Bongo Fury

I've just replaced the alternator on the Bongo over Christmas.

As I was doing this I noticed that where the bleed tube joins the spigot on the engine, the pipe has a bulge and looks set to pop.

Looks like a simple enough job to pull the pipe off, trim it back and put it back, after covering the alternator with some plastic to prevent any loose coolant getting on it.

I don't want loads of coolant phishing over my nice new alternator if the bleed tube were to burst.

Anything I need to know, drain the header tank?

you will need to bleed it after...3 videos on utube

and it may well pay to replace it as its one of the first to blow on them all

You may or may not be able to replace the pipe without draining, refilling and bleeding. If you were to try then certainly make sure you're doing it on a cold engine. It's not only losing coolant during the procedure that you have to worry about, but introducing air into the system at the same point. Personally, I wouldn't do this without draining but others may know the anatomy of the coolant system better and therefore have a clearer idea of whether a 'whip off and replace' procedure would be a go'er.

If you don't already know about the dangers of introducing air into the coolant system and the need to bleed it correctly, then you should read up first - plenty on here if you search for 'bleeding', 'bleed pipe' or similar. One method of bleeding is shown in a three part youtube series (first video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRAKOSxgbKo).

You may be able to effect a temporary repair to the pipe in the meantime, with tight application of some silicone repair tape, but as you're suggesting, a replacement (or shortened) pipe is probably in order.

Ok, thanks, I was hoping not to have to bleed the whole system

This diagram shows the flow through the head. The bleed hose connects to the thermostat (by pass) outlet and sees the coolant at its VERY hottest and therefore one of the hoses most prone to failure. This also applies to the top hose (radiator) connection.
For peace of mind, I would replace the hose (and the associated clip).


This is a cross section through the front end of the head at the point where the bleed hose connects. (ignore the right hand part of this diagram ie: animated sensor for the sake of this discussion).
When you remove the bleed hose, you will immediately run the risk of introducing air into the head, but with care, not too much air.
Whatever you decide to do, BLEED THE SYSTEM afterwards, otherwise you run the risk of facing a hefty 'head replacement' bill.
I'm not scaremongering here, rather be safe than sorry.

I have shortened a bleed pipe twice with no problems as follows.

Cold engine.
Remove header tank cap to release any pressure in the system.
REPLACE HEADER TANK CAP.
NOW....have her indoors standing bye.
Remove the bleed pipe from the spigot and get 'er indoors to put her finger over the end of the spigot "quickly".
Now get your new pipe ready, put the bung in the outlet (I personally wouldn't reuse the old one)
Next "tricky bit" as er' indoors removes her finger ...you slip on the new pipe.
Tighten up the hose clamp.
NOW...remove the header tank cap.
Now "ease" out the bleed pipe bung and when coolant comes out put the bung back in (pipe now full of coolant>)

Top up the header tank and replace cap.

If you do this ..no air should enter the system
HOWEVER
If you are in any doubt....bleed it.

The 2 I did were fine and I doubt a eggcup full of coolant escaped.

Tanks Haydn, that's very helpful

haydn callow wrote:I have shortened a bleed pipe twice with no problems as follows.

Cold engine.
Remove header tank cap to release any pressure in the system.
REPLACE HEADER TANK CAP.
NOW....have her indoors standing bye.
Remove the bleed pipe from the spigot and get 'er indoors to put her finger over the end of the spigot "quickly".
Now get your new pipe ready, put the bung in the outlet (I personally wouldn't reuse the old one)
Next "tricky bit" as er' indoors removes her finger ...you slip on the new pipe.
Tighten up the hose clamp.
NOW...remove the header tank cap.
Now "ease" out the bleed pipe bung and when coolant comes out put the bung back in (pipe now full of coolant>)

Top up the header tank and replace cap.

If you do this ..no air should enter the system
HOWEVER
If you are in any doubt....bleed it.

The 2 I did were fine and I doubt a eggcup full of coolant escaped.

if one pipe is bulging, there may be others, check the others well.
if this is the case the stat may be lazy and also need replacing, if this isnt done you may spend next summer chasing leaking hoses.
the bleed pipe stub is quite long, you could trim an inch off at a time and keep pushing it on, repeat,repeat, until you get to a good bit, but its better to totally remove the pipe and clean up the stub as these can go scabby with rust.

Go to the top of the class NB, as I used your method of rescuing the bleed tube.

Good job too, as when I put my finger under the bulge in the pipe there was a drip of coolant, so I suspect I caught it just in time.

Biggest PITA was the pipe clip, as I couldn't get it past the bulge in the pipe, so I had to take it off the pipe onto the spigot.

Cut the bleed pipe back bit by bit until it was on a good piece and the wrestled the pipe clip back on, took some doing as the ears on the clip bent out of shape.

No coolant lost at all.

But I have noted Haydn & your point about the other pipes and replacing this bleed tube.

The bulge occurred where the spigot finishes & I suspect this is a weak point

Thanks again for everyone's suggestions.