Bongo Fury

Saturday before last set out with the family for a trip to the Witterrings on the south coast. only got about 1 mile when the Bongo vibrated as though it had a flat tyre.
Then realised it was the engine. It would only run on idle without really jerking. crept of the dual carriage way and called the AA. The AA had a look and reckoned, maybe a broken rocker.

As the AA could not tow me I very gently on idle drove it round to the garage who normally looks after it.

First report was that two rockers were broken, but they did not know what had caused it.
then when they went to fit the rockers they realised that the camshaft had snapped right in the middle,actually on the centre bearing. Well they fitted a new camshaft and luckily no damage had been done to valves and pistons, so it is running again fine.
I looked at the broken camshaft, and all the bearing faces were fine it appeared to be a metal fatigue fracture right on the line of the centre bearing oil way.

So wait and see and regain faith in the reliability of my van which has taken us on lots of trips this year down to Devon and Cornwall.

The van did have a new cylinder head about two and half years ago but it is difficult to see how this could be directly connected.

I am just happy to have the Van back working was thinking I might be in for a replacement engine!

That was a lucky escape That's the second broken camshaft on the forum this year

Exactly the same thing happened to me a few months back.

http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... =3&t=41107

Also on a replacement new head bought late 2008, mine was from Bongobits.

Not too long after that was resolved, the head cracked - again.

Try firing it up from cold with the rocker cover off & see how long it takes for the oil to reach the top end. Mine was really slow on No. 2 for some reason, I think that may have been a factor in my misery.

5w 30 semi synthetic,

Bluestreak wrote:Saturday before last set out with the family for a trip to the Witterrings on the south coast. only got about 1 mile when the Bongo vibrated as though it had a flat tyre.
Then realised it was the engine. It would only run on idle without really jerking. crept of the dual carriage way and called the AA. The AA had a look and reckoned, maybe a broken rocker.

As the AA could not tow me I very gently on idle drove it round to the garage who normally looks after it.

First report was that two rockers were broken, but they did not know what had caused it.
then when they went to fit the rockers they realised that the camshaft had snapped right in the middle,actually on the centre bearing. Well they fitted a new camshaft and luckily no damage had been done to valves and pistons, so it is running again fine.
I looked at the broken camshaft, and all the bearing faces were fine it appeared to be a metal fatigue fracture right on the line of the centre bearing oil way.

So wait and see and regain faith in the reliability of my van which has taken us on lots of trips this year down to Devon and Cornwall.

The van did have a new cylinder head about two and half years ago but it is difficult to see how this could be directly connected.

I am just happy to have the Van back working was thinking I might be in for a replacement engine!

Was it a bare cylinder head you got or a Chinese made copy complete with camshaft and rockers.......................................

dandywarhol wrote:

Bluestreak wrote:Saturday before last set out with the family for a trip to the Witterrings on the south coast. only got about 1 mile when the Bongo vibrated as though it had a flat tyre.
Then realised it was the engine. It would only run on idle without really jerking. crept of the dual carriage way and called the AA. The AA had a look and reckoned, maybe a broken rocker.

As the AA could not tow me I very gently on idle drove it round to the garage who normally looks after it.

First report was that two rockers were broken, but they did not know what had caused it.
then when they went to fit the rockers they realised that the camshaft had snapped right in the middle,actually on the centre bearing. Well they fitted a new camshaft and luckily no damage had been done to valves and pistons, so it is running again fine.
I looked at the broken camshaft, and all the bearing faces were fine it appeared to be a metal fatigue fracture right on the line of the centre bearing oil way.

So wait and see and regain faith in the reliability of my van which has taken us on lots of trips this year down to Devon and Cornwall.

The van did have a new cylinder head about two and half years ago but it is difficult to see how this could be directly connected.

I am just happy to have the Van back working was thinking I might be in for a replacement engine!

Was it a bare cylinder head you got or a Chinese made copy complete with camshaft and rockers.......................................

Or is there any possibility the shaft mountings on the new head were a little 'out of tolerance' and put the old camshaft through cyclic stresses, leading to failure?

The Head was sourced by my garage and it came with a 2 year guarantee, so not the cheapest. The valves Rockers and camshaft were transferred from the old one.

I will email my guy at the garage and check whether it was a standard Mazda part. Also he could ask the mechanic whether the shaft and it bearing caps dropped straight into its location or whether there was any tightness indicating something out of line.

I still feel that any misalignment would have shown up on the bearing surfaces as discoloration, but they all look fine.

so its run it and have faith time.

Funnily enough I was looking for what could replace a Bongo ( sacrilege) as they are not getting any younger and you just cannot buy a newish one. looked at ones based on the Nissan Primestar or Vauxhall Vivaro I understand they are all the same van including the Renault. Checked a Forum site , and they were lots of stories about failing diesel pumps and injectors that cost a fortune to replace, so maybe stick with something we know and love the Bongo.

cheers.