Bongo Fury

Hi Folks ... I have not used the Bongo since the coolant flush ... apart from checking the level next morning and all looked well. Not going to make the Red Squirrel trip this weekend and busy next week so may be a wee while before I get the chance to give it a decent run ... not that I anticipate there will be any probs of course!

What sort of distance would be needed for a proper test? I could use it instead of the car for an Edinburgh trip but not sure if that would get it hot enough?

Hopefully won't be needing to organising group engine rebuilding sessions!

Mike

Give your Bongo a run over the border at Carter Bar on the A68 and back. The climb up and down should give your Bongo a wee test to see if it over heats and the cooling fan kicks in as it should. Although it is not a huge climb the numerous bends in the road cause loss of momentum so I use the S gear to do the job.

Tony

Mike,
Driving in Edinburgh would be as good a test as any, I'm sure the fans will come on if and when you are stuck in traffic, drive home thru Musselburgh and Tranent, if it does not overheat after that lot then it's job done.

Jim....

Arrg! the Edinburgh bye pass, I got stuck in it on Monday in my Jeep Cherokee taking June to the airport. I must have travelled at least half its length crawling at 5 to 10 mph. Might be a be a bit much for testing a newly bled Bongo.

Tony

Jim the Box wrote:Mike,
Driving in Edinburgh would be as good a test as any, I'm sure the fans will come on if and when you are stuck in traffic, drive home thru Musselburgh and Tranent, if it does not overheat after that lot then it's job done.

Jim....

just test it in the driveway, run it up to temp then rev/off until the fans come on. it tends to be really hard to get the fans on so i tend to get it as hot as i can (without fans on) then switch it off for 3-4 mins then put the ignition on, they usually come on with the heat build up in the head and no flow from the water pump.
a lot safer than a poss coolant dump out on the road.

Well .. I am thinking everything must be ok as I have driven around 120 miles round the borders today. All seems to be as it should. Heaters working and getting the cabin tropical. No hisses and gurgles.

Thanks again for all the help.

Mike

Looks like we got a result then Mike but you did not mention if there was any movement of the level of coolant in the header tank or not.

Tony

stuc wrote:Sounds like you had fun, will try and come up next time. This sounds like a great idea, using mechanical issues as a meet which gets a job done and teaches in the process.

If it's ball joints, I'm now set up for that. Anybody?

MountainGoat wrote:Looks like we got a result then Mike but you did not mention if there was any movement of the level of coolant in the header tank or not.

Tony

True... I thought I'd replied to you Mike - did I PM you or did I simply not click send?

Good news, anyway.
Matt.

Update ... no movement in the coolant level.. so success all round!!

Thanks again everyone.

Mike

Great to hear.

Matt's done something right for once. With a little bit of help from the rest of us.

Tony

MountainGoat wrote:Matt's done something right for once. With a little bit of help from the rest of us.

Tony

He is definitely a contender for The Golden Spanner Award

I agree but Matt already has a spaniel, I hope that the two get on well together.

Tony