Bongo Fury

Helen,
The severely sludged one? Was that caused by congealed antifreeze?

The reason I ask, is that blob of stuff on Neil's T piece looks just like the gunk that coats the inside of all those hoses I've replaced.

Hi
Without touching, smelling , I'm only guessing, but it looks like baked radiator sealant...I can't be specific, but the colour looks wrong for a congealed coolant. It looks like a certain make of sealant which I have tried many years ago as a last attempt at sealing a cracked block (didn't work didn't imagine it would)....I am firing a shot in the dark, here, but if there was a problem with congealing due to mixing, it may have caused precipitating and sludging, possibly causing an overheat, raising temperature in the head area adjacent to the T area (common enough area), causing temporary sprayout of coolant round the pipe, and failure of an old hose (seen it happen)....but as I say, It's a stab in the dark prompted by experience...Hopefully not catastrophic here, if a few new components are provided
Cheers
Helen

So what does congealed antifreeze look like?
I did have a lot...and I mean a lot...of sludge. It has been well flushed since. Once with the Holts 2 stage and also by the garage.

Thankfully, my rusty gunk is all gone- apart from the rust coating the insides of my few remaining unchanged hoses.

Let's hope Neil's prompt action has got to it in time.

Mountain wrote:So what does congealed antifreeze look like?
I did have a lot...and I mean a lot...of sludge. It has been well flushed since. Once with the Holts 2 stage and also by the garage.

Thankfully, my rusty gunk is all gone- apart from the rust coating the insides of my few remaining unchanged hoses.

Let's hope Neil's prompt action has got to it in time.

Sounds grim. I can't remember but did you have a new radiator fitted? Makes you wonder if front and rear heater rads. may be a bit clogged too.

My thought is that it has had a leak, and someone put a whole lot of leak-stopper in there,

I didn't like to say, but that was my first thought Helen.
Al seen a couple with this in them, that people have bought from elsewhere without realising it's in there. When he's flushed them it's like flushing thick rusty brown sludge out, and it takes an extra amount of flushing to shift it. And of course, if it was hiding a problem, you them have to deal with the problem. If there is a problem, they don't bleed until it's sorted.

But fingers crossed for this one, because it's hard to tell from a photo and it might be OK.

Sounds grim. I can't remember but did you have a new radiator fitted? Makes you wonder if front and rear heater rads. may be a bit clogged too.

Nope. Rear heater has been bypassed which points to blockage in the past.
Also, as the hoses get replaced it's obvious that some are newer than others. The rad also looks relatively new and flushed through fine.

It is now obvious that my Bongo has had cooling problems before.
If I was buying one today I'd be going around squeezing hoses and looking for signs of leakage rather than being impressed at how good it was underneath

You live and learn!

Mountain wrote:

You live and learn!

Afraid so. If only everyone knew about this site and read all the stuff before they went hunting, some of the pain might be avoided. On the plus side, your Bongo seems otherwise to be quite a smart one and you'd be lucky to get a campervan like that for less £. The head has been done and that seems to have worked. The painful bit is that I reckon you need an engine temp sensor (TM2 probably best bet) so you can monitor to ensure the engine isn't running hot. And you may be well advised to replace main rad. and heater rad(s). Maybe fit the TM2 first then see how your temps compare with the figures on the chart widdowson (Steve) is compiling.

Good luck - you're due for some

Anyone got an idea about the cost of a new front heater rad?

Thanks for all the replies people, I've taken pictures round to a few garages now and will be booking it in tommorow to get it sorted out at one that seemed to have experience of bongos and bleeding issues. Will also be fitting a temp/coolant alarm in case this is the start of more leaks.