Bongo Fury

I have just spent a couple of days replacing the rubber hose that feeds the heaters, its under driver side seats and its the jhose that comes out the side of the crankcase above the starter motor.
It took a while to find where I was losing fluid from as it didn't leak when the engine was off but as soon as the engine was running it made enough presuure to leak through a two or three tiny splits in the hose just where it came out of the crankcase.
OK its easy enough to replace the hose but you do lose most of the coolant which means replacing and bleeding it - what a PAIN.
I have replaced the lost coolant with plain water so I can drop it out and hopefully flush any rubbish out of the system and then of course I have to replace this with a mix of water and antifreeze and BLEED the system again. Its pretty easy to do but the only way you can tell if it working correctly is to see if the top hose is very hot and the bottom eventually gets hot, this shows that the coolant is circulating. But it seems that it takes ages before the thermostat opens and allows the coolant to circulate. Does anyone know the teperature that the themostat should open? I did about 50 miles in it today and it didn't overheat so tomorrow I shall replace the coolant with an antifreeze mixture.
Any further advice on bleeding the cooling system is welcome.

Be careful just using plain water! there are rust inhibitors in anti freeze to keep the cylinder head water galleries rust free,i suppose you,ll be ok for a very short term basis. but i think you would be more likely to shift crud from the system with anti freeze in ,as its lower viscosity than water would promote particle contaminants to flow more freely out.

Thanks BD, hopefully the plain water is coming out today to be replaced with antifreeze.
Is there anything special about the thermostat that I cannot go to my local motor shop and pick one up. Does anyone have the partnumber?
Thanks.

Sorry! im a hypocrite! had to put plain water in mine today (4 kettles full) forgot to put the cap back on the expansion tank and lost the water,should have a replacement cap on wednesday,will drain and refill with the correct mix and keep a close eye on the water level. fingers crossed i haven,t fried the head

Pease make sure you bleed it Bigdaddy

Big Daddy. What sort of a complete idiot would leave the cap off the header tank?

are there any guide on this

afraid i cant justify 70 odd quid on the big manual

just some nice photo's would be nice similar to the one that was done the other day for the breaks

ie a complete non mech can do it

Try this
http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/member ... oolant.pdf
only available to members.....Alan

Dave up north wrote:Big Daddy. What sort of a complete idiot would leave the cap off the header tank?

one like me apparently! i was 99.9% certain i,d replaced it. i didn,t leave it off on purpose to see what would happen! checked the oil too,cap still there, topped up washer fluid, cap still there,... im still quite sure i replaced it! but my mechanic reckons i MUST have left it off or not locked it into place properly. The bongo is my 70th vehicle in my driving career,and i've never done this before i'm really careful,which is why i,m convinced that the cap has blown off for some reason.

peter humphrey wrote:Pease make sure you bleed it Bigdaddy

will do mate,replacement cap should be here in the morning, I,ll be extra careful replacing the coolant, and will be keeping a VERY close eye on things! I,m convinced i replaced that cap,it,s come off for some reason though,puzzling thing is there is no sign of over pressurised expansion tank,no sign of the cap,bongo drove as normal,its a bit of a mystery really. The only thing i did before i spotted the steam was switch on the aircon because i,ve not used it for a while,and i know that you are supposed to use it periodically to help stop the condenser from gumming up. hmm i,m not convinced there is something amiss somewhere...

Daddy, did the same thing early August, I was using the Bongo as a removal van with all my sons kit, loaded it, then, whacked out on painkillers, did my checks for the next days drive. Cruised at 70+ down to Redditch, slowed down for a roundabout, when my wife pointed out steam coming out of the bonnet. I switched off but left the engine fans on, and with much trepidation opened the bonnet, rad. cap left on top of the heater air intake. RAC attended, put in 5 litres of coolant and bled system. 2,500 miles later no coolant loss. Moral do not do necessary checks when off your face! I feel my sons will never EVER let me forget my mistake Shakey

shakey wrote:Daddy, did the same thing early August,

Me too

So again "What sort of idiot would leave the cap off?"

Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

guess i left the cap off then... never done it before in all my driving career,is there something about bongo's which make you forget?

I once filled a car with oil and forgot to put the cap back on. It sprayed oil all over the inside of the bonnet and dripped onto the engine. Once bitten Etc etc And before someone points it out yes the engine was well worn and chuffed nicely out of the breather.