Pre-Trip Servicing

[mcbainia]

Afternoon folks.

I am taking the bongo away on a European trip in July and I plan to have my local garage give it the once over prior to going. Can anyone offer any tips or suggestions as to what I should be asking for ? Any specifics ?

The Bongo is a 2.0L Petrol with 30,000 miles on it. It had 25,000 miles on it when I bought it a few months back. My estimate is that I will be traveling 2500 miles over the 3 weeks.

Filters, Oil, Coolant is what I'm guessing....Or do I even need this ?

Any help welcomed.

Regards,

Craig

[wonkanoby]

when was it last serviced by a garage you trust

[mcbainia]

Never. Although I had my garage (who I trust) look over at it at the same time as under-sealing it and they said it was looking good.

[missfixit70]

Check everything, belts, tyres (at least 5mm I think for the continent by law?), hoses, brake pads, bushes, droplinks etc. Personally I'd do a gearbox oil change & filter clean, bet yours has never been done, fuel & oil filters & oil change if you're not sure when they were done or if there's any chance of the service schedule & trip overlapping, check the coolant strength & again I'd do a full chemical flush to make sure there are no nasty surprises waiting to happen.

[dunslair]

I know Kirsty said check belts.... but I would change the timing belt if you can afford it.... just in case the mileage is a tad higher than you think it is (not trying to frighten you there, cos it sounds like you have a great van, but the Japanese sometimes 'fiddle' with the mileage a little) The more you can do the better in my opinion, then you know where with everything before you set off. And don't leave it till the day before to get it all done, just in case it throws up anything that needs a part getting. I'm sure it will all be fine

[Glenda]

cos it sounds like you have a great van, but the Japanese sometimes 'fiddle' with the mileage a little)

Very unlikely with the strict shaken tests. Mileage liberties are 99% more likely to have been done in UK. BIMTA certify mileage from Japanese records. Can we not trust BIMTA? Otherwise I agree with all you say.

[New Forest Terrier]

If you heading south, its worth getting the air conditioning system gas topped up. Mine seemed OK until I was stuck in a hour and a half crawl last weekend on the day it reached 30C. Total meltdown, with the back windows only opening a bit it just boiled. An AC service found the gas was down to about a third of what it should have been. Once topped up, all is icy again. The performance drops off so slowly you only really notice it when you need it.

It should be topped up every two years, but mine had gone at least four before it got to that bad.

Fit a low coolant alarm if you haven't got one. Get the garage to check the condition of all the hoses. Replace any that look dubious before they cause trouble. Just standard preventive maintenance, as a hose gone is a Bongo speciality.