Bongo Fury

Hi,
I am located in QLD Australia (in the red dirt but mostly tarmac roads:)

I am about 4 months away from importing a bongo from the land of the rising sun, have been doing my research for a solid 12 months and now almost ready to go.

The final part of my decision process is if I should go for a 95-99 model with between 130 and 160 thousand KM and leave myself a few thousand for doing a decent rear conversion or if I should go for a lower KM / newer import in the first place.


In a lot of cases it seems the 95 models have a better internal fitout and factory bullbar, curtain etc but I am not sure how these bad boys hold up when they start to get a few KM on the clock.

Out here we put some massive KM on our vehicles, my current toyota liteace diesel just hit 665000 and is thriving on neglect as long as I change the oil and filters regularly but can feel her getting a bit tired.

What sort of mileage have people managed to clock on the 4WD 2.5 turbo diesel bongo and still have them ticking along quite happily?

Many thanks for any input - I am keen to hear of any common trouble with the engine, intercooler or turbo...most info seems to say they are quite reliable but for how many years/km?

Thanks to this forum I am fairly satisfied that the bongos offroad capabilities will meet my requirements, I do not climb muddy mountains in my cars but need to be able to go on dirt tracks and muddy paths quite regularly.

Cheers guys, search yielded only MPG figures etc.

cannot find it but there have been a couple of threads to find bongo with highest milage

seem to recall it was around 250000 but might be wrong

so long as you service it

and are not unlucky with a burst pipe overheating and doing the head

in my opinion the lumps bullet proof

Ours has 270,000km on the clock and is still running sweet.

G'Day!

One thing in favour of the older model is that it doesn't have a 'drive by wire' fuel system, as it seems if anything goes wrong with that it's big $ to repair, the older models with the Bosch clone pump are much simpler.

I would suggest an older model, and it could be worth getting a new radiator, thermostat and water pump, along with replacement of any suspect hoses, all topped off with a proper bleed as shown on here, and you will be good for a long time!

munroman wrote:G'Day!

One thing in favour of the older model is that it doesn't have a 'drive by wire' fuel system, as it seems if anything goes wrong with that it's big $ to repair, the older models with the Bosch clone pump are much simpler.

I would suggest an older model, and it could be worth getting a new radiator, thermostat and water pump, along with replacement of any suspect hoses, all topped off with a proper bleed as shown on here, and you will be good for a long time!

I think I'd agree with that. Provided the Bongo has a good service history, my gut feeling is that cruising long distances on open roads, and at sensible speeds, a Bongo engine (and autobox) should give good service to a very high mileage (UK driving will involve more cold starts, stop and start etc. than outbacking in Oz, so will tire them quicker). What will wear out (as on any car) over miles/years are the normal service parts and ancillary engine parts such as w/pump, thermostat, alternator, temp sensors, starter motor, fuel pump, turbo maybe etc. etc. They could all do with a good check and/or replacement ahead of spending on a conversion.

I'll be interested to see what one of our mechanical members (oooh matron!) has to say

mikeonb4c wrote:

munroman wrote:G'Day!

One thing in favour of the older model is that it doesn't have a 'drive by wire' fuel system, as it seems if anything goes wrong with that it's big $ to repair, the older models with the Bosch clone pump are much simpler.

I would suggest an older model, and it could be worth getting a new radiator, thermostat and water pump, along with replacement of any suspect hoses, all topped off with a proper bleed as shown on here, and you will be good for a long time!

I think I'd agree with that. Provided the Bongo has a good service history, my gut feeling is that cruising long distances on open roads, and at sensible speeds, a Bongo engine (and autobox) should give good service to a very high mileage (UK driving will involve more cold starts, stop and start etc. than outbacking in Oz, so will tire them quicker). What will wear out (as on any car) over miles/years are the normal service parts and ancillary engine parts such as w/pump, thermostat, alternator, temp sensors, starter motor, fuel pump, turbo maybe etc. etc. They could all do with a good check and/or replacement ahead of spending on a conversion.

I'll be interested to see what one of our mechanical members (oooh matron!) has to say

Agree - given careful maintenance as Mike suggests, they should run as long as your present bus BUT don't ever let it overheat, as the top of the 2.5TD's head has vulnerable areas which can crack a bit easily if you do (so fit the excellent Aussie low coolant alarm and engine temp monitor gizmos) - AND don't forget the vital cambelt change at or before 100 km or 10 years. If you don't know whether the cambelt's been done to schedule, then just do it, of course.

You might have to wait more than 4 months now with the dreadful news comming out of Japan. Plenty of time to do your reseach.

Tony

MountainGoat wrote:You might have to wait more than 4 months now with the dreadful news comming out of Japan. Plenty of time to do your reseach.

Tony

Indeed, and I can imagine lots of cars for auction/export are stored near the dockside.

On the law of supply and demand, wil we see a rise in the value of our Bongos

Time to get your Bongo properly protected then Mike incase the shortage leads to more Bongos being stolen. Alarms, steering locks and wheel clamps come in mind.

Tony

Have a read of this thread.........loads of high mileage Bongos

http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... =1&t=42986

Brian

Looking good!

Thanks so much for all the information in this thread.

I have not seen much news yet but speaking to people at the bar last night they said things were pretty bloody dire in Japan but thankfully a lot of their buildings are designed to withstand just these kind of events so massive city destruction was not as bad as it would have been someplace else.


I feel guilty thinking about it at a time like this but chances are a whooole lot of potential imports would have been lost as they are all housed near the ports.

Thanks again guys, hopefully I will join your ranks soon enough.

-The Deserter (Born in Preston. escaped many moons ago)

Hi Bandario,

If you need some first hand information you could do no better than get in touch with Chiefster1976, he is also from the UK. After converting his own Bongo to a camper in the UK he emigrated a few years ago to Deception Bay, North Brisbane, Queensland, where he bought and converted another Bongo.

Tony

Thanks again guys.


A really good looking bongo has just come up for sale here in Aus but it has already done 170,000KM


I am a bit worried but I'm still going to go and give her a test drive if it is still available at Easter time...the price is right and the rest of it is in good nick...I might end up the winner of the high mileage contest before I even get started!

bandario wrote: done 170,000KM

A mere stripling mine went well over 147,000 today .................MILES.

Haha, still going strong???


That fills me with hope actually; I will have at least another 100,000KM to look forward to!


How often do you guys change oil? I'm seeing every 3000 miles advised (5000KM) but every other diesel I have owned I usually only needed to change between 8000 and 10000 KM but these have not been turbos...i guess this would make a difference.


I will be doing quite a lot of KM so with the price of filters + oil I guess it could get expensive @ double the change frequency I'm used to.