Bongo Fury

On 5 of the Bongos I serviced this week, the rubber water bleed pipe had come out of its retaining clip. The pipe is on the passenger side of the engine bay. It comes from the block (often across the alternator) and clips to the side of the chassis. It's also generally cable tied to a wiring loom. The pipe is blanked at one end. Its function is to enable air to be bled from the system when needed.

Commonly, the pipe comes out of the clip or the clip breaks. This allows the pipe to rub on the bodywork. It eventually wears through, making a hole in the pipe. Even a pin-hole will cause water loss. This may be a sudden cloud of steam or a slow loss that goes un-noticed, until the engine overheats.

If you check your pipe and it is unattached, you may notice a groove in the pipe, where it has started to wear through. If you catch it at this stage, you're one of the lucky ones.

As the clip is unreliable, I would suggest that you use a 'cable tie' to attach the pipe through the small hole that's behind the clip. This should hold the pipe and prevent this problem. I prefer to route the pipe between the harness and alternator. Or you could clad the hose in a length of split garden hose or similar, if routed across the alternator, to prevent rubbing.

My pipe does not fit the clip, hence the tape

Good point to pick up one this one, funny thing it is very similar in setup to that of the toyota spacecruiser, I had two before the bongo so the first thing I did was search the engine bay for pipes like this and clip them all up securely, I did get caught with the spacecruiser pipe bursting whilst en route to work, what a job. One other thing puzzling me tho, just out of sight on the photo, toward the rear of the seat and clipped to the pipe is what appears to be a spare connector, does anyone know what this is for, as mine is a flat top I wondered if it was something to do with the camper version, it would be interesting to find out if it is used on other bongos or just a spare socket..but for what?. Happy motoring.

What a great thread - checked out this possible problem and low and behold exact problem as described.

So some advice - the drain pipe has worn quite considerably and there is a clearly defined - but small groove in the pipe. Although it is not leaking now I wonder if I should affect some sort of repair - or leave it. Don't want to replace the pipe and get into draining and re-filling the system so has anyone tried these radiator pipe wrap - think its by a company Bars. Or put a rubber pipe sleeve around the groove and jubilee clips? Is this pipe under pressure?

Any ideas on a good fix would be appreciated.

Or just leave it be now its secured to the right place and not wearing anymore?

The pipe is under pressure when the engine is running, so a extra wrap over the pipe will certainly be a good idea, if you get a leak there, the system will soon empty, and we all know what happens next

Done - got an adhesive hose bandage and have tapped it round offending weakspot - supplimented with a few cable ties. Although looks like a bodge might just give a bit of extra support.

Also checked the other hose (s) on the driver's side - but seems to be okay there.

Will keep and eye on it

My thanks to Allans.

Problem exactly as described! I wound round a bit of tape to cushion and protect the abraded area on the pipe, and clipped it back up, making sure there was no tension on the pipe.

This is very easy to deal with for anyone who has worked out how to tip the front seats to look at the engine bay!

Thank you again Allans. You'll get my business when you open your Scottish branch.

Morticus

Very good tip - many thanks. Mine was clipped in OK, but looking at it you can see that it doesn't sit very happily in the clip - it's at a bit of an angle. So I've used a zip-tie through the hole you described and now it's not going anywhere.

One more point though. Some pipes are routed over the harness, rather than between the harness and the alternator. Mine was routed between the two, and where the pipe sits loosely over the alternator it had worn - not through, but it had some grooves in it. So check here too if that's how your pipe is routed, and reinforce/protect it as described above to prevent failure. I used a few wraps of the very sticky aluminium foil exhaust bodging tape that car accessory shops sell - it sticks well, is very durable and is obviously heat resistant too.

Be careful using ordinary tape in this location - sitting so close to the engine block and directly over the alternator it does get vey hot and most sticky tapes will not be up to the job. The hose bandage described above sounds like a good bet - you could either buy a proper one or get a short length of rad hose whose inner diameter is slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the bleed hose, cut a lengthways slit into it and slip it over the bleed pipe (lengthways slit facing up) where it lies over the alternator. Finish the job with a couple of zip-ties.

Cheers and stay cool

tigger

Right pipe sorted, what about that spare plug in connector am I the only one with a spare socket or what ?.Happy motoring.

thanks for that I have just checked mine and it was out of the clip and starting to wear

Forgot to say I have seen some with the pipe shortened to about 8" (probably due to previous split). Short pipes make it more difficult to bleed the system.

The problem (with a short pipe) is that it makes bleeding air from the system more difficult (for example, when replacing the head). When/if needed, you can buy a replacement pipe. No other worries come to mind.

Did as you suggested, found the problem, pipe had come away from clip and was starting to wear on the body......thankyou!!! This thread should be permanently at the top of this section.

I agree that this is an important post. But I tend to steer clear of making topics "sticky" as there are too many topics to do this. Instead I will summarise the info on this thread and put it on the "Bongo Clinic" page on main website.