Bongo Fury

Hi All,

Regarding starting from cold, How long would the heater plugs give heat to the bongo engine for, is it only for a few seconds or as i think i have read somewhere on the forum until the engine warms up to a certain temp or is this just artic spec cars?. My motor seems to start really well and then go lumpy after a few seconds. I am running 25% Veg oil so am i pushing my luck this time of year? after operating temp rises there is no problem at all. If the average bongo's heater plugs are supposed to stay on until a temp is reached, what controls this as possibly i have a temp sensor u/s? I did have to replace a heater plug a few weeks ago and might have another on the blink i suppose but then it starts so well and runs sweet for 20 secs or so so i dont think it is that. Any ideas please?

Cheers

Richie

Heaters stay on for quite a while.. Till the engine reaches a certain temp or around 2000 revs. They will cycle on/off as you go above/below these revs till temp is reached. This can be a souple of mins.
I would always replace the plugs as a full set. They do run a bit lumpy in this weather for a good few seconds and the oil mix will only make it worse,

Thanks Hadyn,

The lumpy running lasts until the car has warmed up for a couple of minutes, so maybe i have a problem with the circuit that keeps the plugs going relating to the temp of the engine. I will have to connect a volt meter across the plugs to see what is happening. The cycling of heaters to revs and temp occurs on all diesel bongos does it? I will have to look into it. Think in the first instance i will up the ratio of diesel in my tank to see if that helps.
Richie

Yep all bongos do this. You can put a switch with a led in the heater relay circuit (I have) and this will show you when the plugs are on. The orange "coil" light in the dash means nothing. There is a good factsheet on how to do the switch mod. Worth doing as you can switch the plugs off and save wear on the plugs once it's running smooth.

richie wrote:Thanks Hadyn,

The lumpy running lasts until the car has warmed up for a couple of minutes, so maybe i have a problem with the circuit that keeps the plugs going relating to the temp of the engine. I will have to connect a volt meter across the plugs to see what is happening. The cycling of heaters to revs and temp occurs on all diesel bongos does it? I will have to look into it. Think in the first instance i will up the ratio of diesel in my tank to see if that helps.
Richie

Voltmeter won't tell you much richie.............remove the feed bar to the plugs and test with an ohmeter - an open circuit indicates plug failure, 0.5 ohms is good.

My Bongo runs like a sewing machine from start up.

richie wrote: My motor seems to start really well and then go lumpy after a few seconds. I am running 25% Veg oil so am i pushing my luck this time of year?

Those are the exact same symtoms as my bongo richie, and i'm maybe running 15% veg oil... Try "tickling" the throttle ever so slightly(1200 rpm) for ten seconds or so as the lumpiness begins, then let your bongo return to the normal idle speed,that shuts mine up.

Hi Richie - if you get stuck and want to check against a few bongos that are not run on a cheapo / skin flint mix of old chip oil then pop round and check the voltmeter readings on one of mine against yours.
It may at least confirm if the electrics are playing the same game... or not?

madmile wrote: if you get stuck and want to check against a few bongos that are not run on a cheapo / skin flint mix of old chip oil then pop round and check the voltmeter readings on one of mine against yours.

I only use new oil madmile,and it certainly isn't cheapo skint flint money either (have you seen the price of veggie lately) First few seconds aside, my bongo is running smoother,quieter,and a little bit perkier...despite the low mix of oil.

If veggie was more expensive than diesel, i'd still be tempted to use it, for the smooth running benefits...

Only taking the mickey - if I didnt claim the VAT back on my diesel I would be looking at veg oil too

Might take you up on that Mr Madmile if the diesel top up I made today does not make the van run better in a cold start situation................
I agree with BDC about the smoother running and slight improvement in performance though, there is also less diesel rattle etc.

I see what you are saying about the ohm meter to see if plugs are ok Dandywarhol, but i want to see if they are getting the voltage until warm up they should have,ie voltage on the busbar. I could have done it all in the time i write this but its cold and dark and i have a day off friday so i will look at it then in the cold of morning when i'm not in a rush...might even get the hoover out if mr bongo is lucky.
Thanks for the replies
Richie