Bongo Fury

Hi All

We had out first overheating event last night. Saw the temperature dial was way up at defcon 5 so pulled over. Got noise as I pulled in which turned out to be bubbling coming from the header tank obviously not ideal, but I'm hoping that as it was boiling it can't have been bone dry so it could be worse . Now I'm not all that savvy, and everything I've learnt about Bongo engines I learnt this morning so bear with me. I added some water to the header tank (no 50/50 yet so not ideal I know but will amend), and it seemed to be running ok so I decided to drive it the remaining couple of miles home. No further issues, but when I went to head back out I saw a leak. At this point I realised that the low coolant was not just from failure to top up the coolant . The leak appeared to be from underneath the passenger side footwell (the internal carpet is damp also, so don't know if this might be related or not). I'm hoping that the leak is just from a bit of old hose or something relatively cheap and simple, and that the initial overheating and my driving it home post leak haven't caused too much damage. My questions though are threefold. i) Can I drive it to my garage (about 5 mile as long as I top up the coolant before I go (takes about 24hrs for leak to drain header tank) ii) would I know already if it was my head gasket? iii) Where's my bleed hose?

Having spent the morning doing research on bongo's I learnt all about how they need bled, and I released it may have been a mistake to drive it home as obviously this hadn't been done. I looked under the seat and for my life I can find neither the bleed hose, nor a hole where it should have been. The only evidence I found that it was ever there was that I had a little plastic clip on the far left of under the passenger seat, where the hose might probably should have been clipped. Could it have been removed, and the hole capped? Do some Bongo's not have these hoses? FYI - ours is a 1995 2.5lt diesel Ford Freda. Here's a picture of where I'd expect to find the hose based on previous forum info:-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/robdendy/6 ... /lightbox/
(sorry the image pasting function was telling me it couldn't ascertain image size - no clue as to why)

Can anyone identify where the hose ought to be? Cos I'm really not sure and I want to have something to tell the garage when I try to insist that they bleed it.

As it stands, my research so far suggests that my plan should be to get it to the garage, find and replace the leak, suggest we replace the thermostat, get them to pressure test the system and the radiator cap, and then make sure they bleed the system and use 50/50 water to antifreeze. Whilst there on it I'll probably get them to fit a low coolant alarm too. That's all assuming there's no bigger problems .

Any comments anyone has would be very much appreciated.

Thanks.

Rob.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRAKOSxg ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUndta6M ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuGFnKxd ... re=related

mikeWalsall wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRAKOSxg ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUndta6M ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuGFnKxd ... re=related

Thanks but I watched those first thing this morning. That's how I found out I was supposed to have bleed hose in the first place. If you compare my pic with page 3 of this doc http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/member ... eating.pdf you'll see what I mean.

Bleed hose not there. I think this may apply to Ranger heads?????? Someone will be along shortly to confirm. Meanwhile, I'll have a dig around and come back.

My recollection is same as Steve's - the 2-way "cross docking stock" has no 3rd port for the bleed hose, and these are fitted to Ford Ranger heads. It would appear that your head may well have been replaced with one from a Ranger at some point (cheaper / more readily available then Bongo ones).

Do you know the history of the engine?

Either way, the advice on here will be don't drive it even 5 miles without at least bleding it, and that with no hose bleeding will be difficult.

Sorry I can't give you any good news.

Rob, I spoke to you earlier but I was out walking the dogs, so didn't have access to info. (By the way, Widdowson phoned me a few minutes later about another issue; small world!)

I agree with Dave. It sounds like you have a Ford Ranger of Mazda B2500 cylinder head fitted as these have the same engines, but don't have rear heaters, so don't need a bleed pipe. But it's still possible to bleed the system using the vacuum method (see this link: http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... ed+missing).

Alternatively you can buy a T-tube to bleed the system from Bongobits, but they are not brilliant at answering the phone lately.

As I said earlier, although no expert, I would caution against driving the vehicle anywhere. Get the garage to pick it up.

Had a dig and this post is what I was looking for. mrdeano (in NewZealand had the very same thing - no bleed hose. Think you have a Ranger head mate.
Have a read through deanos post cos it explains how he sorted it out.
http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... ilit=deano

Bugger - too slow

t piece in the turbo pipe is the easy way to go, use the proper constant pressure clips not jubilee clips. done it on a few with no problems reported later.
fit it as near as you can to the head outlet though.

dave_aber wrote:My recollection is same as Steve's - the 2-way "cross docking stock" has no 3rd port for the bleed hose, and these are fitted to Ford Ranger heads. It would appear that your head may well have been replaced with one from a Ranger at some point (cheaper / more readily available then Bongo ones).

Do you know the history of the engine?

Either way, the advice on here will be don't drive it even 5 miles without at least bleding it, and that with no hose bleeding will be difficult.

Sorry I can't give you any good news.

Hi Dave
The term "cross docking stock" - Where does it come from do you know? I recently asked (rather queried) Kirsty on this cos I thought she would come up with the correct answer. When I tell you what she said, I think you may well be a bit surprised.

So - what says you?

It's a term I first (and possibly last!) heard on this forum. It sounds 'right' to me, but I seem to recall some earlier conversation about it being more to do with stores / warehousing than a trifurcated water manifold (which is what it technically is). Possibly the term got added to the label one once in a warehouse and the name sort of stuck.

Spot on what Kirsty said.
Like your 'term' trifurcated water manifold though. Describes it perfectly (even if it is a bit of a gobfull. )

This is the part......http://www.bongobits.com/Main.asp?PageN ... roduct=213

Thanks very much for all the replies. I've been holding off speaking to the garage as the main guy has been away on a course, and he's the one I have most faith in. I'll speak to him this afternoon and just see what he can suggest. I guess I'll have to get them to come and pick it up and just crack on. Hopefully theres no damage to the gasket and we can just fix up the leak and add in a bleed valve and we'll be good. Thanks again.

Ok I think I know what I'm doing now. Just got to figure where I can get hold of some decent rubber piping, spring band clamps, a t-junction and bung, that currently seems to be the biggest challenge. Any hints on suppliers of the above consumables in the Newcastle area, or elsewhere??

http://www.powerpipes.co.uk/
try these guys, very good, and will post to you.