Bongo Fury

Hi! The fuel gauge on my P reg diesel doesn't seem to move further than just over half way, even when I have just filled it up. Is this fixable relatively easily, or do I need to learn to watch my mileage rather than the gauge? I am not at all mechanical, so can't imagine fixing this myself. I'm off to france in a week and a half, and don't fancy running out of fuel in the middle of nowhere!

Most likely to be broken earth connection which is a common problem that affects diesel Bongos. Easy fix: http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/member ... sender.pdf

You can also just run a new earth wire from the rim of the tank to the chassis - 5 minute job

Aknowledges to Allans Vehicle Services Plymouth

How to fix a Mazda Bongo fuel gauge.
No drilling needed.
It’s common for the fuel gauge to read either intermittently or not at all. This is usually due to an
earthing fault.
Try this simple fix.
Kneel down beside the driver’s door, look underneath your Bongo.
You’ll see the rectangular bulge of the fuel tank under the floor.
A ‘lipped’ seam runs around the tank.
This seam has holes pre-drilled into it.
Now look towards the rear of the Bongo.
Just in front of the drivers side rear wheel there’s a ‘T’ shaped metal plate that runs from the sill to
the chassis.
There are 2 holes pre-drilled in it.
Or, just behind the offside pillar, there’s a 10mm nut that holds hoses in place.
Select a hole on the tank, and either a hole on the plate, or the 10mm nut.
Measure the distance between them.
Cut a length of electrical wire to this length.
Attach an eyelet connector to each end of wire.
Clean the metal surfaces where you are going to fix the wire, to ensure good connections.
Attach the connectors using self tapping screws or small nut & and bolt.
The job's done.
If this hasn’t fixed the fuel gauge fault, contact us, we can fix it.
Download instrucrions on THIS LINK.

Thanks for the speedy replies, guys, and especially to Allans Vehicle Services for instructions I can understand. It might be a few days, but I'll have a go and let you know how I get on. Is it a stupid question to ask where I might get some electrical wire and eyelet connectors?! Nuts and bolts I can do :-)

Any car accessory shop, hardware shop, B&Q or similar, most garages...

Okay, so I've had a go, but it hasn't made a difference. At the risk of showing myself up, can I just check I've connected the right places?!
This:


to this:


If I've got it right, then what else might it be? And how many km's to a tank can I expect to get while I'm waiting to get it sorted?

Also, while I was under there, I found this cable, dangling but looking as though it should be attached to something; should it?


Thanks for all your help!

Did you clean the metal work down to bright shiny metal at each bolt ? If not you have probably just bolted it onto the waxoil finish which won't give you a good connection at all.

the wire shown looks like it should go to the bottom of the fuel filter. it looks like its the sediment warning light wire.
click here to see it.
http://lushprojects.com/bongopartsmk2/c ... mgno=.html.


ps. put some oil or similar on that rusty coolant pipe or it will rot away around the T piece area.

Success! Thanks for your help, as someone whose previous mechanical experience didn't go further than checking the oil and water, I'm grateful for your help, and feeling ridiculously proud of myself!
Northern Bongolow, yes it does look like the wire in the diagram - where do I look for the fuel filter, and where it plugs in? And thanks for the rust advice, I noticed how bad that looked, too.

This is the fuel filter and the plug goes into the white part at the bottom. It's located at the rear of the drivers side engine compartment behind the air filter which is the round black plastic cylinder in your photo.

Simon, thank you, all sorted now. :D

I have just joined this forum,and this is my post, what a wealth of knowledge on here,I have also had this problem with my bongo.fuel gauge would not go above half ,I have fitted the earth wire and it as worked immediately,so a big thankyou from me.

Thanks for this post and the photo's I have my wire soldered onto washers and bolts/locking washers and this will hopefully cure the intermittent issue I have been having as well.

Edit : Job done took 20mins, sanding from under the side of the Bongo was a little tricky but not too hard a little elbow grease and some gloves on.
I found that twisting coarse 'wet and dry' sandpaper in the respective holes did the job, once I had scraped off 2-3m of undercoat around the hole.
(I had made the cable last night with the soldering bit) I might blob some Hammerite over it once I have concluded a fix.

Fuel indicator reads the same as it did but it has been reading correctly the last while anyway, this issue comes and goes I suspect with wet weather, so not expecting it to change today.

Hopefully it will read correct from now on.

Just to add I have had no issues since this modification wire has been attached, phew !