Bongo Fury

Hi,

I have an ailing Bongo; last night the wife called me at work to tell me that the Bongo was making a very scary noise. I came home an hour later and turned her over (the Bongo that is) but couldn't hear anything unusual.

This morning we swapped cars so I could take her out for a longer spin on the way to work. About ten minutes in the noise started, a loud scraping, grinding noise from under the passenger seat so I quickly pulled into a car park and lifted the seat.

The noise seemed to be coming from the alternator and as I watched it I started seeing sparks, not blue electrical type sparks but orange bash-two-stones-together-to-start-a-fire type sparks. I couldn’t see exactly where they came from because I didn’t want to put my eyes in their way but it looks like they were coming from the area were the two belts meet the alternator.

My wonder is that your fact sheet says I should get electrical problems long before I get any noise from a failing alternator. I have no electrical problems at all so am I barking up the wrong tree suspecting the alternator?

Secondly with such a noise and sparks to boot, is it safe to drive home?

Lastly, can anyone tell me whether this should be covered by my rapidly expiring warranty or is the alternator considered a consumable part like the exhaust?

Very worried of Southampton

xxx

Sounds like the alternator bearings have gone, you may
get away with driving it but if the belts come off they
also drive the water pump and if that stops it will cook
the engine, If there's any way not to drive it I would not.

My Guess any way.

Hope it helps

I'm no expert but I don't see why an alternator shouldn't fail like that even if it is a bit unusual. Could be a disintegrating bearing. Either way it needs doing sharpish.

Regarding the warranty, it's find out time I fear. When I was buying I pressed one vendor on their warranty. They said it covered only main mechanical parts. When I pressed them on that they seemed to say only engine core and gearbox. When I asked who did the work they said they did (in the ramshackle shed I could see out of the corner of my eye - no snap-on tools in sight, just hammers and cold chisels). That's the low scenario. I'd have thought a decent warranty ought to cover an alternator although even there I suppose they might argue it's a 'consumable'. If they do, I'd be interested to know and to take a poll around other dealers on their warranties as it throws into doubt the value of these things.

Good luck - keep us posted.

Mike

Squirt of WD40 to see if that effects a temporary get-you-home repair?

Not on the belts/pulleys though!

How easy is an alternator to change? I've done things like changing starter motors before so I'm a bit handy but certainly no expert. I'm a bit worried about the belt tensioning, how do I go about doing that?

It tok me about 15 minutes to change mine parked outside the alternator guys workshop, 3 bolts if I remember right If you can find a local backstreet type motor refurbisher, they'll probably do it for you for next to nowt

Surely if you bought it less than 3 months ago the dealer has a duty to put anything major like this right? However we ran into trouble with our first bongo during the first week of having it when the dealer tried to make out that a failing clutch was not covered by the warranty. We had only covered 120 miles! If you do need a good garage we have found Paul Furze of Furze Motors - a mazda specialist - in Southampton -extremely capable, and he doesn't charge the earth. 023 80 399730.
Should you need to have your alternator serviced or repaired, suggest you contact Laver Auto Electrics, 14-16 Botley Road, Hedge End, 01489 784747.
Good luck.
Gungadon

Before you start removing and replacing bits, check its not a stone thats bounced up and lodged behind a pulley?

Karl

Disconnect the battery BEFORE removing / replacing the alternator.

pippin wrote:Squirt of WD40 to see if that effects a temporary get-you-home repair?

Not on the belts/pulleys though!

DO NOT DO IT WITH ENGINE RUNNING. Unless you want a fire in the engine bay. Different metals give off different colour sparks when abraded. It sounds like the failed bearing theory could be allowing metal to metal contact, if so, try moving the pulley there should be play in it if the bearings are shot. It does sound like a friction problem as it takes time to start.

Thanks for all your advice. Not having a couple of hundred quid to spare I thought I'd give the warranty a go.

The garage we bought it from told us that the warranty was from a third party company and to take the paperwork and the Bongo down to Hodges Auto-Electric. As it was only ten minutes from work I drove the Bongo straight there.

They were incredibly friendly at Hodges, they took the warranty details and said they'd sort it all out as soon as they could. I was certainly impressed by the service but with only a week and half left on the warranty I hope they can pull it off.

I'll let you know the outcome.

Good news dovestar - keep us posted. To be honest this particular job shouldn't dent their warranty business fund much, but it is important to you.

Glad to hear the good news, hope all goes well.

Mine had very similar symptoms just 500 miles after fitting a new alternator. It seems the outfit on ebay I bought the new one from had a batch of 40 alternators from Malaysia with very poor back bearings fitted. It seemed impossible to get a match or use the bearings from my original as the new one had a smaller shaft.

If they do fit a new one, make sure they supply a genuine Mazda one. Expensive but worth it.

That sounds hopeful dovestar... finger's crossed for ya!

Bongo came back in great nick. All in it only cost £250 which is all coming back from the warranty company.

I can now thoroughly recommend Hodges Auto Electric.