Bongo Fury

Hi

Our Freda has just been serviced and had it's MOT. It passed the MOT with no work required - not bad for a 17 year old van

The service was done after the MOT, the coolant was changed and the system bled. We were warned that our low coolant alarm might bip on the way home (as the engine was hot when the coolant was changed) and that we would need to check the level and maybe top it up in the morning.

On the way home from the service the temp gauge went quite high (approx 4/5ths of the way up when it's normally about 2/5ths). We stopped and panicked for a bit and tried phoning the garage but they'd all left.

As we were only about 3 miles from the garage, we decided to drive back and leave the van to be looked at again in the morning. However by the time we got back to the garage the temp was back to it's normal position. After a bit of deliberation we decided to drive home. We had to stop and top up the coolant on the way as the LCA bipped (it was below the alarm level but not below the low level) but we had been warned this might happen.

There were no further problems with the temperature, the gauge stayed in it's normal position for the rest of the journey.

I intend to check the coolant level again in the morning and will ring the garage before we drive the van again, but before I do this I just wondered if anyone could tell me if it's normal for the temp to go up a bit after a coolant change?

After all the cracked head posts we are a bit paranoid about the whole coolant system.

Thanks for your help.

Sara

Do you have a Mason alarm fitted too..?

jaylee wrote:Do you have a Mason alarm fitted too..?

Hi Jaylee

No mason alarm just a low coolant alarm.

Sara

mountainmummy wrote:
On the way home from the service the temp gauge went quite high (approx 4/5ths of the way up when it's normally about 2/5ths). We stopped and panicked for a bit and tried phoning the garage but they'd all left.

As we were only about 3 miles from the garage, we decided to drive back and leave the van to be looked at again in the morning. However by the time we got back to the garage the temp was back to it's normal position. After a bit of deliberation we decided to drive home. We had to stop and top up the coolant on the way as the LCA bipped (it was below the alarm level but not below the low level) but we had been warned this might happen.

There were no further problems with the temperature, the gauge stayed in it's normal position for the rest of the journey.


Sara

Did you leave the engine running during these events?? Did the fans cut in on the first stop??

Hi

Yes we left the engine running but didn't notice if the fan cut in or not. My husband was driving the van and I was following in our other car. Didn't hear any bubbling noises.

We'd driven about 3 miles when this happened and after the event drove three miles back to the garage, then drove the 15 miles home with no further temp problems other than the LCA bipping.

We're not very mechanically savy unfortunately.

Thas OK, i'm just building up a picture of whats transpired... Someone with more knowledge of these things will be along soon.

Though i'm personally not overly worried about what i've read so far....


Is your Freda a diesel??

Hi again

Yes it's a diesel.

I love the fact that everyone on here is so helpful. We tend to panic because we don't know much about mechanics. We can check coolant, oil etc but that's about as far as it goes

Sara

check and adjust the coolant level when its cold in the morning, then keep an eye on it until your confidence comes back.

what i would ask myself is------ if i put my car into the garage for a brake service, and on the way home the brake warning light came on, what would i say to the garage, even if i was warned it may happen.

is the garage who bled it Bongo savvy ???? how did they bleed it ??

Hi

Yes they are a bongo garage (they're a bongo dealership) and so far we've always had very good service from them.

Sara

In that case I would say all is well and your LCA will alert you if levels drop

OK

Just checked the coolant again this morning and it's right down below the low level.

Now panicking again. Will ring garage later but assume I shoudn't drive the Freda until it's been looked at again

Is it possible the system wasn't bled properly despite the fact the mechanic should have known what he was doing?

Sara

mountainmummy wrote:OK

Just checked the coolant again this morning and it's right down below the low level.

Now panicking again. Will ring garage later but assume I shoudn't drive the Freda until it's been looked at again

Is it possible the system wasn't bled properly despite the fact the mechanic should have known what he was doing?

Sara

I wouldn't drive it, now you know there is a fault you need to let the garage call the shots or they could blame you for any damage (worst case).

It does sound as if the bleed was not completely successful. It is possible that not enough time was spent testing it afterwards but not likely to be lack of knowledge IMO.

Hopefully all sorted now.

The garage think there must have still been a small air lock after the bleed.

No over-heating problems driving it back to the garage, they've bled it again and all was fine on the trip home.

Touch wood we can now celebrate the MOT pass

mountainmummy wrote:Hopefully all sorted now.

The garage think there must have still been a small air lock after the bleed.

No over-heating problems driving it back to the garage, they've bled it again and all was fine on the trip home.

Touch wood we can now celebrate the MOT pass

That's what it sounded like to me. Still a bit unusual though but...all's well that hopefully ends well.