Bongo Fury

Been gigging this weekend... Drove from Bath to Switzerland, to Belgium & back home....
Not long in.

Have a mason alarm on a Diesel N reg 4X4 tin top. With a full Bongo literate money no object service in April. (New water pump too.)

Get to Switzerland on a steep incline in a 3K curving blind tunnel, nowhere safe to stop!!! The Mason peeps...

Doing about 70 & thank who ever in charge of destiny i stop in a lay bye temp needle drops... Cruise on 20 kilometres or so to a service station... leave to cool for an hour & a half....

Start with a check for leaks.... NOTHING!! Oil? NONE lost... Oil filler cap removed,, No emulsification... Finally.... Water level.... (With a lolly stick i keep in the door pocket.) ..... Everything fine as checked before the journey!!!!

Now reader.. I'm no mechanic.. But, i have thanks to certain contributors to this forum learned a thing or two about the Bongo... (Bleeding ect.)

After the rest all is fine (no peeps, normal temp on gauge.) ..................................
But, open a window.. one peep... A phone was on charge peep.... Switch on AC blower & turn up... Mild to heavy peep.


Alternator????? Volt meter fitted says fine 14.5 charge on average!!

What do you think??? I'm home & engine is apparently safe.......

Your hearing aid is faulty.

mister munkey wrote:Your hearing aid is faulty.

Either that or your pager wasn't turned off

Valid point Duncan.

Every time I get a text message, I check the Mason.

On a serious not Jamie - How old is the radiator?

Mine did this a few times before giving up the ghost . . . . . . .

Har ruddy har!! Gotta be electrical...... Ideas welcome... Getting checked out mechanically ... I know my pimps... Need sorting for Germany 3 weeks time!! Journey home was uneventful & great, bar the odd Mason peep! ???????

mister munkey wrote:On a serious not Jamie - How old is the radiator?

Mine did this a few times before giving up the ghost . . . . . . .

Good point.... As old as the Bongo... 95??? (Safe guess.)

Possibly chogged full of shite, restricting coolant flow in extreme conditions . . . .

If its not misbehaved since, not a worry but think about getting it changed in the near future.


If & when you do, try & weigh the old one & compare to the new. Mine was at over 3 kilos heavier compared to the new one out of the box. Thats a fair amount of crud!

Where is the Mason connected to to pickup its power, both +ve and earth ? It sounds like your getting a dropout every time you switch a significant load on, which is causing a reset, does the Mason beep on power up ?

Mine peeps on long slow hills and now and again when I turn on the indicators or brake (brake light switch????)

But the coolant level stay fine !!!!!

Mine does the same now and again...............

http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... rm#p352222

I have not experienced random Mason bleeps, it has only "chirped" once before set at 4.5 up Hardknott pass and just as the fans kicked in....
I have had a new radiator (due to splitting) and like MM my old radiator was a degree weightier than the new replacement......So I guess look at the leccy side of things in the first instance and also consider a new radiator too....

? new this new that i dont understand

Get to Switzerland on a steep incline ......

so either accept it might do that now and then

or turn it up a tad to a higher setting

I get the same thing happening sometimes when my van is labouring up a steep hill. I've always assumed that when the alarm is "teetering on the edge" and another load is switched on (eg wipers) that it's enough to make it cheep.

Incidentally, I've found that the alarm can be set off if I'm on a long climb and the gearbox plods along in a high gear. If that happens I get the gearbox to kick down a gear and it cools off enough for the alarm to stop.

Mine chirps on long hills when towing, new rad & stat fitted this January, I don't worry about it now. I haven't turned the Mason setting up as the chirp confirms to me that it is working. It will also chirp for 4 or 5 seconds when I restart it after stopping the engine for a short while (i.e. filling it up with fuel) due to normal heat soak.

I must confess however, that even after a couple of months running with the Mason fitted I still don't like the fact the gauge runs so high up the scale & dances up & down all the time. Mine will run from the just above the mid position (normally going downhill!) to about 3/4 the way up normally rising to just below max when towing up hill. I have checked the engine & top rad hose with a laser thermometer when the gauge is up at its max & the hottest I get is 78 - 80 deg. So the gauge is somewhat alarmist now, it seems to have gone the other way to how it works as original. Personally the gauge has become ineffective to me now as it shows its hot when it isn't. My last Bongo, without a Mason, developed a pinhole leak in a rear heater pipe & ran very low on coolant. The standard gauge started reading high & warned me of the problem. I fixed the leak, refilled it, & then did another 10k (miles) before I sold it with no further problems. Others have said here that once the (standard) gauge rises then the damage has been done, that certainly wasn't my experience & I would be surprised if a major manufacturer would build a vehicle who temp gauge was that was so ineffective that damage would occur without it telling you.

Don't get me wrong, I think the Mason audible alarm is very useful, however the way my gauge functions now makes it virtually useless.