Bongo Fury

Just had some work done on the Bongo including a new steel coolant pipe - drivers side T junction leaking and a new waterpump. Had it done at trusted (and Fury recommended) local Garage by their Bongo man. On the way home TM2 and Mason temp gauge all in order but after the short 4 mile run when I got home I checked under the bonnet and the header tank was almost empty and it had obviously thrown the fluid out of the top.

Panicked and phoned garage who told me not to worry, must have been an airolock working its way out, wait for it to cool and top it up - should be fine.

Well I did that and have just taken it for another quick run, got up to temp and ran it gently up some of the hills round here, again no problem temp wise although temp gauge and TM2 both responding to hills and 'stat opening as usual - although it might be my paraniod imagination thinking its a degree or so hotter than usual. Stopped and checked for any fluid coming out of the header, but none at all.

Anyway I do trust the garage, the guy knows his Bongos and he assured me he spent ages bleeding it properly and took it for a decent run too. I know that after a re-fill and bleed its not uncommon to need to top up the header tank, but what do people think about the need for another bleed if it burped some out of the header?

There's often a little air trapped which comes out through the header tank. As long as the level in the header tank didn't drop too low, topping it up should be fine. It sounds like the mechanic may not have fully mastered the bleeding procedure

It depends what you mean by "almost empty"

Lewy wrote: Panicked and phoned garage who told me not to worry, must have been an airolock working its way out, wait for it to cool and top it up - should be fine.

If this true

Anyway I do trust the garage, the guy knows his Bongos and he assured me he spent ages bleeding it properly and took it for a decent run too.

This can't be

I know that after a re-fill and bleed its not uncommon to need to top up the header tank, but what do people think about the need for another bleed if it burped some out of the header?

If the header tank has emptied air can easily have got back into the system.
It needs to be done again properly and I wouldn't risk driving it anywhere until it has been.

Hmmm - thanks for those replies - its sort of what I was thinking.

Based only on the fact that after it had been bled, there was still air in the system, you're looking at 2 possibilities:
1.It has now bled out the last of the air itself, the header tank level did not drop too low so no further air has been introduced. So all is now well.
2. Or, there may still be air in the system, so it needs to be bled again.