Pressure testing - head gasket gone - help!

[roosmith]

The new member in Cambridge who was in need of advice because of possible overheating has had her Bongo pressure tested today. The garage have come back and said "one of the head gaskets has gone".

Couple of questions, how many head gaskets does the 2.5 diesel have? Is there anything unusual with a Bongo head gasket and can a normal trusted garage do it? And lastly, if the head isn't warped how much should the work cost roughly? And counter to that, if it has warped how much?

Replies gratefully received as trying to help a damsel in distress, as she was planning on taking it to France on holiday next week!

[haydn callow]

Very important you get your Bongo to a garage with lots of Bongo experience....your local trusted garage will probably get things wrong.
It's almost certainly a new cylinder head you require and this is best left to someone who has done plenty of replacements......the head may even pass a pressure test and still be cracked.
Do get your Bongo to a recommended garage or contact the mobile mechanic who will do the job at your house.

[Marbleous]

Thanks Roo!

Damsel IN A LOT OF Distress is the exact position!

I just spoke to the garage and he says something about a paper seal and that he recommends using silver seal to fix it. He says he has had a lot of success with it and that it would cost £60 to do the work.

Opinions appreciated!

Vicky

[haydn callow]

Just one head gasket
Allow £2000 for a decent head replacement
About £600 to replace a head gasket ( probably won't fix it )
Find out what caused the problems and get that fixed or it will happen again.

[haydn callow]

That stuff will do a temp fix but in the long run probably do more harm than good.....bongos are different. The cooling system is complex.....
I think it's called steel seal......lots of topics on here if you search

[roosmith]

There hasn't been any evidence to point the finger at a massive overheat. Vicky was worried as after parking up the centre console heated up and after 3 weeks the coolant level had dropped slightly. There was no catastrophic event to point to overheating (granted, unless it happened before Vicky bought it).

Would it still likely need a cylinder head? Surely they're not that different from a normal diesel engine? There is no gunk in either the header or the filler cap, no massive failure, surely a gasket would sort it?

[haydn callow]

Get it to a recommended garage.....they will check it out and advise.
Just doing a gasket may fix it but 9 times out of ten it is the head.......be a pity to do the gasket and find the problems still there.

Hope it turns out good news......

[jimmo62]

Do you know exactly what they pressure tested? And what the results were? That might help indicate what the problem is.....

[roosmith]

That I don't know but hopefully Vicky can answer?

[Marbleous]

What exactly do I need to ask??

They haven't told me that. To be honest I wonder whether I should just take it to another garage to get it tested again.

There is not a single garage on the bongo list in Cambridge

I reckon they will close soon - I'll ring them quickly despite not knowing exactly what I am asking!

[roosmith]

Ask them exactly what they pressure tested and all the individual readings they got.

[Marbleous]

Ok I just caught them - they hardly want to speak to me so it's tricky to get a proper answer.

He says it held pressure before it was started up. Then on starting it up it went up to 25psi. so they turned it off.

That's it - trying to get anymore detail out of them is tortuous. I'm not going to get them to do anything to it because frankly I don't trust them.

Will it be ok for me to drive it home tomorrow? it's about 1 mile.

Thank you

Vicky

[roosmith]

I garage that doesn't want to talk about the work, is not one you can trust but you've obviously made your mind on that one anyway!

25psi is probably the coolant system pressure and it should be around a maximum of 16psi I believe, so it is high.

Other far more technical beings will hopefully swamp this post and give you helpful advice.

[Bob]

Please listen to the voices of experience on Bongo Fury rather than a garage telling you, "It's fine, Dear, I'm a mechanic".

Bongo Friendly garage is the only way.

Many horror stories on here start this way - Please listen, especially to Haydn.

Edit: And do not add any Magic Sealant to the cooling system, please.

[Marbleous]

I've rang around a few garages to see if anyone can pressure test it tomorrow.

There are no recommended garages in Cambridge - given that it is a bad idea to drive it now I have no idea how toy get over that hurdle.

I just spoke to one garage and he says that one of his mechanics has a bongo and it 'paranoid' about it over heating. But because of the engine design it is difficult to test the pressure (I don't know if that's true?). The bongo owner is the MOT tester and he will be in again on Monday so I thinking I would ring him on Monday.

I have NO IDEA what else I can do.