Where to begin... my partner and I have wanted a Bongo for years and as recent circumstances meant we needed to acquire a second vehicle, we decided to go for it. After a lot of searching we came across one being sold around the corner. You can literally see their house from our kitchen window. It was a 4WD Y plate, with minimum rust and the sellers appeared very genuine and tentatively accepted our offer of £2000 for a quick sale. They advised us that a few bits needed doing which were mainly the advisories from the recent MOT, but nothing that seemed too expensive after a phone call to our local Bongo specialist.
So.... we bought the Bongo and drove it 2 seconds round the corner to our home. This morning we took it to the specialist who gave it a very long inspection. Now, we know near to nothing when it comes to mechanics and we were accepting of the fact that buying one so cheap would mean it needed a 'bit' of work, but sadly this Bongo needs A LOT of work. Here is the list so far:
* ABS (they don't think it is the sensors but chance it could be)
* Radiotor needs replacing
* Pump may need replacing (I don't know much more than this... but it was to the right of the radiator)
* Potentially warped break disk/s
* Significant engine leak (mechanic seems to think this isn't a problem to fix), also a leak on the radiator but guessing the new radiator what sort this
* Slight reverse play on parking break
* Electrics on passengers window
* And worst of all...... there is pressure build up 'on the system', coming from a hose. I may know nothing about mechanics, but I know head gasket failure is a biggie.
I can cope most of the above list but we seriously don't have the funds to replace the head gasket. Plus, it has already had a cylinder head (same thing?) fixed/replaced a year and a half ago (it was maintained by same garage previous to our purchase, but the sellers simply didn't have the money to do anything but the basics, as it turns out) so the mechanic didn't recommend another head gasket change but a new engine. According to the mechanic he can't see that it is losing water and doesn't seem to think jot needs doing right away, but will need doing at some point. He said it could be months or years.
We just don't know what to do. We know we have been naive and frankly stupid in buying it in the first place, and sadly this has really tarnished our whole experience and we wish we never bought it, but the seller is saying she can't take it back. The main worry for me is that the head gasket is a ticking time bomb and we won't have the money to fix (nor want to spend it in the first place) when it goes. Therefore I would be on edge whenever we used it.
What would you do? Sell it? Fix it?
From two very unhappy Bongo owners!
- this is a must. 
) who may have or in the future may get similar ones.