Bongo Fury

On the last day of our epic 4-week trip through France, our lovely Bongo upped and overheated some 30 miles from Calais. I noticed (out of the corner of my eye) that the temp gauge seemed to wobble - it's always been rock steady - as I watched it then started to climb before rocketing up as we cruised to the layby I'd spotted. This was not a good moment! Once stopped we heard bubbling and then saw a massive spillage at the front on the driver side. We are frankly merely toddlers with anything technical; I just knew from the fact sheets that this was bad news and I mustn't try and drive.
We called the recovery people. We are insured through Lifesure, who use (I think) Europ Assistance. The assembled team of Eleanor, Constance, Gary and (I think) Kylie were without fail helpful and cheerful - they were magnificent, couldn't hope for better - thanks guys!
Being so close to Calais, we were towed to the ferry, where we were towed on and off by P&O staff (again, thanks to all at P&O, really helpful and no extra charge for being both late and a bit of a nuisance). The van was then recovered to a local garage and we were supplied with a courtesy car to get us home to Yorkshire. The van should be at our garage of choice in the next day or so as it is being transported up. I do have to say what great service this has been and what great value for money. we were home some 13 hours after the incident!
However... I've been reading the posts about overheating but wondered if someone could diagnose what the problem is likely to be, from these symptoms.
- sudden and swift overheating
- the spillage at the front
- the bubbling
The French mechanics said the radiator was completely dead - is this likely to be all the problem or will there be more? I am thinking that this is a result of coolant loss? Could the head be gone? Are we looking at a few hundred pounds or a thousand or more, and is this kind of problem something that can be sorted quickly or not? Any helpful advice in advance of the visit to the garage would be much appreciated.
Meanwhile we are going to have to hire something much less nice than the Bongo while it is (hopefully) sorted out - worst time of year for this to happen work-wise!
Sorry for the long post.

sorry but its impossible to say

mines burst a hose several times

and the other half is not known for watching gauges

and all ive had to do is the hose that burst and a fill and bleed

others loose the head first time it happens

so it could be anything from a few quid to a few grand

From the sounds of it its either the plastic/metal seam along the top of the rad or the top hose has popped. Unless the standard Mazda temp gauge has been modded to read a little more realistically then chances are damage has already hit the head gasket or damaged the head I'm afraid. Hopefully you stopped in enough time but a standard temp gauge only moves when its well too late. Hopefully it may just need a hose & a bleed.

Worst case scenario, expect to fork out somewhere around £400/£600 for a gasket job & £1200 to £1500 for a head job.

You obviously need to make sure that the garage have discovered & fixed the initial cause & not skimped on cheap parts if serious work needs to be done.

I'm on my third head in 4 years, I've learnt a fair bit in the meantime, if you need any pointers - feel free to ask.

Thanks mister munkey and wonkanoby. I thought it might be difficult to diagnose, but this gives me a good idea of what I might have to face. I will get the garage to have a good look for the initial cause. Basically, find out what led to the coolant loss in the first place, hoses or seams being the most likely?
Seems like I may have been lucky with 5 years Bongoing and this the first overheat...

saracen wrote:Thanks mister munkey and wonkanoby. I thought it might be difficult to diagnose, but this gives me a good idea of what I might have to face. I will get the garage to have a good look for the initial cause. Basically, find out what led to the coolant loss in the first place, hoses or seams being the most likely?
Seems like I may have been lucky with 5 years Bongoing and this the first overheat...

Yes as MM says if the gauge hasn't been modified with a Mason alarm or similar watching it is for any movement is a waste of time - it doesn't usually move until it is much too late.

There are all "rock steady" on about "11 o'clock" until the engine is way too hot when they suddenly shoot right over to "2 o'clock".

Towed 30 miles to Calais! I hope it's not a 4x4

Or a 2 wd auto with rear wheels on the ground....

Worry not, we were fully on board the recovery vehicle (slack use of word 'towed' - groveling apology) - no wheels on the ground at all.

Nice! atleast that's not added your worries
I hope all goes well for you and the fix is not to expensive

just to say it appears to have been just the radiator, which is now fixed - also have a low coolant alarm in the hope of not getting into such extremis again in the future! So not too bad in the end (fingers crossed; I'm trying not to count any chickens...) Thanks for all the help and kind words.

I just luv a happy ending!!

I'd get some sort of temperature monitoring alarm too, as the standard temp gauge isn't going to tell you too much until it's too late. There's a factsheet in the members area listing a few options, or you can get a cheap temperature display probe like this - http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... emperature