cooling

[Bongo Burty]

Hi everybody, new member, recently bought 2004, petrol bongo, 20k on the clock, everything (seems) to be ok but I keep hearing horror stories about over heating and fitting coolant sensors etc. Any advice please for this new - OAP? thankyou

[g8dhe]

If you maintain the vehicle well then its never caused a problem for me, I've had a couple of V6 machines since 2008 and never fitted any alarms or cooling system "gadgets" but on the other-hand I do inspect the coolant level and oil levels from time to time on a roughly monthly basis

[Bob]

Hi, and a warm welcome.

Good news is the petrol engines are far less prone to overheating problems than the diesels.

The 2.5 V6 needs to be bled after any work on the system/loss of coolant, but the 4cyl 2 ltr is self bleeding, just like pretty much any car.

If you want to fit a low coolant alarm the ones from Haydn are very good, certainly something I would recommend as the few £££ could save you from an expensive repair.

Many of the horror stories include lines like, “I knew there was a leak, but it was on 25 miles home”, or, “ I meant to get it looked at”, so I wouldn’t be too worried. Sensible maintenance and stop if there should be a problem.

Peeps don’t tend to post that their Bongo has been trouble free for years, but are quick to tell the world of problems.

Enjoy Bongoing.

[Bongo Burty]

Thank you Geoff, as mine is a 2lt and therefore not a V6, does this make any difference? and why are people saying fit a coolant sensor light on the dash, are you suggesting this is not really necessary?
Thanks Again

[Bongo Burty]

Also thankyou Bob, very informative

[g8dhe]

The WL-T diesel engine is the one that suffers from trapped air inside the engine badly, I suspect also at one time everybody used distilled water for the cooling system as opposed to tap water which certainly down here in the South has a very high concentration of chalk in it which is deposited on the inside of the engine and pipes hence not doing any good for the circulation of the coolant !

The 2l also has an extra pipe that leads from roughly the engine coolant outlet direct to the top of the de-gassing tank thus any air that exits the engine from the coolant can go straight to the de-gassing tank, in the diesel and V6 this isn't present and the air has to be swept along with the coolant down under the fire-wall before rising again to the tank, this doesn't help matters if circulation rate is low because of extra deposits of chalk etc in the pipes.

When Haydn first came out with the coolant alarm it was for the diesel and talking to him in 2008 at my first National Bash he didn't seem concerned that the V6 suffered in the same way as the diesel did, hence I have never fitted a coolant level alarm myself, nor had any problems, provided you do check the coolant level from time to time, as much to top it up (maybe once a year if no leaks) as to spot any early leaks from the rubber pipes or rusty metal coolant pipes!

Our vehicles have been doing 8-10Kmiles each year since 2008 and only twice have I had a concern about coolant once, when the radiator failed, a common but not frequent problem where the plastic top of the radiator seals to the metal cooling section, after many years the seal fails and clouds of steam can be easily seen. The other time was when the top engine hose failed with a split on a journey up North, but despite not being able to stop immediately (London elevated dual carriageway at rush hour!!) after temporary repairs I was able to limp Northwards stopping at Bongo Spares (pictures below) for a replacement hose and check of all other hoses (several replaced as a precaution), before continuing up to a Scottish bash!

[teenmal]

Yes I would recommend fitting a low coolant alarm, it does not matter what vehicle unless air cooled all systems can lose coolant .Mainly due to leaking hoses/water pump/thermostat/core plugs/matrix/ leaving cap off expansion tank, the list goes on and on . These devises are now available at a very reasonable cost (cheap insurance) the flavor at the moment is the screwless version from Ebay .

Take care.

[jboocock]

I just drove around 1800 miles , I have a coolant alarm , if I'm driving on a motorway I can drive 400 miles non stop and no issue , if I turn to get petrol as soon as I get in the forecourt and do a u turn the alarm beeps for a 2nd then stops , I get worried and top it up , and off I go again , the last stop I never topped it up and the alarm did not come on on the motorway until I stopped in another 300 miles , it then beeped when I turned out of the petrol station , has it set its self low by default, is it using the antifreeze , I just had a new head and water pump fitted 2500 miles ago , I put nearly a gallon in the header tank was it just purging it out as I had over filled , over the 1800 miles
I was driving 65-70 and I did the 1800 miles in 1 week , thoughts please cheers

[g8dhe]

If its the cheap version with a screw coming in from the top its usually means its been set to high and the coolant swinging around in the de-gassing tank breaks contact and sets the alarm off.

[jboocock]

It was The only one that shipped to the states , it is the long screw coming down from the top in fact I think the shipping cost more than the
alarm