Europe trip

[umbongocat]

Well, we had a fabulous time in Austria/Italy/Slovenia/Croatia and France. The bongo did oer 2,500 miles but unfortunately, she fell ill in the Ardeche where we have had to leave her and fly back.

Had a few problems with her getting hot on some of the steep mountain climbs but on the whole she was great! Could not have seen the places we've seen without her. Hoping that she will be repatriated to the UK. Waiting for the garage in France to say they can't fix it and then insurance will send her back. Camping and Caravaning European breakdown cover have been absolutely fab! They sorted out hire car for the last week as well as flights home etc

Soca Valley in Slovenia is as beautiful as the pictures we've seen on here and we loved it! Now Just got to get Tink home and find out what's up.. think it's the gearbox but could be a clutch apparently.. either way I think it will be expensive but will have to wait and see what's what when I'm back in the UK

[mikeonb4c]

Well, we had a fabulous time in Austria/Italy/Slovenia/Croatia and France. The bongo did oer 2,500 miles but unfortunately, she fell ill in the Ardeche where we have had to leave her and fly back.

Had a few problems with her getting hot on some of the steep mountain climbs but on the whole she was great! Could not have seen the places we've seen without her. Hoping that she will be repatriated to the UK. Waiting for the garage in France to say they can't fix it and then insurance will send her back. Camping and Caravaning European breakdown cover have been absolutely fab! They sorted out hire car for the last week as well as flights home etc

Soca Valley in Slovenia is as beautiful as the pictures we've seen on here and we loved it! Now Just got to get Tink home and find out what's up.. think it's the gearbox but could be a clutch apparently.. either way I think it will be expensive but will have to wait and see what's what when I'm back in the UK

What a shame you had problems esp. as she has been so good up to now. Glad the stress was taken out of it by the breakdown cover people and hope things work out ok. Is she a diesel? automatic? Just remind me (apologies if it is in on another thread), how did you get to know she was getting hot on steep mountain climbs? And were you heavily loaded, and was the outside air temperature very hot? I wonder if there is a point where an ageing Bongo may just now be suitable to certain tasks, although plenty seem to have managed similar mountain journeys.

[Northern Bongolow]

hope you managed to keep calm guys and find the pub .
and hope everything gets sorted soon.
was this trip as eventful as the ferry trip a few years ago. go on cat put a link up to the thread, it did make good reading,and it may inspire others that are faced with a little problem.

[umbongocat]

The reason we knew she was getting hot is we have an engine alarm fitted as well as a coolant alarm. There were several very steep mountains we went up as well as a heatwave and temps reaching 46 outside. In terms of being heavy, we had a kayak on top and the bongo has a full side conversion. It wasn't easy going in the mountains and have to say I don't think I would risk doing such a long trip to mountains with a bongo again. It's a diesel 4 x 4 automatic. I was surprised having done trips before in mountains at the struggle the bongo had with some of them. Having said that we didn't need to worry about accommodation which was fab!

Sorry Ady, can't find umbongochris's post, but when he gets a chance I'm sure he'll post a funny one about this trip too. We still managed to smile through it all and still had a fantastic time. Now just waiting to hear when she'll be repatriated to the UK and to see if we can afford to have her fixed. Have a feeling she'll be off road for a bit though

[mikeonb4c]

The reason we knew she was getting hot is we have an engine alarm fitted as well as a coolant alarm. There were several very steep mountains we went up as well as a heatwave and temps reaching 46 outside. In terms of being heavy, we had a kayak on top and the bongo has a full side conversion. It wasn't easy going in the mountains and have to say I don't think I would risk doing such a long trip to mountains with a bongo again. It's a diesel 4 x 4 automatic. I was surprised having done trips before in mountains at the struggle the bongo had with some of them. Having said that we didn't need to worry about accommodation which was fab!

Sorry Ady, can't find umbongochris's post, but when he gets a chance I'm sure he'll post a funny one about this trip too. We still managed to smile through it all and still had a fantastic time. Now just waiting to hear when she'll be repatriated to the UK and to see if we can afford to have her fixed. Have a feeling she'll be off road for a bit though

I wonder if the fans were switching in as/when they should. I can see that everything would need to be working well on a Bongo in those conditions as low forward speed, hard working engine, maybe reduced cooling due to low air density (not sure of my physics there but...), and inboard mounted engine, would mean working fans essential plus good coolant circuation also. As an engine though, the Bongo should cope well enough with the mountains I'd have thought - provided it can be kept cool (the autobox likewise, and they do say fit an intercooler when towing, and this is a similar situation).

Very bad luck though and probably no way you could really have foreseen it. Hope it all gets sorted OK.

Mike

[umbongocat]

THe coolant levels were fine and didn't budge. Pretty sure it's gearbox but will keep you updated once I've spoken to the garage next week.

I'm not convinced the bongo with full side conversion and weight of gas, clothes, Kayaks etc is suitable for these kinds of trips. They were not made to be converted fully like they are here and to have Kayaks on the roofs. There were other campers that coped better than the bongo on the mountain roads and even on the motorways in the mountain regions. Still think the bongo is fab but would be more careful about where I would go with one in the future. The fans do kick in late and did kick in but we did have to pull over several times and keep engine running and heating on to let it cool down. OK for us as we were in no rush but could have been a pain for some

[bongodonkey]

I'm really surprised that your bongo got poorly. Hats off for staying so positive. I'm a bit curious about the over heating, bearing in mind that Japan itself is quite mountainous and has a huge temperature rate through the seasons, from minus 20 up to and through the mid plus 40's.

Admittedly our previous bongo was a V6 (on lpg) and we took it through some long climbs in the French Alps near Geneva, and that was a side conversion and with a full camper load to boot! I understand that the petrol runs a bit cooler as well.

I wonder if there are any running checks that you can carry out prior to long trips like that: such as checking the fans kicking in, ratio of coolant (h2o, anti freeze etc), oil temps etc, ATF levels and quality. .

My knowledge of the engine is minimal at best and that's based on the V6 rather than the diesel. However from reading posts on the forum the diesel is bomb proof as long as the coolant is good.

I'm quite curious to see how this goes. Hopefully it's not going to be expensive.

The only other thing that I can think of is driving during the cooler hours; early morning and late evening. However, not much of a holiday if your'e having to get up even earlier that you do at home just to get from A to B!

[seventiesboy]

So sorry to hear that you had problems and I hope your Bongo gets fixed soon.

Soca valley is superb but as you say, there are a lot of steep roads around Slovenia. The pass over to Italy from Kobarid comes to mind.

Where did you get to in Croatia? We got as far as Rovinj in Istria this summer. 42 deg C was plenty hot enough for me.

Good luck

[umbongocat]

So sorry to hear that you had problems and I hope your Bongo gets fixed soon.

Soca valley is superb but as you say, there are a lot of steep roads around Slovenia. The pass over to Italy from Kobarid comes to mind.

Where did you get to in Croatia? We got as far as Rovinj in Istria this summer. 42 deg C was plenty hot enough for me.

Good luck

Yep, the pass over Italy from Kobarid was one of the places we had to pull over. I know nothing about engines etc, but it was suggested to me that if the gear box was on it's way out anyway, perhaps this didn't help with it overheating at times. Thankfully, we do have the alarm so we knew when it was getting too hot and were able to stop to let it cool down.

Will post an update when we know exactly what's wrong with it. It's currently still at a Mazda garage somewhere in the Ardeche. They're looking at it on the 1st Sept and will make a decision on if they can fix it or whether it will need to be repatriated. Tried explaining that just because it's a Mazda it doesn't mean Mazda garage will know about the bongo. We were very lucky it happened in France to be honest as I speak French and have family there which was a great bonus. If it had been anywhere else I think it could have been far more difficult.

[MountainGoat]

Hmmm! My fans of my diesel always kick in plenty of time since Ady changed all the coolant hoses, flushed and bled the cooling system for me. Even just just climbing ove Shap on the M6 they kick in in plenty of time going on and off as they should. I trust that over the mountains you made good use of the S and L gear to prevent your Bongo from over reving. Quite a few members have tackled the mountains in their bongos and had no problems so I will be very intrested in the out come of your problem.

Tony

[dvisor]

Sorry to hear of your problems Catherine; as you know, we followed in your footsteps a week later. No trouble getting over the Alps for us (we've done the Alps and the Pyrenees a few times now), fully laden and with 4 occupants (but no conversion) - the Mason alarm chirrups away as we climb, but soon stops as the fans kick in. The Bongo seemed to take it all in its stride. Hope you get sorted soon.

Did you stay at Camp Soca? Lovely site, and blisteringly hot when we were there. If so, what did you make of the owners?

[umbongocat]

Sorry to hear of your problems Catherine; as you know, we followed in your footsteps a week later. No trouble getting over the Alps for us (we've done the Alps and the Pyrenees a few times now), fully laden and with 4 occupants (but no conversion) - the Mason alarm chirrups away as we climb, but soon stops as the fans kick in. The Bongo seemed to take it all in its stride. Hope you get sorted soon.

Did you stay at Camp Soca? Lovely site, and blisteringly hot when we were there. If so, what did you make of the owners?

Hiya Yes we stayed at Camp Soca and absolutely loved it, beautiful site and very relaxed and laid back. The owners seemed fine and left us to it really. We ate one night at the restaurant and had the fresh trout... delicious!

Our Mason chirped and we usually pulled over for a bit and then it would stop. The van is being repatriated to the UK and I'll find out on Monday when. It's going straight to 321 Away where we'll find out the damage. If it's the gearbox, it will have to stay at 321 for a bit until we get the money to fix it.

Absolutely loved our trip to Soca but didn't really get on with Croatia... too expensive to camp there and very loud and noisy.

Hope you enjoyed your trip and glad you had great weather too

[umbongocat]

Update:

Bongo is fixed and running like a beauty. It was the clutch in the gearbox. The gearbox was totally knackered. Got it replaced and have a years guarantee on it now Hopefully, she has a long life ahead of her again with or without us as we're likely to be moving on and jumping ship to get a motorhome

[mikeonb4c]

Update:

Bongo is fixed and running like a beauty. It was the clutch in the gearbox. The gearbox was totally knackered. Got it replaced and have a years guarantee on it now Hopefully, she has a long life ahead of her again with or without us as we're likely to be moving on and jumping ship to get a motorhome

Great news

[Muzorewa]

....we're likely to be moving on and jumping ship to get a motorhome

Great news

No it's not