Bongo Fury

So Bongo hit 99C and alarm went off, in fact once i turned ignition on after I stopped for diesel. I thought not good and got out (I think I had been going on a long incline) I looked under the Bongo and saw some small drops of water come down irregularly. Like a bottle caps worth. I thought oh no that's the end of this journey.

I had had the airc on on for quite a while before hand 20mins or so. (which is working very well)

Anyway it was only 3 drops (imagine the amount of water that could be contained in a 2litre bottle screw cap 3 times) I saw and I thought that could be condensation from air con or maybe it has hit 100C and from prolonged incline (and then a engine switch off so no circulation of coolant) or a little had come from some coolant pressure release valve ??? If that exists?

Anyway from the drivers side it came from an area which was actually hard to see from under the wheel arch right in the middle between the 2 Bongo sides. So I could not see water or moisture built up on anything under where the drops came from as it was recessed upwards from where the 3 drips came from.

As there was very little fluid I started engine and the temp immediately dropped. I continued onwards with care and bongo settling at 92C for the remaining 70 miles of journey. Drove perfect. I was wondering if moisture had condensed on something from the aircon which is working very powerfully now super cold air being produced and I wondered if the 5-10min stop we did had made water condense on something and then drip.

Anyway all seems well and I drove 170-180 miles back as well with zero issues sitting nicely at 89-92C all the way.

A strange one and a bit of a worry so maybe it is worth other people knowing this can happen. Other than this I returned the best mpg ever in the Bongo at 41.48mpg.

I hardly ever turn my Air Conditioning off winter or summer .. there is usually a small patch of water under the bus .. it's just condensation from the AC evaporator ..

Agree with Mike, air con. is rarely off and the water drip is to be expected!

Hi mike and Geoff, this maybe a silly question but why do you keep aircon on all the time?

Eerrrmm .. why not ..?? after all It's called Air Conditioning .. (or for posh 'digital' people 'Climate control') ..

I've never ever seen it listed as a 'Summer system' .. 'Chiller system' or WHY ..

The only time I have to be reminded to turn it off is when my daughter is in the motor .. she reckons it dries here eyes out to much and her contact lens stick to her eye balls ..!!

So it wasn't in fact a false alarm !!! The alarm was telling you the temp had reached the trigger point which you had set........the few drips of A/c condensation is perfectly normal...

So Mike, are you sayin you just keep A/C on in winter, all year round, even when its cold outside? Can anyone tell me the positives/negatives of keeping A/C on all the time?

If you have climate control you just set the required temperature and if it's cold outside it will warm you and if it's hot outside it will cool you.....it just maintains a comfortable interior temp......the a/c part of the system only works as required, as indeed does the heating.

Cab-ova pete wrote:So Mike, are you sayin you just keep A/C on in winter, all year round, even when its cold outside? Can anyone tell me the positives/negatives of keeping A/C on all the time?

Pos..it conditions the air.

Neg.. it knackers your fuel consumption

During winter the air con. will also remove some of the moisture from the air so that there is less condensation on the windows.

rita wrote:

Cab-ova pete wrote:So Mike, are you sayin you just keep A/C on in winter, all year round, even when its cold outside? Can anyone tell me the positives/negatives of keeping A/C on all the time?

Pos..it conditions the air.

Neg.. it knackers your fuel consumption

But does it as its only engaging the compressor on demand??

Cab-ova pete wrote:So Mike, are you sayin you just keep A/C on in winter, all year round, even when its cold outside? Can anyone tell me the positives/negatives of keeping A/C on all the time?

It uses extra fuel on an already thirsty vehicle.

I have disabled mine by disconnecting the lead to the compressor clutch. This means that I can now use the aircon fans on the radiator for additional cooling, particularly in traffic jams, simply by using the aircon switch.

I normally drive with the window partly or fully open and after a lifetime of not having it, am not bothered by the desire for A/C. If it's hot I take some clothes off. I'm not noted for wearing much in summer anyway.

Equally I have no need for a rear heater and all its potential problems. I bought the van for me, not for front and back passengers!

I'll leave the list of advantages to those who benefit from them.


Frank

It doesn't affect mpg much on my diesel (as a proportion, like it might on a more modern and efficient diesel/less torquey petrol?), but even so I don't have it on all the time. Mine is the old manual type and so I see me as a more sophisticated and reliable climate controller than a dust blocked sensor which can't turn to the passengers and say 'is everybody comfy or would you like the aircon on' or 'I see your windscreen is misting up - would you like to try the aircon and see if that helps?'

haydn callow wrote:So it wasn't in fact a false alarm !!! The alarm was telling you the temp had reached the trigger point which you had set........the few drips of A/c condensation is perfectly normal...

Don't worry Haydn this is no complaint about the TM2 it is excellent just for the record ! I would not be without it on any Bongo I own.

More accurately termed, it was a false alarm relative to a coolant/leak issue which I am extremely thankful it was not. Thanks to everyone else regarding the aircon comments.

My post was to let people know about this event, drips etc. and reduce fears if they do see drips coming from under the Bongo. Mine just so happened to coincide with a hot Bongo engine after a long incline and a diesel stop (so the coolant stops circulating and the engine block heats by 3-4C over and above what it was when running.)

Let's just say as Bongo owners when it comes to heat and water drips we are on the sensitive side ! Better to have alarms, check and be vigilant than £1,200.00 out of pocket.

I wonder what my fuel consumption would have been with no air con ? Even better I assume. Though we would have roasted so there is a sensible balance to be had.

Hi all, I've gotten the message now! I have the basic a/c in a 97 diesel, I just thought I was missing something of importance that I should know? I have always been under the impression that using a/c uses more fuel? Fuel is the most important part of the journey to me don't get me wrong I use the aircon on this se hot blistering drives, but mainly keep the windows open, El-naturalo . And yes mikeon I'm hearing you