Bongo Fury

I recently had my first overheating incident here in Melbourne...and after much advice seeking from online communities I successfully fixed the faulty pipe with a piece of hose, and bled the cooling system...but just 2 weeks later, I am gutted to discover a new leak.

The real problem is in identifying where it is. A consistent drip drip at the centre of the undercarriage 'tray' was my first clue. Removed the tray and found a small puddle of water at the front centre of the engine. My neighbour tells me this is afore the 'sump'...on the top edge of the housing and in front of a number of belts...? His guess was it may be coming above - from the water pump but was confused by a lack of hose to the area in question.Other than the puddle there is precious little evidence of the leak.

Has anyone got any bright ideas?

Also I have recently been told that as my model is a conversion (something to do with the heater being different?), I need to bleed the coolant by running the engine hot and letting air out of the rad cap, with the aid of a large towel...rather than by the funnel+bleed pipe method I read about online. Again - any thoughts?

It goes without saying any advice is much appreciated.

could well be your water pump

second bit reads like rubbish to me

evan if rear heater was removed bleeds the same

the heater will be the same in the front, but the rear may have been bypassed or removed, look for 2 RUBBER pipes entering the floor from outside just to the rear of the drivers door(under the floor) so from a bleeding point of view its still the same.
there are3 videos on youtube,(how to bleed a mazda bongo) by b*witched blingo, these ma help.

when checking the waterpump for leaks there are 2 telltale holes that the coolant can leak out of on the casting.
one is visible from the passy side(slightly hidden by the belts). the other is a the 6 oclock position and is nearly impossible to see without a dentists mirror, as this is the lowest hole it usually leaks here undetected.
if the waterpump is age unknown i would change it anyway.

Maybe the 'conversion' is a Ford Ranger head which does not normally have a bleed pipe fitted. I'd suggest locate the bleed pipe first & treat it a a standard Bongo bleeding process.

good one simon, on rereading the original post again i think you are onto it. he could fit a bleed pipe into the turbo supply pipe,done this with good success on a few.
dont like the idea of bleeding through the cap much.