Bongo Fury

Mountain wrote:
Also, that one and the new pattern one did not have a locating ear. So, if I'd not splashed out on a genuine one I wouldn't know about this!

If you are talking about the 'ear' in the rubber seal (shown in the pic just above the jiggle pin) being missing, then that is worrying because it means that whoever fitted the ones WITHOUT the ear didn't appear to know what they were doing.

There are several stats on the Tama site that LOOK the same, but in fact are for a different vehicle and do not have the same characteristics as a Bongo stat.

Yep, the one that came out just had a circular seal...no 'locating 'ear'.

I suspect the jiggle pin was not at the highest point and therefore resulted in a pocket of air.

No wonder bleeding it was so difficult.

So a combination of sludge, knackered hoses, cracked pump housing, hole in the metal cooling pipe to the turbo and now .......the wrong stat the wrong way up, led to my head gasket failure . Let's face it, the head gasket didn't stand a chance

I don't think the guy that sold it could have messed up any more if he'd tried

Furthermore he's saying it was my fault for not keeping a close enough eye on the temperature......4 days after buying it

Mountain wrote:

So a combination of sludge, knackered hoses, cracked pump housing, hole in the metal cooling pipe to the turbo and now .......the wrong stat the wrong way up, led to my head gasket failure . Let's face it, the head gasket didn't stand a chance

I don't think the guy that sold it could have messed up any more if he'd tried
Furthermore he's saying it was my fault for not keeping a close enough eye on the temperature......4 days after buying it

Stat not the wrong way up (can't get it in upside down), just the wrong way round, and I don't think the stat played a great part in your particular problems. (wouldn't have helped though)
Sounds as if (in the past) that your Bongo suffered a problem that was not fully bottomed and rectified.

As far as the seller trying to blame you is concerned, he's well out of order (unless he made you aware of potential problems when you bought it)

Have sent you a pm - we have hi-jacked this thread and it aint really fair to dreamwarrioruk

The air trapped under the stat will not affect bleeding, as the bulb is above the stat, in constant water flow from the heater circuit & engine recirc.
I'm still doubtfull the jiggle pin plays a huge part in the initial bleeding, that's a big lump of air trapped in that bottom hose if you've emptied & refilled, I think it's there to allow any small amounts of trapped air ONCE BLED during normal operation, to escape through. Just my opinion

That's what I meant...wrong way around.......

Appologies to Dreamwarrior.....I keep hijacking threads

Hopefully soon I won't need to

missfixit70 wrote:The air trapped under the stat will not affect bleeding, as the bulb is above the stat, in constant water flow from the heater circuit & engine recirc.
I'm still doubtfull the jiggle pin plays a huge part in the initial bleeding, that's a big lum of air trapped in that bottom hose if you've emptied & refilled, I think it's there to allow any small amounts of trapped air ONCE BLED during normal operation, to escape through. Just my opinion

I reckon you're on the right lines there (after all the workshop manual clearly wants an open stat when bleeding). Plus the issue of it being there to prevent a strong temp gradient across the stat when closed also is on the radar scope as a likely target.

dreamwarrior
i would recommend that anyone changing should stick to the genuine part. we have a mason on ours and it was usually sitting at around 10 past midpoint on the gauge with occasional going nearly to the bottom of the H.

This is exactly how mine runs now with 95% new hoses on and a genuine stat.
Terrifies me when the gauge nudges towards H when I'm queuing in traffic. I would say it's stops at around 3-4mm before the line before H. Either the fans kick in or I start moving again and it goes back to just past 1 o clock.

My extra top hose temp gauge generally reads 77 to 83C. Most it's got to is 89C in a big traffic jam.

Does this sound normal?

I've done about 200miles since I've had the new hoses and stat. No overheating or leaks so far.
However, after the last 5 weeks I get very edgy when that temp rises.
I do now have a low coolant alarm too.

have you changed your rad yet, that sounds like its causing a bottleneck, i was out in ours today and couldnt get the temperature to go above midway point, im more paranoid now cause its running correctly, there has been some question as how varied the temp gauge mod can be with the readings. i know that our rads working correct as when i had it at my mates we were trying to jump another van, the temp crept up over a while then fans kicked in and the temp dropped like a stone back to midway point. certainly didnt have that before with non gen stat, or the very blocked radiator.

the temps your getting seem to be ok but im sure that someone will be alone with more theorys

dont worry bout hijacking thread, its all to about coolant so its in the right area.

Not changed the rad yet- you mean the actual one rather than the heater one? Heater is baking hot now BTW. I'm waiting for the 2 heater hoses and the bottom header tank one to arrive from Japan.

The bottom header hose is definitely full of crud. You can feel it 'crunching' when you squeeze it. That's got to be causing a restriction.

....the Bongo is more of a work in progress. The rad is on the cards at some point but I need to save some pennies

OK, I've decided to buy a new radiator as soon as I can. As I'm waiting for the remaining 3 hoses-2 front heater and bottom header tank-it makes sense to to get the rad changed at the same time.

Then I will have all new rubber hoses, a new genuine stat and a new rad. Surely my cooling system will have to be more efficient?

The rad flushes through fine, but obviously I can't tell what it's like inside. Considering how clogged up everything else has been, I think it's highly likely that the rad is at least partially restricted.

I'm still not happy with the temperature rising towards the H mark in heavy traffic and steep hills as it makes me very nervous.

The only thing that concerns me is if I still get such a fluctuation afterwards, what else could it be? If it's getting hot it has to be the cooling system surely?

you can check the rad for cold spots when the coolant is flowing through it , on ours there was less than 2/3 hot areas

coming to think of it....I did notice the rad was cool towards the bottom before but assumed it because the stat hadn't opened. That was a while back when I was fixated with hoses and stats.

I'll go for a spin in a while and have a feel

So, were you the silver or green Bongo in york? Or neither......

Well, there is a cold area at the LHS corner, everywhere else that I can get my hand to is hot.....but that's only as far as I can feel....which is not that far.

So, we can safely say there is some clogging!

what time, ive been at malton all day.

Not today, a fortnight ago. I drove to Mazda to pick up my hose and saw 2 bongos on the way in York!