Installed my Haydn low coolant alarm today..(went smoothly)

Technical questions and answers about the Mazda Bongo

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BongoBongo123
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Installed my Haydn low coolant alarm today..(went smoothly)

Post by BongoBongo123 » Sat Aug 29, 2020 1:44 pm

Took me 12months to get round to it but all beeping and flashing when it should. The trickiest bit was trying to strip the insulation from the green wire (bottom one behind the rear of the suggested fuse in the fuse holder) You need some very fine decent (sharp-ish) quality wire cutters to nick out the insulation but without pulling or cutting the copper core (then tin the copper that is exposed and shorten / tin the + connection wire from the module, line up the pre tinned exposed parts and solder them in one attempt. I did it very neatly. The tricky bit is you cannot just go yanking the fuse box loom about you have a very tight space in which to work and need nimble fingers. Lucky I can solder well and have a stable hand.

And most importantly I managed to align the Low Coolant LED sticker ring very precisely =D> (right side into the grey square bit below the steering wheel) I was looking for one of those removable switch covers to be empty but most had wires behind and the one I did find had double layer plastic and I thought better of trying to get the bezel through 2 thick layers of plastic.

It does ring for about 4 seconds and loudly during self test, all rather indiscrete. Ok I get it it is an alarm but I put a little bit of sellotape over the beeper hole (covering 1/2 the hole) just so it is not screaming, just softens it a bit but still pretty loud.

A morning well spent, just took my time with it.. kept re-reading the instructions and all fine. Screw/sensor wire went into header tank no sweat at all. I suppose ultimately we are testment as to how good Bongo's are given the (I will not dwell) horrendous year we had with the Bongo last year. We still have it, even though we have no festivals to go to, we did want to camp oceand found the one bloomin camp site we wanted to go to was closed.

So as protected as it can be now and no where to go really.
Bob
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Re: Installed my Haydn low coolant alarm today..(went smoothly)

Post by Bob » Sat Aug 29, 2020 2:27 pm

Job well done. 8)
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BongoBongo123
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Re: Installed my Haydn low coolant alarm today..(went smoothly)

Post by BongoBongo123 » Sat Aug 29, 2020 6:20 pm

Thanks Bob, I really should have done it earlier but glad it is done now.
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haydn callow
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Re: Installed my Haydn low coolant alarm today..(went smoothly)

Post by haydn callow » Sun Aug 30, 2020 12:35 pm

The alarm should not have a 4sec test beep, check the strength of your coolant.......also how long is the test beep when engine hot ?
http://www.coolantalarm.co.uk
Developer of the Mazda Bongo Coolant loss Alarm
Also BMW Clocks
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BongoBongo123
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Re: Installed my Haydn low coolant alarm today..(went smoothly)

Post by BongoBongo123 » Wed Sep 02, 2020 3:08 pm

Hi Haydn, just hecked and it is 2 seconds.. after I turn the key to "energize the circuits" for lift off, before actual ignition, and then again same length beep (2 secs) just after the engine starts. (I did the "pull the module sensor lead pin out of the module" test for an alarm after a short delay that all worked ok.)

It also does a tiny pip when I turn the engine off. The coolant in there was put in there 1 year ago by a Bongo savvy garage, the 5 year pink stuff so I have to assume for now it is fine.

I will have to check the test beep when the engine is hot.

I do like the alarm being there, the LED looks nice in the lower dash.
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