Bongo specialist - North Wales? Pride and joy overheating :(

[Duder]

Hi,
Took the Van from Japan out for a run yesterday after not using it for a couple of weeks, and was running fine at first, then started overheating at below 30 mph just as I joined the dual carriageway. Got up to about 55 and the temp was fine again, pulled off to limp home as we hadn't got far and overheated again.

Symptoms:
Temp gauge was on 'OMFG this is hot!' end of the scale when I stopped.
Water was boiling out of the header tank, but I couldn't see any leaks. Radiator was full.
When temp gauge was showing overheating, heater was blowing cold air.
When speed was over 55mph, engine temp dropped to normal, heater worked fine.

I obviously wouldn't have driven it for very far running hot, but as we'd already got onto the dual carriageway with two small kids in the back so didn't want to sit on the side of the road waiting to be recovered and it cooled down as soon as we got going.

I've spent about 3 hours reading all the possible overheating problems on here, and decided best thing to do is find a local mechanic who understands Bongos. I'm pretty OK mechanically, but there are loads of problems that could be causing this overheating.

Does anyone:

a) know a garage near to Llandudno who knows what they're doing with a Bongo?
b) have any ideas about what might be causing the problem?

Cheers,
Joe

[francophile1947]

No idea about garages, but you could try sending a PM to the writer of this thread http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... 27&t=44817 - maybe he found out something
You've definitely got air in the cooling system, which is why the heater stopped working. It's bad news that the gauge went so high, because it is heavily damped and damage to the head has often been done by the time
Try bleeding the system, using the factsheet and/or YouTube videos, and check for leaks. Hopefully you'll get away with it, although the signs point to a head/head gasket failure

[Duder]

Thanks for the tip.

I just topped it up with water and ran it for half an hour stationary with no leaks visible from anywhere, then drove drove it for 5 miles at between 30 - 50.

Gauge didn't go anywhere near hot, and it ran ok so hopefully the head is ok. When I opened the bonnet after driving, there was some steam escaping from the top of the radiator, just below the filler cap, so I think maybe it's the radiator that's the problem.

[francophile1947]

There have been quite a few cases where the join between the plastic header tank and radiator matrix has failed.
If you've still got the standard gauge, it won't go above the 11 o'clock position until serious overheating actually occurs

[hembramacho]

PM sent.

Andrew