Speedo

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Not sure of the legality of this in NZ, or the reasons why you would want / need to stop counting up the KMs - presumably you have to pay a road use tax based on mileage? Is your mileage checked annually, or are there spot checks?

Unlike petrol (about $1.90/litre) diesel (about $1.20/litre) is not taxed "at the pump" in NZ.



Diesel drivers pay a supplementary road tax known as the "Road User Charge" on a km's driven basis - we paid just over $200 for a 5000km permit in February. As it is a "road user charge" I would assume that offroad km's shouldn't count towards it. Given some of NZ's roads what counts as "on road" or "off road" is a different question all together.


And yes there are spot checks - we didn't realise we had gone well over the KMs limit of our permit (it is shown on the permit that has to be displayed in the windscreen) before we realised and then managed to find a PO that could issue them and when we told the clerk what KM's we were on she said "Good job the boys in blue haven't pulled you over then!"

Some garage owners in NZ have a honesty policy when it comes to prices.

[mrdeano]

Fit a switch in-line in the blue/white core to the speedo unit. You won't affect the auto-box. If modifying this line could affect the auto-box then adding a kph/mph conversion chip would also affect the auto box.

IIRC, the wiring to the odo motor is via a set of pins soldered onto the speedo PCB, which the motor unit plugs into. You could (with a bit of playing) identify which pin to disable to stop the odo counting up, and then wire it out through a switch.

Not sure of the legality of this in NZ, or the reasons why you would want / need to stop counting up the KMs - presumably you have to pay a road use tax based on mileage? Is your mileage checked annually, or are there spot checks?

Would you be able to explain PCB and IIRC please?
Does anybody have a diagram of the wiring/circuit board please?
Does the Bongo Friendee come out with a beeper if you exceed 100k's? Mine doesn't but some cars have them fitted.
It pays not to ask lol and yes there are spot checks, usually called checkpoints where they check your Warrent of Fitness, rego details plus mileage if you need mileage. Petrol vehicles do not need to purchase mileage as it is paid for at the pump. I can't see any reason why they don't do the same with diesel.
I am actually going to be fitting an hour meter to the Bongo, for servicing times etc.
Re the arm and leg photos, the woman who owns that garage, (Ikamatua) is originally from England, she has lived here for about five years now. Ikamatua is a 40 minute drive from my place heading down the Grey Valley towards Greymouth.

[helen&tony]

Hi
OOOhhh...wait and see what's coming next...over here they are thinking of fitting GPS units to your car to tax you according to miles, and the "Roads" are more off-road than some cart-tracks. This country is broke and trying ANYTHING to screw the public for money....but the populace are clever when it comes to parting with cash....however, once one EU country has done something like that, then the rest will be screaming "GIMME GIMME....Government needs your cash"....SO...peer at what happens elsewhere to see what your motor is likely to cost in 5 years!
Also, you have no guarantee which "ëxpert" fits the GPS unit to your car....a friend of ours had to have a GPS unit fitted to his van as part of his insurance.....mmmmm....so many problems, he reached under the dash and pulled it out ...hows that for security
Cheers
Helen

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Would you be able to explain PCB and IIRC please?

PCB = Printed Circuit Board

IIRC = If I Recall Correctly.

[mrdeano]

Would you be able to explain PCB and IIRC please?

PCB = Printed Circuit Board

IIRC = If I Recall Correctly.

[scanner]

Re the arm and leg photos, the woman who owns that garage, (Ikamatua) is originally from England, she has lived here for about five years now. Ikamatua is a 40 minute drive from my place heading down the Grey Valley towards Greymouth.

I hadn't realised how close that was to you when I posted it - in NZ distance that's virtually next door.


Just looked it up on Google maps and it's changed brand - Mobil on Google Maps, but Allied in January this year.
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&sourc ... 1&t=h&z=19

We must have driven right past your place when we were there.

[mrdeano]

Re the arm and leg photos, the woman who owns that garage, (Ikamatua) is originally from England, she has lived here for about five years now. Ikamatua is a 40 minute drive from my place heading down the Grey Valley towards Greymouth.

I hadn't realised how close that was to you when I posted it - in NZ distance that's virtually next door.


Just looked it up on Google maps and it's changed brand - Mobil on Google Maps, but Allied in January this year.
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&sourc ... 1&t=h&z=19

We must have driven right past your place when we were there.

It's still a Mobil fuel garage,same colours etc, but Mobil are getting out of retailing fuel and are Franchising so to speak to suppliers in each Province, but in this case Allied supply this Garage with fuel from Christchurch. They also supply garages in the Nelson region, where they have a competitor namely NPC (Nelson Petroleum Products) who also distribute Mobil fuel.
And a forty minute drive is nothing when you visit friends here on the Coast, driving home sometimes entails an overnight stay at your friends place due to our very strict drink driving laws. It's not a bad thing lol
Have to admit, all you other Bongolian's seem a very informative and happy bunch of folk. Keep up the good work.

[mrdeano]

Further thoughts.

If we look at the problem from a mechanical point of view, the
speed signal to the speedo head is a track on the instrument
panel PCB which terminates with a fixing screw to the speedo head,
simply removing this screw should remove the signal to the speedo
head without interfering with any hidden connections to the ECU.
You now have a simple ON/OFF switch but you need to think how
you might transfer this to an external switch. I wouldn't consider
cutting the PCB tracks because it's very easy to melt the plastic
PCB backing but with a bit of thinking you could probably find
a solution but you do need to replace the fixing screw as it's
part of the speedo head support.

Righto, I mistakenly cut the Blue/white wire on the left hand plug, made the speedo go a little crazy, as in going from 49 to 120 and swinging around all over the place. I used bullet crimps so rejoining them was not a problem.
Now I have cut the proper Blue/White cable in the middle plug, inserted an on/off switch and hey presto it stopped the speedp from working .... but wait, that's not all.....after about 30 to 40 seconds, maybe a we bit longer, the"hold" light started flashing on and off, plus I lost all holding of the gears. Still changes gears okay, but to me with some grades I go up and down, having the ability to hold a vehicle in a certain gear matters a lot to me, especially if black ice is likely, suing the brakes would be suicidal. So I rejoined the cables and have left it like that until I can come up with another ideal.
Hasn't any one else every tried to work out how these disonnections work?
Previous to this Bongo I owned a 1996 MPV, same motor and gearbox but it had a speedo cable. The speedo cable broke soon after I purchased this MPV and the same symptoms showed as above when the speedo cable broke. So obviously they need some kind of earth type connection in the case of the MPV, an earth type connection with the gearbox.
How does this translate to the Bongo?