Bongo Fury

Hi, I'm new to the forum so be gentle!

I bought my first Bongo in May (from someone here so have no concerns about its history or anything else). Had a few great weekends in it, had the cam belt replaced as it was about 100000km since the last, then in July took it to France.

Sadly, it broke down on the motorway on the way home while still in France, and (expensive mistake, which I will not be repeating....) I did not have breakdown cover. With a large amount of belongings which would have required an expensive hire van to bring home, we opted to have the whole lot towed back (and managed to get a bargain on that, it has to be said).

I had noticed the rear window was cloudy about 20-30 minutes before it broke down, and having only just taken over the driving from my partner, wasn't sure how long it had been like that, but we thought it was dust and dirt. It later turned out that it was oil. Before it broke down, there was nothing unusual noted, no funny noises, and no obvious clouds of smoke or steam The temp gauge may well have been up but I didn't notice. Suddenly, all the lights on the dash lit up and there was total loss of engine revs and I pulled over to the hard shoulder. There was some white steam/smoke coming from under the vehicle.

It's in a garage now and they have said it will cost to investigate, never mind repair. Having towed it back, I'm prepared to pay to find out what is up. They suspect it is not as simple as a blown gasket or cracked cylinder head and the cam belt is fine. I'm just wondering how much money to throw at it and when to cut my losses, and how much I might get on parts if I scrapped it! I paid £3500 for it and it is not converted. P reg. I so loved the idea of a campervan, and was aware of the issues with Bongos, but the costs are making me feel terribly sore at the moment!

Thanks for your advice.

Kai Ren

Not wishing to further dampen spirits, but towing an automatic Bongo may have also caused some problems from bits I've read on the forum. I hope it's not too bad.

The propshaft was removed for towing. Hope that will have done the job?!

Kai Ren

Really bad luck, but welcome to the Forum.

Has it gone to a Bongo savvy garage? You don't want to pay the garage to say, "It seems to be broken, we don't know how to fix it", or not fix it properly.

Good luck.

When we had it towed back it was brought back to my home. We have a garage directly opposite the house which did the cam belt for us (and which has done regualar servicing and maintenance for our normal cars and are fine in that respect). I don't think they see lots of Bongos. I suppose I would have liked to take it to somewhere that is really experienced, but the additional hassle of towing it a much longer distance ourselves or paying more to get it towed didn't feel worth it. I suppose we'll see if I've gambled correctly!

Hi
My first impression would be to ship the Bongo to one of the garages who supply and fit replacement used Bongo engines , and offer a guarantee with the issue....put it this way, you can pay a huge sum of money for sub-standard work on your current engine and you're still in shtuuk ...Once the Bongo has had a replacement, take it to a known REAL expert for a listen, a "once over" and a coolant replacement and bleed, as although a garage may know the business of replacing engines "inside out", they may not have too good an idea on the bleeding of the cooling system
Cheers
Helen

If the rear window steamed up, it sounds like a rear heater leak which will have drained the coolant and finished the head. You may be lucky and that's all but it is still £2000.

Good luck

gasace wrote:If the rear window steamed up, it sounds like a rear heater leak which will have drained the coolant and finished the head. You may be lucky and that's all but it is still £2000.

Good luck

Possible, but knog has said it was oil on the rear window rather than water/coolant. The oil could be from the engine, such as the feed to the turbo, or even auto transmission fluid. It would help the diagnosis if we knew what the level were on the respective dipsticks.

What's your location knog? Did the Bongo have a low coolant alarm fitted?

Hi

I'm in Birmingham. No, there was no low coolant alarm, alas.

The engine appears to be beyond repair. For whatever reason, there was no water and the engine overheated massively, melting the sensors, and warping the engine. The cover was taken off and he showed us the warping. He said it could not be skimmed to straighten out the surfaces because the cylinders I think were flush with the top surface. (I am not absolutely sure my terminology is right but he showed my partner and me and we could see what he was on about.

Kicking myself for not looking at the dash a bit more, perhaps we could have pulled over as soon as overheating was noted but c'est la vie.

We have found somewhere that can transport, supply and fit a reconditioned engine for £1000 which is not bad I guess, but I am reluctant to throw more money at it.

It is back home and I will give it a bit of thought over the next few days but I am tempted to scrap it.

Kai Ren

If you do repair it make sure you find the cause of coolant loss, don't just fit the engine or you may have more problems.

W

knog wrote:Hi

I'm in Birmingham. No, there was no low coolant alarm, alas.

The engine appears to be beyond repair. For whatever reason, there was no water and the engine overheated massively, melting the sensors, and warping the engine. The cover was taken off and he showed us the warping. He said it could not be skimmed to straighten out the surfaces because the cylinders I think were flush with the top surface. (I am not absolutely sure my terminology is right but he showed my partner and me and we could see what he was on about.

Kicking myself for not looking at the dash a bit more, perhaps we could have pulled over as soon as overheating was noted but c'est la vie.

We have found somewhere that can transport, supply and fit a reconditioned engine for £1000 which is not bad I guess, but I am reluctant to throw more money at it.

It is back home and I will give it a bit of thought over the next few days but I am tempted to scrap it.

Kai Ren

What a great shame, and you have my heartfelt sympathy. It could be argued the Bongo will be worth more than 1000 quid more to sell once done, but if the piggy bank is empty and the nerves frayed.....its a tricky one. Ian Taylor in Stoke is an excellent Bongo person to talk to. Good luck whatever you do.