.

love the little life saving tip about the fog lights/fans.
that ones going in my little book. .
good motors them black ones

Sounds like a cracking trip , apart from the hiccup with the fans, good bit of lateral thinking
If the fuses are ok, sounds like it could well be the 2 pin temp sensor above the starter motor gone, or could just be iffy connections? You definitely want to get it sorted before heading down this way, if you survive the traffic on the M3 & M27, you've still got to brave the traffic in Weymouth, thanks to the "improvements" for the olympic sailing

Thanks for the tip Kirsty, i will have a look this evening, lucky i have a CB1300 for work (which i am supossed to be doing now, lol)

Also a big big thanks to Hayden for a great bit of kit, the LCA, Dave Mason for his temp alarm, that takes a bit of getting used to as it shows hotter than the standard one but it did its job and saved my bacon and lastly but by no means least, Simon from Banbury (who advertises on here) who fitted my new head last month after it develop a tiny crack and blew my rad and a hose off, top man, top job and highly recommended to all.

Just a thought, what makes you think the fans weren't working? was it just because the Mason was going off? It could be you hadn't got to the point they should have switched on, ie @96 degrees, on the Mason modified gauge that's not far off the end of the scale. By this point the stat should be fully open so all the flow is going through the rad. Could it just be you got a bit twitchy as the Mason went off? You can set that to wherever you want, doesn't mean it's disaster time, I set mine to go off a few degrees before the fans kick in. Fans don't often come on TBH (unless you're using the ac), especially if you are in motion.
Does your cold start set up work? ie when the engine warms up & the temp gauge starts moving @55 degrees the tick over revs should drop slightly, this is activated by the same temp sensor (thus showing it's working in theory), as is the glow plug cut off (they keep cycling on until this point).
As an aside, putting the heaters on is not necessarily the right thing to do, as this can confuse the thermostat control, sucking heat out of the heater part of the circuit, this flow over the stat temp sensing bulb then tells it the coolant temp is lower than it is, thus shutting in the stat (in theory) & less flow through the rad, dropping a gear is a good move though, increasing water pump speed & therefore coolant flow.

The Mason is set at 5, bit high i know now, but only fitted 2 days prior to departure and it chirps when it hits the last blue line on my plasma guage, far to far to the right for my liking, when i managed to pull over i couldnt hear the fans so adapted and overcame. Strange that it was fine after that if they indeed where working.
But i know where your coming from and will have a look at the various components later today when i get the chance, couldnt yesterday as it was peeing down i was knackered and it was a superbike fest on TV.
Definatley need a digital temp guage plumbed in though for more accurate reading.

Do your fans work when you put the ac on (if your ac works)?
This may help with fitting a digi gauge - http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... =3&t=50699.

lol....not now they dont!
thanks for the tips and the link.

Great thread Was thinkin of poppin to see the in laws near Guadalest next year.This just wets the appetite