Auto gear selector problem

[RB72]

Hi there

I've had my '96 2.5TD Bongo for a couple of months and wonder if anyone can help me with an intermittent gear selector problem please.
About half the time, it won't start in P, so I have to start it in in N. Or I can pull and push the selector a couple of times and then it will start in P.
I've read about neutral safety switches - does the Bongo have one?

The second part of the problem - or perhaps it's a different problem - is that about half the time, when I put it into D (after starting it), there's no drive - only revving, as if it were in N. Again, if I pull the selector back and forth a couple of times, D will engage and I get moving.

I had the gear selector replaced last week, along with the toothed rack that it clicks along. This did make the positions seem more definite, but the same two problems have persisted.

Might it be the cable from the selector to the gearbox - or does it sound like the gearbox itself is at fault?

Thanks for any help!

[g8dhe]

Sounds like the cable needs adjusting and yes there is a switch to prevent starting when not in Park or Neutral.

[RB72]

Thanks g8dhe

I have had the cable adjusted - the thing is that the selector goes into the right place, and yet drive doesn't engage. I will get that checked again though.

Do you know what that switch is called, and where it is located, please?

Thanks

[rita]

Thanks g8dhe

I have had the cable adjusted - the thing is that the selector goes into the right place, and yet drive doesn't engage. I will get that checked again though.

Do you know what that switch is called, and where it is located, please?

Thanks

Its a inhibitor switch (on the side of gearbox) to prevent the vehicle from starting in gear instead of neutral or park,I think you/mechanic needs to have a wee look at the gear selector lever (on the side of the gear box) and make sure that it does not have excessive play and the securing nut is tight.

Good Luck.

[g8dhe]

This is the cable 46-150A

and the inhibitor switch is 19-444, lower right corner;

[RB72]

Thank you both again - very helpful! I'm very grateful for the diagrams - they're most useful.

I will look at what I can - up to the limit of my mechanical confidence - and then this is great info to take to a mechanic. But my usual guy isn't a Bongo expert - and I feel he's had enough of trying to find my oil leak (which Rita has also been responding to - thanks!), and the Bongo specialist I used last week was someone I found on holiday! I was able to leave the Bongo with him for a couple of days. Sadly, that didn't fix these problems and he's too far away for me to go back to.

I'm in Milton Keynes. The Bongo Fury list doesn't show anyone very close to me. I would travel and stay somewhere if I knew I would get these things sorted once and for all!

On the same (gearbox) topic, there's an occasional clicking sound that seems to come from around the driver's feet (though it might be originating elsewhere of course) and seems to me like something engaging and disengaging quite rapidly, like every second or so - like a relay but more mechanical, and each time the sound is heard, there's an accompanying slight increase or decrease in the speed of something rotating (but not engine speed). This happens in Drive, when stationary or moving slowly. I know noises are very tricky to diagnose by description, but I thought it worth asking in case someone spots a connection between that and my original question.

[Bob]

Possibly an auto box specialist could help.

It's only really the cooling system requires special Bongo knowledge.

Good luck.

[Alacrity]

I'm surprised no one has suggested changing the oil!

It sound as if the range switch is either u/s or out of adjustment if you are confident the the cable is adjusted correctly. The range switch (it does more than just start in gear inhibit) is responsible for telling the computer which gear you have selected, so if is either u/s or adjusted incorrectly it can cause just the issues you have as the computer isn't getting the correct information. The switch is held on by two setscrews & the switch has, i'm sure, slotted holes for adjustment. As someone has said it is mounted on the side of the gearbox in the manual selector shaft.

There is a good, trustworthy, transmission rebuilder not that far from you, PM me if you want details.

[RB72]

Thanks for this additional information, Alacrity. Very helpful.