Bongo Fury

Hi - I'm looking at a purchase and the vehicle looks great in the photos. It has been in the country since November and has had no sealing underneath, vendor says however 'it looks like a new car'. One Mazda garage I spoke to said he would not recommend waxoyl etc. because if there is any damp it will only be locked in. He also said 'if you can't see rust then there is no rust' - The van is N reg, can I have some opinions please? Thanks - Rompel

rompelstiltskin wrote:Hi - I'm looking at a purchase and the vehicle looks great in the photos. It has been in the country since November and has had no sealing underneath, vendor says however 'it looks like a new car'. One Mazda garage I spoke to said he would not recommend waxoyl etc. because if there is any damp it will only be locked in. He also said 'if you can't see rust then there is no rust' - The van is N reg, can I have some opinions please? Thanks - Rompel

Welcome rompelstiltskin.

The Mazda dealers advice sounds like a load of tosh to me, at aleast as far as Bongos go. Get someone sensible to look it over. Whereabouts are you (put your rough location in your profile) as we can then help more

mikeonb4c wrote:

rompelstiltskin wrote:Hi - I'm looking at a purchase and the vehicle looks great in the photos. It has been in the country since November and has had no sealing underneath, vendor says however 'it looks like a new car'. One Mazda garage I spoke to said he would not recommend waxoyl etc. because if there is any damp it will only be locked in. He also said 'if you can't see rust then there is no rust' - The van is N reg, can I have some opinions please? Thanks - Rompel

Welcome rompelstiltskin.

The Mazda dealers advice sounds like a load of tosh to me, at aleast as far as Bongos go. Get someone sensible to look it over. Whereabouts are you (put your rough location in your profile) as we can then help more

Thanks for reply.. new to the site so hope this works. We live in Bristol but the vehicle is in Southend. Ideally, finding someone in Southend to come and look it over is what we need.

welcome to the forum - have fun looking and try and get a few test drives of various Bongo's as they are all a little different then make your choice.
Waxoyl has been used by many owners on here and I have not heard any problems with damp getting "trapped" causing rust. The main problem has been on vehicles not treated.

Is it too late to have this done then?

I wouldn't say it was too late, and if the Bongo's only been here since November it may well be sound, although we did have some pretty rough weather last part of the winter. It's salt on the roads that typicaly causes probs, followed by condensation.

I can't believe Waxoyl will seal rust in and it's a fact that chassis members and body panels can rust from the inside out so to say if you can't see russt there isn't any is (as Mike said) tosh of the first order.

And welcome aboard, we're in Nailsea.

A lot of these vehicles are getting on a bit and there will be some signs of rust on the underside of every single one of them, when they get into this country that problem gets amplified by road salts etc.

Waxoyl wont cure existing rust but it will slow the whole process down and thats what counts, have a read of this:

http://www.waxoylrustproofing.co.uk/abo ... atment.php

Be a bit careful. If it has been driven at all in Uk during the winter without underseal and waxoil the damage could already have been done. Take the advice given on this thread.

any sealant wont cure rust but will significantly slow down the process as if its completely sealed (inside and out) then this should eliminate the required oxygen part of the reaction, its a messy job but well worth the effort to do it properly, i recall people saying they've seen demonstrations where the rep underseals in a white shirt, would love to see that! after a typical session, i usually gain 1/2 stone in weight from the underseal layer i'm wearing lol. its like a comedy sketch, you insert the probe in 1 hole, trigger and it comes squirting out of another hole and all over you! lol

undersealing tip from experience with bongo's is on the front sills, remove (from the front) the 1st/2nd/3rd bung and spray liberally backwards (towards rear of vehicle) as almost all bongos suffer from rust in that place and at the front of the sill, due to the sill being layered and having 3 internal overlaps, but also remove the last bung and spray forward and back, typically use about 1 litre per sill/cross member, done in 2 sittings to let it cure, 1st time with as thinned mix to aid penetration, some may say thats excessive, but thats the way i work! the rear end is a nightmare of chambers and crevices, that to fully seal you need the interior stripped out and the exhaust rear box off to be able to get all the necessary angles, ah the joys of bongo's lol

Julian

321Away wrote:any sealant wont cure rust but will significantly slow down the process as if its completely sealed (inside and out) then this should eliminate the required oxygen part of the reaction, its a messy job but well worth the effort to do it properly, i recall people saying they've seen demonstrations where the rep underseals in a white shirt, would love to see that! after a typical session, i usually gain 1/2 stone in weight from the underseal layer i'm wearing lol. its like a comedy sketch, you insert the probe in 1 hole, trigger and it comes squirting out of another hole and all over you! lol

undersealing tip from experience with bongo's is on the front sills, remove (from the front) the 1st/2nd/3rd bung and spray liberally backwards (towards rear of vehicle) as almost all bongos suffer from rust in that place and at the front of the sill, due to the sill being layered and having 3 internal overlaps, but also remove the last bung and spray forward and back, typically use about 1 litre per sill/cross member, done in 2 sittings to let it cure, 1st time with as thinned mix to aid penetration, some may say thats excessive, but thats the way i work! the rear end is a nightmare of chambers and crevices, that to fully seal you need the interior stripped out and the exhaust rear box off to be able to get all the necessary angles, ah the joys of bongo's lol

Julian

The man knows his stuff

I wonder if even the expensive operators get right into some of the chambers and crevices Julian mentions. I suppose the only hope is that with luck, neither does the moisture On an N Reg Bongo there could be a lot of stuff that was well underway before it even came to the UK. Mine was a v. smart looking machine than had been in UK 2 years when I go it and had not been waxoyled, but had only a slight patina of rust on the underside. I had a really good job done by Chassis Clean as soon as I bought it, but 2 years into my ownership I discovered a complete, but localised rusted through hole on the n/s front cill (probably the problem bit Julian describes), and others did too when they subsequently inspected theirs. On the other hand, Wheelquick easily made up a plate to weld up over it and its probably now better than new. But that rust must have been going on for some time, well before the Dinitrol waxoyl treatment was done. I guess part of owning an old campervan is having to expect to do some cutting out and repairing of rust even though you have had it waxoyled.

Thanks guys.. these two last posts in particular have done a lot to put our minds at rest. I think we could be really lucky with this van fingers crossed - will keep you posted.

Hi Romp.

Just to add to the good advice above. Your Mazda dealer is mistaken. Ok, if it looks clean then it IS clean. But it won't STAY that way!

As for trapping water - pah! Waxoyl is particularly good at dispelling water - it cuts through, sticks to the structure, and repels any water that's there. HOWEVER, undersealing should really be done in dry weather when you know that there isn't any water there in the first place.

Any muck should be hosed off beforehand - and then let dry.

Also spray on the INSIDES of the front and rear arches. The rears are accessed by removing the rear light cluster, and withdrawing the wiring grommet. Also remove the 'oddment' trays on the inside just above the rear wheel arches, and spray down liberally there.

Undersealing is ESSENTIAL. If you value your Bongo, then do it!