New Radiator and hoses....
Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 9:50 pm
Hello everyone, I'm after some more advice/reassurance please.
I recently had a leak from my radiator so I purchased a new one from the Bongo shop. It was a pattern part as the Mazda ones were out of stock. I also bought a new water pump for belt and braces. I fitted both and bled the system through about a month ago but noticed that the Mason modified temp gauge was sitting higher than it had before. Last year I fitted a new genuine stat and the gauge always sat just below 12 o'clock and now sits just above 12 o'clock and goes up to 1 o'clock up hill or on motorways. No where near the alarm or the fans coming on but higher than normal. I did some searching and came up with the conclusion that I had not bled it properly. There was a couple of hoses that were looking a bit iffy so Ian at the Bongo shop ordered these in for me (amazing delivery by the way. Ian quoted 15 days from Japan but arrived in under a week) I replaced the hoses and bled it through again today. This time I kept going with the bleeding until the fans came on at the far end of the temp gauge which took about an hour. I took it for a little drive and was initially happy to see the gauge sitting at around the more normal just before 12 o'clock position. I took it back home and checked the levels and for leaks. All good so I took it for a longer jolly, this time along the motorway and it's back to the higher over 12 o'clock position and up to 1 o'clock up hill. This slightly higher temp reading is also accompanied by a hot plastic smell. I took this to be some sort of coating on the new radiator burning off but it has remained since the new rad was fitted about a month ago.
I was expecting to see the temp gauge at least the same or maybe lower. Our Bongo has to work pretty hard as we tend to go over the Alps each year for our holidays so do I a) get a genuine Mazda rad and try that or b) flush it and bleed it again or c) leave it as it doesn't appear to overheat.
As always any advice gratefully received.
Russell.
I recently had a leak from my radiator so I purchased a new one from the Bongo shop. It was a pattern part as the Mazda ones were out of stock. I also bought a new water pump for belt and braces. I fitted both and bled the system through about a month ago but noticed that the Mason modified temp gauge was sitting higher than it had before. Last year I fitted a new genuine stat and the gauge always sat just below 12 o'clock and now sits just above 12 o'clock and goes up to 1 o'clock up hill or on motorways. No where near the alarm or the fans coming on but higher than normal. I did some searching and came up with the conclusion that I had not bled it properly. There was a couple of hoses that were looking a bit iffy so Ian at the Bongo shop ordered these in for me (amazing delivery by the way. Ian quoted 15 days from Japan but arrived in under a week) I replaced the hoses and bled it through again today. This time I kept going with the bleeding until the fans came on at the far end of the temp gauge which took about an hour. I took it for a little drive and was initially happy to see the gauge sitting at around the more normal just before 12 o'clock position. I took it back home and checked the levels and for leaks. All good so I took it for a longer jolly, this time along the motorway and it's back to the higher over 12 o'clock position and up to 1 o'clock up hill. This slightly higher temp reading is also accompanied by a hot plastic smell. I took this to be some sort of coating on the new radiator burning off but it has remained since the new rad was fitted about a month ago.
I was expecting to see the temp gauge at least the same or maybe lower. Our Bongo has to work pretty hard as we tend to go over the Alps each year for our holidays so do I a) get a genuine Mazda rad and try that or b) flush it and bleed it again or c) leave it as it doesn't appear to overheat.
As always any advice gratefully received.
Russell.
.
