Bongo Fury

Hello All,

First post as I only became aware of this excellent forum when I was contemplating the purchase of a Bongo.

Read through a lot of the posts prior to purchase and flew up to Queensland Australia to purchase one on-line. I live in NSW so the distance is about 1200km by road.

All looked good when I got there. I might mention that in my younger days that I was involved with fixing up old cars as well as building racing cars so I'm mechanically competent. The Bongo is a 2.5L Turbo Diesel.A bit tatty cosmetically in places but all seemed fine mechanically, had a recent service with the local mechanic and ran well. Supplied with a three day old mechanics report.

So here is the problem. Picked up the Bongo and drove around 600km through what can only be described as near cyclonic conditions (local towns are sand bagging as flooding is predicted.). The Bongo drove very well and handled the conditions well. I love it. It has 160,000 km on the clock.

However I noticed the temp gauge rise over 20-25 seconds (I had been keeping a very close eye on this after reading some posts). It had been below the halfway point throughout the trip and went to perhaps two thirds. Immediately pulled over, got out and there was a hissing sound of something broken in the cooling system. As best I could tell (the wind and rain noise was very loud) it came from the just below and behind the drivers door. It was pitch black and stupidly I had no torch so I left it parked.

Unfortunately there was no mobile coverage in the area so I walked around 8km and found a caravan park where I am now sitting. Very scary due to the poor conditions, pitch dark and no verge on the road.

In the morning I will have it taken by flat bed truck to the closest major centre Coffs Harbour.

So my questions are:

1) Can anybody direct me to what part of the cooling system is around the back of the engine, in particular the drivers side? Is this something to do with the rear climate control.
2) By chance can anybody recommend somebody (mechanic/radiator specialist) in Coffs Harbor? Big ask I know.

BTW I will view the coolant system bleeding videos so that I can ensure that whomever does this work is aware of the requirements.

The Bongo is meant for camping with my wife and two small dogs as I cannot do this with my company supplied vehicle.

Thank you in advance,

Mark

You have two coolant pipes feeding the rear heating matrix in the Air Con. unit, these are well known for corroding and leaking, and the unit is just behind the drivers seat....
See here http://lushprojects.com/bongopartsmk2/c ... mgno=.html

If it's on the tee peace coolant one I repaired mine with 15mm cooper tee with short bits of pipe solders in ( plumbers fittings )
Cut out old rusty tee peace
And jubilee new in place conect to rusty pipe with a bit of hose and jubilees
Been like that for ages now

As above, make sure who ever fixes it knows how to bleed it

Thank you for the detail.

Indeed it appears that you were correct. Yesterday I flew back home after having the Bongo towed and left at a local repair shop.

Will advise as to the outcome.

On another related note I have "Premium Roadside Assist" on four vehicles (I run a small business) the Bongo included. This covers the whole country. Yesterday I spoke with them and they dispatched a service person whom advised that the Bongo needed to be towed. Well it turns out after speaking with the service person that Premium Assist covers the cost of vehicle recovery anywhere in the country.

I was appointed a case manager whom advised what my benefits were and we worked out what the best course of action was. It was agreed that this would be to tow the Bongo back to my my local mechanic. So all good. Over the course of several phone calls the details were worked out but then the final call advised that they would not accept the claim as it was within 48 hours of the vehicle being added. This with 20+ years of membership and never a single claim. Sure enough buried in the fine print was the 48 hour exclusion clause and I was only 36 hours into it!

If I had known I would have waited another 12 hours.

Thanks again,

Mark

If its an automatic it needs to be lifted not towed

Nationwide recovery back to home on four vehicles in Australia looks like a very good deal!


Frank