Bongo Fury

Hi folks,

So here's the story:

Few weeks ago the cab started smelling of eggs, looked up what that meant on here and felt assured that all was ok due to having a diesel engine and no converter so thought it could potentially be the windscreen wash problem that I'd fix when I had time.

Fast forward to Tuesday, the low coolant alarm starts going off constantly (in the past it's mad a tiny tweety noise), luckily I'm not far from a Halfords so I wait a while to cool down and fill up the coolant tank.

When I start driving again I still have the alarm going off but (possibly stupidly) assume that there's a delayed response and as I just put a whole bottle in - all must be ok?!

I get home and I hear some dreaded gurling, I get out and see all the coolant on the floor.

There's no smoke, no steam, no milky bits in the oil.

Is she dead? Took lots of photos in case there's anything else visual to check. She's booked into the garage on the 19th (they're busy!) but just wondering if there's anything I can do in the meantime.

Thanks so much,

Em

Oh dear, sorry to hear this.

1 Don't drive it.

2 Is it booked in to a garage who know Bongos, and fully understand the bleed process?

3 I really mean don't drive it, you will need recovery to the garage.

A rough location will make it easier to help you.

A smell of rotten eggs is normally associated with battery problems, overcharged battery from an alternator fault.

The eggy smell has gone since the gurgle incident

I’m in Margate, Kent. Looking at using my recovery policy to take it, thanks for making sure I don’t drive it

The garage has fixed her before and a few others locally but I’m unsure as to their exact Bongo knowledge to be totally honest.

Thanks so much

Make certain the garage understands the need to bleed the cooling system.

Far too many will say something like, “Yeh, yeh, no need to tell me my job…”, and carry on regardless.

There are three You Tube videos on how to do it properly, a quick Google will bring them up.

Hope you're sorted soon.

Ok lovely, their pretty approachable so I'll make sure they follow youtube approach before touching.

Fingers crossed.

Thanks so much.

When the alarm first went off and you filled the tank……was the tank empty before you added coolant…..if so…there lies the problem.
You cannot add coolant to a empty tank without trapping air….the system must be bled at this point.
Fingers crossed for you….and your cylinder head.

Thanks everyone.

Yes, quite possibly Hayd - the alarm was going off but as my coolant tank is rather yellow you could never really see the level. What the consequences of trapping air?

I've been taking a few more pics and found what looks like a suspicious leak however, not sure if it's related - does anyone recognise this one on the passenger side?

Any ideas where I could source a replacement head if needed?

Thank you so much x

New or Used ones from BongoSpares https://www.bongospares.co.uk/?s=cylind ... e_aws=true

Trapped air will lead to overheating and cracked cylinder head.

If you're having a garage do the work it's often best to have them source any parts required, that way if there should be a problem you can take it back.

It's not unheard of when an owner supplies parts and things go wrong the garage will blame the parts and the part supplier says they were fitted incorrectly.

Great advice thank you