Is she Really Dead?

[fredasurf]

Husband's bongo is very poorly. It's a diesel 4x4 N reg. She has done 190000km. last summer she kept overheating. The coolant/water was bubbling. He had this fixed (was it thermostats?), disconnected the rear heater matrix and replaced coolant properly with help of a mechanic friend and this forum and some videos. THEN she was ok for a few months then overheated again. Took her to local garage who have had a few bongos in before but are not in any way bongo experts. They replaced head gaskets and cracked cylinder head at considerable cost. THEN she was fine.... UNTIL she overheated again... took it back in to garage and they said head gasket AGAIN had gone... Husband was cheesed off and took hoses etc to bits and replaced some and it was all fine... she sailed through her MOT in july...
But now she is all overheating again... He changed the thermostat and the water pump but nothing circulating in radiator (?) And all water bubbling out of coolant holdery thing - and I being pregnant have the nose of a bloodhound and I am sure I could smell exhaust fumes in bubbles...

We think she may be dead. It's not worth getting the head gaskets done again because she is only worth a couple of grand if she is running. So the scrapheap beckons....

Does anyone have any other ideas? This is a last-ditch attempt to save her from the breakers yard

[wonkanoby]

but nothing circulating in radiator ????????????

did you ever back flush it at any time

a descent garage should be able to test for exhaust gases in the fluid

[daveblueozzie]

You might have answered your own question, why is it not circulating in the radiator, is the radiator blocked , that could have been the problem from the start.

[westonwarrior]

Sounds like the rad needs changing as that sounds like your problem.

as for the head or gasket Its impossible to tell without taking the head off wether its one or both
Now as a breaker you could get about 1500 if everything else is ok on it

and put that towards another one or you could sell it complete on ebay and get some where round 1k as a spares or repair
the above depend on demand at the time and luck of course

depending on the general condition of the rest of the car you could keep it as a project and do it your self.

or get it fixed with a warrenty this time

[fredasurf]

He has tried to have a look in the radiator but couldn;t see inside far enough. He did think it might be that. But if it's already blown the head gasket again it's not worth fixing the radiator is it? He's already spent nearly £2000 in the past year on fixing it, it's not worth spending any more. I guess we need to find out if they are really exhaust fumes.

Harrumph!!! Thanks anyway! I will pass this info on.

Personally I think the garage he used were a load of c***.

[westonwarrior]

Personally I think the garage he used were a load of c***.

That wont be the first time thats been said on here,


As allways fixing the fault (head) without finding the cause, is a bad idea

[Northern Bongolow]

get ANY garage to do a pressure test of the cooling system, relatively cheap to do and may reveal the cause of your problems, ie a leak.

[fredasurf]

its not the rad I think because I can squeeze the hose at the bottom with the pressure cap and water squirts out- so fluid is getting through. Pipes get pressurized when engine turning and all sealed up. There is no heat in pipes after thermostat even though iv replaced it.(posted by husband in mourning)

[M 80NGO]

Have you tried putting the cold thermostat into a jug of boiling water to see if it opens, did he replace the stat with a genuine mazda item, i think when replacing a stat its worth drilling a 4mm hole in the stat to ensure water flow yeah it'll take longer to warm up but atleast you know that waters curculating.

[missfixit70]

Have you tried putting the cold thermostat into a jug of boiling water to see if it opens, did he replace the stat with a genuine mazda item, i think when replacing a stat its worth drilling a 4mm hole in the stat to ensure water flow yeah it'll take longer to warm up but atleast you know that waters curculating.

WTF???? DO NOT drill a hole in the stat, you will create more problems, YEEE HAAA

[M 80NGO]

WTF???? DO NOT drill a hole in the stat, you will create more problems, YEEE HAAA

it won't create problems but it will take longer to warm up in the cooler months i used to run a drilled stat in my 217bhp RS Turbo back in the late 80's as did most people with tuned turbo'ed cars with no problems other than it took longer to get up to temp but you always knew that water could curculate, technology has moved on now and you can buy cool running stats with differant rated springs to get them to open 5 or 6 degrees cooler than the factory stuff.

[missfixit70]

its not the rad I think because I can squeeze the hose at the bottom with the pressure cap and water squirts out- so fluid is getting through. Pipes get pressurized when engine turning and all sealed up. There is no heat in pipes after thermostat even though iv replaced it.(posted by husband in mourning)

The fact that water squirts out is irrelevant if the majority of the rad is blocked up & therefore not able to do it's job of cooling the coolant.
There will be no heat in the pipes going into the bottom of the stat from the rad (that is inlet to the stat, not outlet) until the stat opens @ 82 -85 degrees C, & only then when you run it up with no airflow across the rad.
While in motion, the theory is that the stat opens when necessary due to the combined flow of the heater circuit & the engine recirc flow controlling the stat bulb (there is always flow through the engine), this will then allow the full flow of the cooled coolant from rad to exit from the bottom corner into the bottom of the stat & up into the engine, mixing with the hot coolant to balance the engine temperature @ 85 degrees ish. It is important to maintain this temp & not overcool as well as not to overheat.

[missfixit70]

WTF???? DO NOT drill a hole in the stat, you will create more problems, YEEE HAAA

it won't create problems but it will take longer to warm up in the cooler months i used to run a drilled stat in my 217bhp RS Turbo back in the late 80's as did most people with tuned turbo'ed cars with no problems other than it took longer to get up to temp but you always knew that water could curculate, technology has moved on now and you can buy cool running stats with differant rated springs to get them to open 5 or 6 degrees cooler than the factory stuff.

The bongo stat is that value because it's designed to run in a certain temp range. The way the bongo coolant circuit is designed, drilling a small hole in the stat can actually make it run hotter, as a thin jet of cooled coolant will squirt up through, mixing with the hot coolant circualting as described above, telling the stat to shut in & therefore increasing the engine temp I know this as it happened when I lost my jiggle pin from a new stat, engine was running hotter.
I'd make sure you understand the bongo cooling system a bit better before handing out such advice that may well make a problem worse.

[M 80NGO]

The coolant is all the same temp there is no cooled thin jet its just a way of ensuring that there is constant flow, as you say it may not be a fix for the bongo but it has defo stopped overheats on other vehicles that i've owned albeit tuned petrol cars, guess you learn summat every day, thanx for the info

[missfixit70]

Coolant from the rad while you are driving is muchly cooled if it's working, therefore cooled water entering the stat - it's how the system works to control the engine temp, if there was no cooler coolant it would just keep overheating & you wouldn't need a radiator to cool the coolant
There is always constant flow, the stat is there to control temp, not flow, hence it opens at 82 degrees.