Advice on poorly Bongo

[amaciejk]

Hi,

I have a P-reg 2.5L Diesel Bongo which has been through the wars recently, and want people's opinions on the best course of action to take now...

After a blown radiator and a leaking water pump it's had a new head. Unfortunately it's still leaking gas into the water system and looks like the engine block has cracked. Having spent £1.5K already, is it worth spending more to get it fixed? Or best to sell on, as a whole or for breaking?

Thanks,
Anna

[Simon Jones]

Hi Anna sorry to read of your poorly Bongo. I've only ever heard of one person with a cracked block so it's an extremely rare occurrence. If a new head has been fitted by a non-specialist there is a chance they have not fully prepared the surface of the block before fitting new head and gasket. The process is known as 'decking the block' and it involves using some extremely fine abrasive paper on a heavy flat block such as granite or marble to take off any imperfections in the mating surface to ensure the new flat head fits snuggly on the potentially uneven block.

I've done this on a previous Bongo and it made the difference from being unable to bleed it after refitting the head, to it still going strong to this day some six years later. The other top tip is to refit the gasket using a sealing compound called Wellseal.

This is how it should look after it has been fully prepared:


If the vehicle is in otherwise good shape with no serious rust then it's probably worth saving, but as a non-runner you might get £1500 on eBay if you found the right buyer.