Bongo Fury

Something strange happened yesterday...We parked our Bongo for approx 10 minutes, when we came back and attempted to start the engine there was no power? the lights came on for a few seconds and then we heard a click and all power went off? We tried to turn the engine again and the same happened, we checked the fuse boxes, all seemed fine. the lights randomly came on/off like this with the key 3-4 times and then eventually the engine just fired as normal? very very strange? What could have caused this temporary misfunction? the only small thing we noted is that we had parked on a slight slope? is there some kind of fuel safety cut off or something that may have been triggered?

There isn't any overall electrical cut-off as such. There is a fuel cut-off valve that is operated by 12v but that doesn't affect anything else (see threads on not being able to switch engine off!).

It sounds more like, the starter motor jamming and causing the battery to fade rather quickly, or possibly a short on the Glow-plug bus - intermittently. But to be honest with out more specific sequence of events its difficult to be certain. Perhaps try to note each time you turn the ignition switch, at each position, just what happens ?

First thing i would do is overhaul the starter motor

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Here is exactly what happened:

Turn key to start engine
Lights on console come on as normal (Interior light also on as door was open)
"Click" sound
Lights etc then go out
unable to start engine
No sound from engine at all (ie: engine would not even try to turn over)

this happened 3-4 times over 2 minutes or so then started normally?

The Bongo is due a service, its been fine since (used it today) as I said...Very weird!
Thanks for any advice x

How olds the battery??

Hi Stargazer,

It would be worthwhile checking that your battery terminals are clean and tight.Also your earth connection to the body.

Mal..

Stargazer wrote:Here is exactly what happened:

Turn key to start engine
Lights on console come on as normal (Interior light also on as door was open)
"Click" sound
Would this have been when the Glow plug relay operated to put power to the glow plugs
Lights etc then go out
unable to start engine
No sound from engine at all (ie: engine would not even try to turn over)

this happened 3-4 times over 2 minutes or so then started normally?

The Bongo is due a service, its been fine since (used it today) as I said...Very weird!
Thanks for any advice x

If the above in RED was the case then it could have been a short from the Glow-plug bus to chassis, but not enough of a short to blow the fusible link (which takes a while to blow). But it does also assume that the battery was a bit on the low charge side to start with. Several people have reported this type of problem, often when the Glow plugs have been changed, often for the shorter type and the wire (bus) touches the engine itself as its not insulated. Might be worth getting the garage to check it.

My fusable link blew in an instant by shorting the glow plug rail

If its a full short then yes it will blow quickly, but the time is still in the order of 0.1-1.0 seconds, a partial short will vary dramatically in the time it takes, but if its not taking much current then its less likely that its going to cause the lights to dim a lot.

A few days prior to this we have removed the rear seats...is this significant?

Stargazer wrote:A few days prior to this we have removed the rear seats...is this significant?

No.

Its sounds very much like a tired starter battery or worn starter motor brushes.

Any back street spannerman should be able to help sort it.

Turn key to start engine
Lights on console come on as normal (Interior light also on as door was open)
"Click" sound.......thats the starter contacts