Fast idle solenoid

[JoppaRob]

Hi,

I've been a Bongo owner since late summer and have found this forum, and the people who post to it, to be absolutely fantastic, so I'd like to start my first post by saying what a great bunch you all are and to thank you all for maintaining the forum.

Now, since the cold weather has arrived (I live in Edinburgh, so have had a few weeks of it now), I've found that my Bongo doesn't keep going well in the extreme cold and thanks to this forum have tracked this down to a failed fast idle solenoid (the white one). The engine turns over fine for the first two minutes or so before cutting out, unless I keep my foot slightly on the throttle. This has probably been a problem since I first got the Bongo, but hasn't caused any difficulty until now because the weather hasn't been cold enough.

I will eventually need some advice on getting the solenoid replaced, but at the moment need some advice on my short-term solution:

I've switched the power supply from the white solenoid to the black one so that it holds on maximum "assisted" revs until the engine is fully warmed up (or the air-con is on). I know that this isn't ideal, but it does seem to put less stress on the engine than me trying to maintain the revs just below 1,000 using my big fat clumsy foot, particularly when slowing down, waiting at lights etc.

What I'd like to know is whether this may cause any long lasting problems with the engine because it's looking like I won't be able to get it fixed until mid-January at the earliest.

Does anyone have any experience of doing the same thing, or know of any reason why what I've done may amount to engine suicide? Any advice or comment would be very much appreciated - I love my Bongo, have been absolutely miserable to discover this problem, and would be truly devastated if I caused it any harm!

Thanks

Rob

[dandywarhol]

Welcome Rob - don't see any harm from that in the short term

Alan

[Northern Bongolow]

any petrol mazda with egr system will have them,or mitzi padjeros,as they are a mitzi manufactured part.they may look different sometimes,by this i mean the air vent cap can be placed on the other outlet/inlet,this is removable,and can be swapped over to the other inlet/outlet.
kirsty taught me all i know

[jaylee]

This may help too! http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... f+the+week

[missfixit70]

Sounds like you've got the usual problem of the one at the front failing, this (I think) is because it works every time the engine starts, & therefore gets much more use then the second one, which only kicks in below 20c (from memory) & takes the revs slightly higher for a colder cold start, this one usually drops out after a couple of minutes.
You shouldn't be doing any damage at all by using the control wiring from the front one to operate the second one, it basically does the same thing, just means your fast idle will be slightly faster. We did this to Mister Munkeys at the Caister meet when we found all his vacuum tubing was a bit fubar, only had enough good stuff to get one solenoid operating.
My "normal" fast idle drops out at around 55-60c (at the top hose), just about the point the mason modified temp gauge starts moving.

[JoppaRob]

Thanks all for the responses - reassuring to know it should be OK until I can get it fixed properly in the new year.