Bongo Fury

I recently had a cracked expansion tank which caused my bongo to leak and overheat.
I have replaced this but have had overheating problems since.
I've changed the thermostat.
Flushed the radiator.
bled the system.
At present it runs fine for 15 mins then the temperature keeps creeping right up and I have to stop.
The heaters are working fine but the radiator is still cold!!
My next move was going to be the waterpump, but I didn't think the heaters would work if this was faulty.
Any ideas?????

Are you loosing any water?

amwamls - have you bled the system EXACTLY in accordance with the detailed instructions for the Bongo?

Cold radiator usually means it's choked - also probably why the expansion tank cracked............

Not loosing any water and I've downloaded the coolant section from the manual and followed it to the letter.
I've taken the bottom hose off the radiator and water flows freely through the rad.
I took the belts off the waterpump today and spun it, there was no resistance at all so I'm going to plump for that otherwise I'm all out of ideas.
reading through the forums on some of the head problems is giving me nightmares

I also downloaded the instructions from the site & couldn't bleed my system properly. I then purchased the manual from Ian & found that the instructions in there aren't the same. This could be your problem.

amwamls wrote:Not loosing any water and I've downloaded the coolant section from the manual and followed it to the letter.
I've taken the bottom hose off the radiator and water flows freely through the rad.
I took the belts off the waterpump today and spun it, there was no resistance at all so I'm going to plump for that otherwise I'm all out of ideas.
reading through the forums on some of the head problems is giving me nightmares

Flushing the radiator is not enough, you are best to flush out the whole system as the gunge will still be lurking in resricted passageways and will creep out and block the rad again just when you are least expecting it.

Bumbly1 - how to you go about flushing the whole system armed with on ly a garden hose? Is it possible, or do you need to get a specialist to do it?

Bumbly - Does the Linlithgow mechanic you mentioned previously have enough knowlege of Bongos to do this job? Does he have a manual?

If you're going to flush it a garden hose will do fine BUT always backflush it from exit to entrance. Flushing it in the normal direction of flow will just force any gunge even deeper into the water channels

Invaluable advice as ever dandy and thanks. Did you get my PM yesterday?

hi to be safe take rad out and get it flow tested, new core £100 approx

vanvliet wrote:Bumbly - Does the Linlithgow mechanic you mentioned previously have enough knowlege of Bongos to do this job? Does he have a manual?

I have/had a manual and we downloaded the bit from members. It is possible just to buy the coolant bit of the manual from the publishers, the details are elsewhere. The Linlithgow guy is a keen and interested mechanic who does not bodge but he is not a Bongo expert - yet. The Bongo is not particulalrly complex when compared to many more modern vehicles, imho it only requires someone who is keen to get to the root of the problem and diagnose it properly

antique wrote:hi to be safe take rad out and get it flow tested, new core £100 approx

That is worth doing but it is only part of the problem, the gunge can, and does often still lurk elsewhere.

hi i advise anybody that buys a jap import to have rad flow tested and rad replaced , you will not get any overheat probs after that , take a rad out put a new rad next to it and feel the weight of old one ?