Advice after hellish service.

[tallbongo]

Hi - sorry to pick your brains yet again, but I have a dilema.

We are planning a 2 week holiday in our Bongo soon. As we only have the previous owner's word for the work done we thought we'd get it serviced first to be on the safe side.

Took it to the garage yesterday, expecting to get it back the same day, but only got it back today half completed. The garage had been recommended by a friend and the garage claimed Bongo experience - "Oh yes - we work on quite a few of them". The garage had good reviews online, though not Bongo specific.

The oil has been changed and the coolant done. However, despite stressing several times that I wanted it bled thoroughly, my girlfriend, when picking it up, witnessed them pouring several bottles of coolant into the expansion tank and it spurting out all over the place. The radiators were on full temp suggesting it had overheated when they were driving it. Although the temp gauge had not risen above 11 o'clock on the drive home the engine seemed very hot and there were wisps of steam - hopefully just the spilt coolant boiling off. I'm aware the temp gauge has a dead spot - something I'll remedy with the mod.

The electrics are now faulty (cental locking, radio and immobiliser no longer work) although I'm hoping these will function when the engine bay dries out. The first two run off the leisure battery (I don't know about the immobiliser) and I reckon I can repair them myself if needs be. There are several bits missing (air intake and underbody panel are the two obvious ones) and the garage wants me to take it back on Monday to finish the job.

Clearly I'm gutted and very angry about it all. My plan of action is to go back on Monday and get them to reassemble the missing bits, then take it away without letting them do further work and get it checked elsewhere.

Does anyone have any advice about how I should proceed and what to get checked? I need it on the road by the end of next week.

Thanks.

P.S. If anyone is planning to take their Bongo to a garage in Motherwell feel free to PM me to see if it is the same one.

[waycar8]

Have you noticed if the seats/center console has been moved?, if not they havent bled it using the bleed hose, it has still got air in the system if it was boiling over when your GF went and all they did was pour more coolant into the system and not bleed it after.


take it back and watch them bleed the system again, but be carefull when driving it back, you dont want to damage the head if it isnt already.

Good luck and hope its just an airlock

as for the leccy, check the fuses

[gmaczbongo]

Phone and ask them the procedure for bleeding a bongo.
If they do not know the procedure for bleeding, tell them that they are not allowed to touch it again and get the missing bits.
they have not done any damage.
Phone another garage and ask them if they know how to bleed the engine.
Negotiate reduced price for service and warn them that any damage will be dealt with.

[haydn callow]

If they changed the oil I suppose they would have lifted the seats..
Ask the garage if they used the bleed hose and could they tell you where it is?
If they cannot....warn them that any damage is their responsability.

[bigdaddycain]

The malfunctioning central locking and stereo could well be down to a flat leisure battery. If it is flat, then the fuse may blow (if it hasn't already) to the relay controlling the power flow to the battery. If this is the case, charge the battery off the vehicle, replace the fuse, then re-fit and test. Chances are the central locking, stereo etc will then work ok.

Coolant. In the meantime, you'll probably discover the coolant level has dropped significantly since the bongo was last driven. Some of the level drop will be down to the coolant contraction when cold (if you check the level with cold engine) The rest of the level drop will be down to expelled air which will be sitting at the top of the "expansion tank" (thus the air now being displaced by coolant) The level will need topping up (use straight water if unsure of coolant compatibility) And carry some water in the vehicle just in case. Major airlocks can't be displaced by just running up to temp, venting etc. But minor airlocks can. Try to find out what coolant the garage used to if possible,and try to ascertain if they flushed the system out before re-filling.

It's quite common for the undertray to be missing off a bongo, (they are often overlooked and forgotten about by garages when checking for leaks etc). Is the air intake you refer to the intake behind the bottom of the front bumper? This is the intake for the intercooler, that should definitely be replaced. They can be prone to damage, and may have been removed rather than leaving an unsightly smashed intake in place. If however your bongo has bullbars with the plate scuttle, i very much doubt the intake would have been damaged, as the plate scuttle makes ground clearance collisions with the intake virtually impossible.

[321Away]

The immobiliser should run from the main battery and no amount of water in the engine bay should affect it in anyway? i'm curious as to how your driving he vehicle if the immobiliser isnt working? if installed correctly then short of replacing/bypassing it, there's no way the vehicle should run?
Julian

[tallbongo]

The immobiliser should run from the main battery and no amount of water in the engine bay should affect it in anyway? i'm curious as to how your driving he vehicle if the immobiliser isnt working? if installed correctly then short of replacing/bypassing it, there's no way the vehicle should run?
Julian

I know it should run from the main battery - I'm baffled as to how it is running myself. The light is flashing away, but it's not stopping the Bongo from starting - no need to use the touch device to disable it. Not a very good immobiliser, although I have a certificate stating it was fitted by a Toad approved installer.

Hopefully the engine bay has dried out by now. I'll check the electrics today as I was planning on doing some work on them anyway.

I'm also going to have a go at bleeding the coolant (with my glamourous assistant) before taking it back to the garage. Have watched the videos and it doesn't look difficult as long as you are patient and know where the bleed hose is.

[tallbongo]

Just bled the Bongo. The expansion tank was empty and it took nearly another litre of water (I didn't have any coolant to use).

The electrics were fixed. There was what looked like congealed coolant all over the split charge relay. Cleaned it up and everything was functioning again.

Unfortunately, because of my concern about the coolant I decided to do the temp gauge mod - short out diode and fit 100ohm res. It all seemed very simple but when I reassembled it the Bongo won't start. I've checked all the fuses and can't see any blown, but if any fuse fits the symptoms below please let me know and I'll check again.

What's happening:

Head lights work.
Upon inserting key the Bongo does the remove key beeping.
The immobiliser light is flashing. Using the touch widget makes it stay on full. The ignition code method of disarming it doesn't work. I've disconnected and reconnected the battery to see if this resets, but no change.
Turning the key has no effect. No dash lights come on and can't start the Bongo.

I undid the temp gauge mod but symptoms unchanged.

My suspects are the immobiliser and the 100A JE16 relay. I've disconnected the battery overnight to see if this forces an immobiliser rest.

Any help appreciated.

[tallbongo]

I forgot to add that I checked the 60A ignition fuse and even though it looked ok I replaced it with no change to the symptoms.

edit: just found the docs and the immobiliser is a toad sterling touch. The wiring on the back of the speedo unit has the SP+ line broken and what looks like a transponder across it.

[gmaczbongo]

Check battery has got a good charge, even if the light shines.
Bypass the immob, does it tell you iin the docs how to do this.

[tallbongo]

Thanks.

Battery is fine - 12.75V. No instructions on how to bypass immobiliser. I would doubt manufacturers publish this as it would lessen their security greatly.

It looks like the immobiliser is behaving. The actions of the flashing red light are as described in the docs. The symptoms therefore seem to be consistent with simply no activity on turning the key.

[g8dhe]

If neither the Starter or dashboard lights come on then the only common fuse is this one;

[tallbongo]

Thanks. I've checked that one, but will re-check! Getting desperate here!

Also going to take out dash unit again and clean up all contacts and pins.

[haydn callow]

Sounds as though that is your speedo conversion chip

edit: just found the docs and the immobiliser is a toad sterling touch. The wiring on the back of the speedo unit has the SP+ line broken and what looks like a transponder across it.[/quote]

[tallbongo]

Sounds as though that is your speedo conversion chip

That makes more sense!

I think I have this sorted now and it was stupidly simple. After cleaning up all the contacts I had no joy. So I then started to unplug/replug all the electrical push fit sockets. The ignition one to the left of the steering column was the cause. It didn't appear to be loose, but all seems ok now it has been replugged (fingers crossed).

Temp mod now done and it seems ok. Should have been a 20 min job all along!

Thanks to all who offered suggestions. I feel like a complete numpty (but a very relieved one). Hopefully if someone has similar symptoms they'll check this first now!