Persistent Coolant Leakage

[Van-Nellie]

I currently have my Freda 1995 2.5td at the local garage. They are as perplexed as me as to why when they fix one coolant leak area,they take for a test drive and another leak occurs somewhere else in the labyrinthine maze that is the hose and pipe coolant system. The top rad pipe was the original culprit,now replaced. As I drove the van from the garage after an hour the coolant started leaking from the T junction halfway down van on drivers side. Kept filling and got back to garage. They fixed THAT and now they say leakage other part.And they guys working there are only service engineers and MOT testers,and dont understand coolant systems. Amazing. Things are now getting costly and I still have the same problem. Can't go anywhere because of bleedin coolant leaks hounding me for months now,it happened previously. Are the garage mechanics basically crap (theyve been scratching their heads for a while and I think now are starting to lose interest and more difficult to get return calls or updates) or should I take the Freda to a specalist Bongo consultant?

Would like to fix myself but looks awkward and complicated to work on without the neccessary space,tools and knowhow. Its only an old 1995 diesel van,not NASA rocket science I would have thought,for trained mechanics! Any thoughts or ideas? I've had enough of paranoid repetative engine temp guage glancing, instead of enjoyment of driving! Thanks.

[g8dhe]

Yes lots of garages aren't keen on such persistent faults as they know the customer starts to get irritated an blames them. Depending where you are a Bongo specialist is a good idea as they know the ins & outs of the cooling systems and the most likely causes and will often have access to the necessary spare hoses.

[TheLongRoad]

Don’t be put off working on the old Bongo yourself. It’s very basic and nothing like modern cars that even need a computer to reprogram them once the battery has been replaced.

[Doone]

Would like to fix myself but looks awkward and complicated to work on without the neccessary space,tools and knowhow. Its only an old 1995 diesel van,not NASA rocket science I would have thought,for trained mechanics! Any thoughts or ideas? I've had enough of paranoid repetative engine temp guage glancing, instead of enjoyment of driving! Thanks.

As long as you bleed the air out, after working on the cooling system, it'll be OK. There are a few methods for bleeding a Bongo. A search on here, google or YouTube will find them.