Bongo Fury

Hi folks,
I made the short drive home from work, around 4 miles, when i got home i noticed coolant coming from the header tank.
This has not happened ever since having the van and the coolant alarm hasn't gone off.
So, what has caused this? An air lock?
I noticed that the fan was on when i put the ignition on, which isn't ideal after a short trip.
Any ideas? Obviously i'm not emotionally prepared for the horror stories yet, i'm trying to stay positive.
There have been no other leaks evident.
Please help!

Well i have done a bit of a bleed this afternoon.
Certainly air bubbles came out, but it hadn't lost any water.
Everything seems to work and i did the bleed as per youtube, but i am having the "classic" bottom hose not heating up.
Now, i bled it until no bubbles came out (a good couplw of hours!) Heating is hot front and rear.
I took it for a drive and it ran fine, no overflowing coolant and the fan didn't come on.
Bottom hose still didn't heat up though.
Could the ambient temp be too low to get the thermostat opening on the bleed cycle? Bear in mind i was having to wear thermals.
Any thoughts? I am feeling currently that at worst it is a sticky thermostat as i have no proper symptoms of any issues.

you could struggle getting the bottom hose warm in this weather, especially if the rad etc is in good condition, it sounds like you have a leak in the system, usually low down in the system, a bad hose or a steel pipe. the stat usually stic open not shut, but anything is poss really i suppose.
this time of year is quite hard on the system as it cools to a lower temp then expands to running temps, then back below freezing again, this can test a suspect system.


ive pmed you.

We had a similar instance reported recently. It was due to a corroded rear heater steel pipe. Undetectable except with a dye test. The pipe had corroded from within.

Ian wrote:We had a similar instance reported recently. It was due to a corroded rear heater steel pipe. Undetectable except with a dye test. The pipe had corroded from within.

Same happened to me: I was wirebrushing it when it gave up. I think though that corrosion was from without, as my cooling system is clean as a whistle and that pipe lives in a very exposed location.

If the Bongo was an aircraft, it would be subject to time limited parts replacement, timings to ensure no failure in a critical situation. At 20 years old, it would make sense to look at a Bongo similarly and replace parts that are known to go around a certain age.

Hi folka,
I had a quick look this morning before work and i noticed a very small amount of fluid around one of the rear heater hoses. So i suspect this could be a cause of my problem.
It doesn't look like it's the rubber pipe, so i was thinking of bypassing the rear heater, bleeding it and seeing if they bottom rad hose heats up.
Question, does anybody know the diameter of the pipe so that i can buy a joining piece on my way home this evening?
Many thanks for your help so far, i had a very helpful convo last night with ady, so thanks for that!

As an update to this...
I bypassed the rear heater matrix as it showed signs of leaking. I went about bleeding the system and infuriatingly couldn't get the bottom hose to heat up on acold winters morning! So i did an oil and fuel filter change and yesterday set off on a mini holiday to Corfe from our home in Portsmouth. I was a bit twitchy as i wasn't sure if the Thermostat was working correctly. Well we hit some decent (!!) traffic in Poole which had my bottom twitching.
But...
When we got to corfe, no evidence of coolant overflowing as it had that once and the bottom hose was warm!
Now, this doesn't test whether it is working at the optimim time, but we do now know it opens.
I'm a bit unsure what i can do about the bleed process if i can't get the stat to open at the current ambient temp. I appreciate this does possibly mean it is a dicky thermostat.
So possibly a to be continued!

Thanks for the update.

Good luck.