Bongo Fury

Big shout-out this weekend for Ady ( Northern Bongolow) and George at Bongo Spares for sorting our latest issues. In a nutshell, steering had gone lumpy and everything pointed to a dodgy universal joint on the bottom of the steering column. Not too big a job, whip the old one off and fit a good S/H one (new ones are about £80). All good, but when you disconnect the steering with the wheels pointed straight ahead, the steering wheel will roll round 180 degrees through the weight of the airbag. Then when you reconnect having spun it back to where you thought it should be, but inadvertently a full revolution out of sync, first road junction you negotiate will destroy the airbag clock-spring, the connector that keeps the steering wheel electrics connected to the rest of the vehicle.

So on Easter Sunday, who else can you rely on but Bongo Spares to dig out the bits and Ady to provide the know-how, to rescue a sad Bongo


Steering column UJ


UJ should be free to rotate in two axes, can you spot which one has the problem?


If the back of your steering wheel is spitting out bits of plastic like this, here’s your problem


Depending on the age of your Bongo you either need just the airbag clock-spring....


....or the whole cluster including indicator stalks etc.


Note specific fitting instructions to avoid creating the same problem again


Note the blue lugs that engage the steering wheel, replacement on the left, old one on the right with sheared lugs


Old clock-spring....


....not really a spring at all but it connects the steering wheel functions to the rest of the car.

i think this may be a good time to admit that the clock spring cock up was my fault. .
ive replaced the bottom seized universal joint on several non airbag bongo.s without issue, but this was the first airbag one.

leaving aside the airbag bit for a minute, make sure you mark the relationship between the uj and the steering shaft and uj and the splined rack end, if you just mark the steering shaft and disregard the rack end you may find that your bongo ends up with 2 and a quarter left and only 2 turns right when you have finished or viceversa.

removing the 2 securing bolts on the uj makes you want to rotate the shaft when removing and replacing as they are offset and difficult to get a spanner on if tying off the steering wheel so it doesnt move hense the later airbag clock spring woes.

the clock spring in the picture has actually survived it just ripped the blue plastic knobs off the self cancelling for the indicators and ate the ribbon connector/clock spring connection, when i later continuity tested the ribbon it was fine but the airbag dash light was on and the horn didnt work, these 3 wires are the only wires on the clock spring ribbon, the ribbon has several spare wires which are maybe for steering wheels with more functions on like radio volume etc.

it was easier to replace the whole unit, wiper, lights, indicators, than split off the clock spring then thread everything back together and stop it catching when reassembled as it was just 3 or 4 block plugs which connect just under the dash.

WHEN WORKING ON THE AIRBAG DISCONNECT THE BATTERY FIRST AND LEAVE FOR A WHILE SO THE CAPACITORS CAN DISCHARGE OR IT MAY GO OFF.

never to old to learn eh.
sorry paul. .

Both excellent lads, just wish we were nearer them ourselves when it comes to the mechanical side of things!