Bongo Fury

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steady1946 wrote:Hi All
Finally got my Bongo sorted out. The mechanic was going to check the thermostat to find that there wasn't even one there. He also had the rad checked for any flow problems and found that it was only working at 70%. He thinks that the rad was probably faulty and that is why the stat was taken out to cover up the fault. I have had a new rad fitted and a stat and 2 sensors. He tested to see if the fans came on (with the Mason fitted),they did not come on until it got to near the 'H'. So he had a word with a Bongo garage in Bristol who said that the Mason can cause the temp to go up too much. The Bristol garage said the only thing they put on a Bongo is the Haydn Low Coolant alarm.So I said to remove the Mason,and the fans now come on at about 1'oclock. She also runs a lot better.


Ed

I'll keep saying it, the Mason alarm has nothing to do with the fans coming on at all, it is just a temperature gauge that is seperate from the fan sensor which is at the rear of the block & goes through the ecu.
By removing the Mason all you have done is dumb the gauge back down, unless a garage is measuring temps how do they know it's too near the H? if it is, it's telling you something is wrong - that's the whole point
If your rad fans aren't coming on until a dumbed down gauge reaches 1 0 clock, you may be running too hot. top hose outlet should be controlling between @82 & 88 degrees & the rad fans should kick in when it's @92 degrees.
It will not be running better because you've taken the Mason off, I'm sorry, but this "Garage in Bristol" are talking rubbish IMO.

I agree.....keep the Mason wired in.....it has nothing to do with the cooling fans...

Hi
The garage in Bristol is called ADS Ltd who do Bongo diagnostics and electrical work.They are recommended by Fury.

Ed

steady1946 wrote:Hi All
Finally got my Bongo sorted out. The mechanic was going to check the thermostat to find that there wasn't even one there. He also had the rad checked for any flow problems and found that it was only working at 70%. He thinks that the rad was probably faulty and that is why the stat was taken out to cover up the fault. I have had a new rad fitted and a stat and 2 sensors. He tested to see if the fans came on (with the Mason fitted),they did not come on until it got to near the 'H'. So he had a word with a Bongo garage in Bristol who said that the Mason can cause the temp to go up too much. The Bristol garage said the only thing they put on a Bongo is the Haydn Low Coolant alarm.So I said to remove the Mason,and the fans now come on at about 1'oclock. She also runs a lot better.


Ed

When the gauge gets towards "H" with the Mason its the same as the 11oclock un-masoned because... (Help me out here..?) When it hit the expected to come on at "lunch time" fans cut in stage by the mechanics with the mason fitted, the engine wasn't up to temperature... Basically they didn't wait long enough?? (Or even bang it up the road i bet!)

I mentioned it before in this thread.. It's not the first time a Bongo friendly garage got freaked by the Mason... Messing with the contrast of yer TV screen don't twist yer aerial.... (Or ya digi box...)


But i'm glad you got it sorted Ed!

steady1946 wrote:Hi All
Finally got my Bongo sorted out. The mechanic was going to check the thermostat to find that there wasn't even one there. He also had the rad checked for any flow problems and found that it was only working at 70%. He thinks that the rad was probably faulty and that is why the stat was taken out to cover up the fault. I have had a new rad fitted and a stat and 2 sensors. He tested to see if the fans came on (with the Mason fitted),they did not come on until it got to near the 'H'. So he had a word with a Bongo garage in Bristol who said that the Mason can cause the temp to go up too much. The Bristol garage said the only thing they put on a Bongo is the Haydn Low Coolant alarm.So I said to remove the Mason,and the fans now come on at about 1'oclock. She also runs a lot better.


Ed

How does this statement relate to his earlier test & statement?

steady1946 wrote:Hi All
I had a word with my mechanic today and he said he has tested the sensors to see if they work,by putting them in a saucepan of boiling water and then applying more heat until the fans start working. This did happen,so there is no fault electrical.He is almost sure that the fault is a flow problem,either the stat or the rad.So tomorrow he is going to test the stat. The sensors and stat he got from Bongo Bits.I hope it is only the stat at fault and not the rad .
Will let you know the outcome.

Ed

Lets hope he's got to the bottom of it & it's all ok , but I'd personally be a bit concerned that it was coming up to "1 oclock" on an unmodified gauge before the fans switch on, I'd want to check what that related to as an actual temperature? Do you know what thermostat he fitted?

This seems to be getting into a kind of a .......when do your Fans run thread...... not wishing to get too controversial but no one will really know for sure when the Cooling fans "should" run until the ECU work is done. The ECU work needs to link the information and parameters from the temperature sensors plus any trigger points that the fans should kick in with the info from inside the ECU.
ECU's are not my bag but I do understand the theory of how they are supposed to work, nothing more.

With a Mason the temp gauge goes full swing from cold to hot.....and can give some scarey readings when 1st fitted......all I know from my experience and from other members is that the main engine fans don't run until the Mason adapted gauge reads almost on the H reading.....

This is probably why Mazda damped the gauge down so that under normal running the 11'oclock reading would be fine.....even if the fans kicked in..... BUT this leaves very little leway between fans kicking in and overheating....

I'll get my coat...

mikexgough wrote:This seems to be getting into a kind of a .......when do your Fans run thread...... not wishing to get too controversial but no one will really know for sure when the Cooling fans "should" run until the ECU work is done. The ECU work needs to link the information and parameters from the temperature sensors plus any trigger points that the fans should kick in with the info from inside the ECU.
ECU's are not my bag but I do understand the theory of how they are supposed to work, nothing more.

With a Mason the temp gauge goes full swing from cold to hot.....and can give some scarey readings when 1st fitted......all I know from my experience and from other members is that the main engine fans don't run until the Mason adapted gauge reads almost on the H reading.....

This is probably why Mazda damped the gauge down so that under normal running the 11'oclock reading would be fine.....even if the fans kicked in..... BUT this leaves very little leway between fans kicking in and overheating....

I'll get my coat...

Nope. Ya got me there. Can't get my head around that one

I look at it this way... From memory, most of the vehicles i have owned have sat at 11.. Had only one over heating episode with an MG Metro! (Head went.) Came to the conclusion the gauges move too late on most of the motors i have had... (Could they all be "damped??)

My partners (Fiancee's) Micra just has 2 temp lights? blue one when still cold & a red one that has never come on.. Presumably to say "i'm over heating..!!"

It's documented on here that when my top hose went 2 years ago the Mason let me know i was getting hot, i stopped & that's when i realized the steam from under the drivers door!
Lucky no other damage.

Yeah, it freaks the "Breakfast Club" out, yer mates tell you you seem to be running a bit hot, & the non Masonic Bongoliers lean in the window & say i don't like that!!

But, if all is well the temp needle shouldn't go any higher, & if it does (providing you set the Mason right to go off at an inappropriate temp) the alarm will sound while yer eyes are on the road & you will stop in time... Not because yer engine has been flogged @ Deff Con 1...

mikeonb4c wrote:

mikexgough wrote:
This is probably why Mazda damped the gauge down so that under normal running the 11'oclock reading would be fine.....even if the fans kicked in..... BUT this leaves very little leway between fans kicking in and overheating....

I'll get my coat...

Nope. Ya got me there. Can't get my head around that one

Mike I guess I didn't put it in plain english..... Typical me.....

What I was saying was .....in normal operation the standard gauge would move to the 11 o'clock position and remain there until it overheated....... and going on in the background could be hot engine and sufficient to kick the fans in......or when the gauge swings over then it is an overheat....

With a Mason adjusted gauge.....this becomes more "exciting" as the needle moves to full or almost full scale in normal use.
Several Bongonauts including me....have seen the Masoned gauge move to almost the H mark before the fans kick in.......

So I was eluding to the reason that Mazda decided to damp the gauge was to stop the Japanese Bongo owners having a panic ........also this shows the fine line between the fans cutting in and an overheat scenario......as the fans do kick in at a late stage......and as the manual suggests, what I feel(personal opinion) is a too high temperature before the ECU tells the fans they need to wake up.......