Won't start

[Toby&Jules]

Hi folks. Was gonna take the Bongo to work today to fit the new tyres, but it refused to start. I noticed when manoeuvring it in the driveway to make it more accessible to start fitting my LCA it was starting to cough and splutter a bit. This hadn't happened at all while it was laid up and i was running it up every 2-3 weeks. During that period, it would start first time, every time, but this morning it just wouldn't run. Eventually i flattened the battery, so attached the trickle charger and drove to work dejectedly in my Octavia

I'm thinking that driving it a short distance at the weekend(Saturday), and putting approx. 10 litres of diesel in may have stirred up the crud in the bottom of the fuel tank, which would then have got sucked into the fuel filter. We did no more than 3 miles at 40mph after putting the fuel in, so could we have driven that far on the diesel that was in the fuel lines? I ordered a new fuel filter from the Bongo shop on here during lunch today.

It didn't help that it was below zero this morning, so the battery would've had a tough time. Or that it ran so well on Saturday i got cocky and forgot to connect the trickle charger. We have a new battery for it, the seller included it in the sale as he told us the existing one was a bit weak. I just haven't fitted it yet cos the Bongo didn't seem to need it. Obviously it does now, but this morning it was turning over for a good 10-15 secs without catching. Several times, in fact. Any ideas?

Toby

[wonkanoby]

if its got worse with the cold i would start with glowplugs

[Driver+Passengers]

Glow plugs should be active for 15 seconds, even if the light is only on for 5 (listen for the glow plug relay to go off). You could try giving it two 15 second cycles before trying to start it?

Some filters have priming pumps on the top, many don't - mine doesn't. Fill the filter with diesel when you fit it to give yourself a fighting chance, otherwise you'd probably be cranking it for over a minute anyway.

[lazyb5]

Hi Toby it sounds like lack of fuel to me , or maybe glow plugs. Can you put a multi meter on the plug rail to confirm its got 12 volts ? After that its fuel. Not sure where in East Midlands you are, I'm the other side of Stamford if you don't get it going I could pop over and see if I can help if your not too far.

[Toby&Jules]

Aha. Could well be the glowplugs then. I was going to mention in a separate post that the light goes out, then comes on again once it's running. I'll try leaving them on for longer today.

Lazyb5, I'm in Corby, so not far from Stamford really. Will pm you if i need help with it. Thanks for the offer.

Regards

Toby

[teenmal]

Fit the NEW BATTERY,its not doing any good sitting on a shelf somewhere.

The fact that the previouse owner supplied you with a new battery tells a story.

[g8dhe]

I hope the "new" battery hasn't been left lying around discharged, they need to be kept charged, after 3 months left alone they will start to loose capacity
Make sure you put the new battery on charge for several days and then switch the batteries over, asap.