Bongo Fury

I am having a problem with my Bongo over-revving and the gearbox seeming to kick back down to a lower gear when on hills. The weird thing is that when I had the cv boot replaced the problem was cured and it drove like a dream for about a month. Now the problem has returned and I am at loss to explain it. I have looked at stuff posted on the forum relating to similar problems but cannot see any that completely explain the problem I am having. Any ideas anyone?

When was the fluid changed and the filter cleaned. It should be done every 24,000 miles .

When i bought it from the dealer last year they said that the van had been serviced before it was shipped from Japan. I have nothing to say that the oil had been changed. Do you think that this may be the problem and if so why?

The oil gets a bit of a hard life and can breakdown in viscosity which can affect the pressure but more importantly the mesh filter screen is VERY fine and gets choked with black scum causing by the paper clutch plates wearing. If you've no evidence of an oil change I'd get it done - worked wonders for mine.

Thanks for the reply and info - I'll give the oil change a go. Is it an easy job to do myself or do you recommend taking it to a dealer? Cheers

If you've got the facility to get the van up high enough to remove the pan and an oil disposal system and a parts washer to clean the filter then you could do it yourself.

also...........there's no drain screw on the pan so it takes a bit of fiddling about with the bolts to allow the pan to drop a corner to drain the old oil off......................................

Second thoughts - get a garage to do it..................

Thanks again for the info - I think I will go for the garage option!

Aren't the gaskets hard to get hold of too dandy? I seem to recall reading that a new gasket has to be cut out from cork sheet or something?

I imagine that the flange of the pan would need to be pressed onto the sheet forming a template, from which a replacement could be cut.

had mine done recently by local mechanic who did my 4x4s before the bongo ,he'd never seen a bongo before but never found any problems in doing it and never required a new gasket.....

I carefully eased the pan off and the gasket was ok and doesn't leak

Excellent!... Thats on the to do before the MOT service then...Along with new cambelt,EGR blanking,oil change,fuel filter,... ooh, i,d best start saving

dandywarhol wrote:When was the fluid changed and the filter cleaned. It should be done every 24,000 miles .

Hi Dandy
Is there any way of knowing if it needs changing? I'm not having any problems but I don't know when mine was done. When I checked the level, the fluid was a nice clean, clear red.

Out of interest, mine didn't have a gasket fitted - straight metal to metal faces. Seals fine...

Also, I bought one of these which is used far more than I thought it would be: Pela 6000 oil extractor. With the rear right wheel up a bit, I sucked the auto fluid out leaving less than an egg cup full in the sump. Which made working under the Bongo a bit easier.

Also use it when changing the engine oil - I suck out 4lt before dropping the sump plug in the usual way; 3lt in a drain pan is easier to carry about than 7...

Ooooh I like that very much indeed, and I could probably collect it. Gotta stop spending though - damn