coil warning light

[oshkosh]

Hi, can anyone help me,
driving home today, my radio stopped working and the orange coil glow light started flashing and the door open light stayed on ,on the dashboard. I rightly assumed a fuse had blown, but it just blows again as I replace it. the central locking doesn't work now either.
I recently had the radiator replaced and new coolant put in about a month ago and had no problems, but looking on the forum I have seen it could be the scavenger fan not working , causing the engine to over heat and possibly blowing a fuse?.
any ideas?

[bongolow]

Do you have a leisure battery? These are exactly the symptoms (except for the door light) I get when my LB goes flat as all these things are wired to it.

If you have got a LB you may need to charge it from a mains charger. When it's completely flat and the relay kicks in, thereby connecting the two batteries together, the surge blows the fuse. Then you will need to check that it's charging.

In my case the radio was flattening the LB in about a week if I didn't use the car, then it blew the fuse as soon as I turned the ignition on.

[mikeonb4c]

Hi, can anyone help me,
driving home today, my radio stopped working and the orange coil glow light started flashing and the door open light stayed on ,on the dashboard. I rightly assumed a fuse had blown, but it just blows again as I replace it. the central locking doesn't work now either.
I recently had the radiator replaced and new coolant put in about a month ago and had no problems, but looking on the forum I have seen it could be the scavenger fan not working , causing the engine to over heat and possibly blowing a fuse?.
any ideas?

Scavenger fan cools engine bay but it is very unlikely that your engine would overheat if it railed to come on. If the RADIATOR fans failed to come on (two fans just behind the radiator hat pull air through it) then an overheat is possible.

I'd have the engine overheating is unlikely by itself to have much to do with fuses blowing or electrics failing.

Do you have reason to think the engine IS overheating (better not drive it any more if so until fixed as the engine will be damaging itself expensively)?

It is an interesting coincidence that this has happened soo after fitting a new rad. Could any wiring have been disturbed, maybe around the radiator fans? Did the who did the job know how to bleed a Bongo cooling system properly? Have you gone back to them to get their view on any of this?

Come back if you have more info on the above, in case it helps with diagnosis. Good luck.

[oshkosh]

I have no leisure battery, I have done mainly short runs over the past few months, so the battery may not get the charge it needs as in motorway driving, but the car starts up with no problems in a morning for the school run.
As for the new radiator ,it was bled properly and it could be that the guy disturbed some wiring or other, but he can't get back to me until monday.I haven't had a problem with it overheating (touch wood)

[mikeonb4c]

I have no leisure battery, I have done mainly short runs over the past few months, so the battery may not get the charge it needs as in motorway driving, but the car starts up with no problems in a morning for the school run.
As for the new radiator ,it was bled properly and it could be that the guy disturbed some wiring or other, but he can't get back to me until monday.I haven't had a problem with it overheating (touch wood)

If your battery is in good nick (and I sounds like it must be if car starts fine in these cold mornings) then the short runs probably aren't an issue (mine is always doing them and has never complained, though I know th battery would probably like a top up charge).

Out of interest, how do you know it was bled properly. Has the garage done Bongos before and were they able to describe to you the pecularities of bleeding the system. We had a garage reported on here as insisting they knew how to bleed a Bongo but in fact they hadn't bled it properly. And its most important they do.

Maybe wait and see what the garage says after they've looked over the car. A half decent mechanic with a multimeter should be able to fix a rough fix on whats causing the problem without much bother.

Good luck - keep us posted.

[oshkosh]

Hi again,
the mechanic fitted a new water pump last November and replaced the coolant and ran the engine with the heating on for 3/4 of an hour while bleeding it of any air locks then had to do the same again when the radiator cracked last month and I haven't had any problems with it.
There aren't many Bongos here in Hull and I think the nearest specialist gararge is Bridlington? the guy I use has worked on a couple of others and done services and such on mine, so I trust him as much as I can anyone, to know what he's doing.
thanks for the help, I'll keep you posted.

[mister munkey]

Theres a garage at the top end of Wincomlee that I've seen the occasional Bongo up on the ramp having stuff done, they may be useful. Can't remember the name of the gaff now but will have a sniff for you next week.

[mikeonb4c]

Hi again,
the mechanic fitted a new water pump last November and replaced the coolant and ran the engine with the heating on for 3/4 of an hour while bleeding it of any air locks then had to do the same again when the radiator cracked last month and I haven't had any problems with it.
There aren't many Bongos here in Hull and I think the nearest specialist gararge is Bridlington? the guy I use has worked on a couple of others and done services and such on mine, so I trust him as much as I can anyone, to know what he's doing.
thanks for the help, I'll keep you posted.

Sounds like he knows his stuff. Heaters being on suggests he's checking no airlock there (they'd stay cold if there was) and the time left running is a good indicator. One acid test might be to ask light heartedly how he finds using the funny little bleed tube and bucket thing when doing the job. If he looks baffled, then be worried

But I think you are probably on safe ground with him

[g8dhe]

I rightly assumed a fuse had blown, but it just blows again as I replace it.

Can you be specific about which fuse is blowing it sounds like the Top left fuse
The fact that it blows immediately on replacing sounds like you have a permanent short, the trouble is that fuse covers a LOT of circuits
If you confirm that it is that fuse, then we can start to suggest places to look - Oh and yes what vehicle is it WL-T/FE-E/J5-DE and year/month made or VIN.
Has any work been done inside the Cab at all, internal lights, Doors, Radio etc ?

[missfixit70]

Being as the door open light is staying on, maybe that'd be the first place to start looking for a short? each door has a switch.

[oshkosh]

your right!, it is the top left fuse that blows, it had a radio and clock fitted early 2009, as for the vehicle ,it is a 1997 reg WL
The door light doesn't come on at all, if thats any help? ( I'll also look into the garage at Wincolmlee)
thanks

[g8dhe]

Right, the reason the Dashboard Door Open light is on is because there is a short to Earth on the +12v line away from the fuse towards all the circuits, this then causes the the Dashboard light to glow as all the other bulbs are in parallel to Earth just as though a Door switch was operated.
OK well here is a list of circuits that are powered from that fuse;

• Internal Lights
• Radio
• Door Lock switch
• AFT
• Warning Sounder
• ECU(PCM) Engine Control Unit
• TCM Transmission Control Unit
• Air.Con.

Now where to start! I think my first move would be to check behind the Fuse panel itself and make sure nothing has dropped onto the exposed connections at the rear, just undo the two bolts at the bottom and jiggle it out and have a good look around - its not a high probability but its easy to get at!
After that given that there are no obvious areas of work having been done just before it started blowing then its really a case of checking each area in turn. At least the Dashboard light will help you tell when you have found the problem as it will go OUT, when that happens you have found the area of the problem! I would start by feeling up round the back of the radio for the connector and see what gives, after that, its easy to unplug the whole of the Sound warning system down behind the trim by the Drivers right foot you will see a bunch of cables ending on a plug into a module mounted down there, just unplug the module, check the light and reconnect if it makes no difference, next would be the Cab lights above your head, release the light (Push to the left or right and hard and pull down, then the other side comes out, again check the wires and see if the light goes out. Another possibility could be the wiring loom into the drivers door, this is known area of problems as the loom is held in place around some metal supports and often the vibration causes a wire to break and perhaps in this case touch earth. After that it gets a bit more tricky as it will almost certainly be a wire broken in a loom some where and touching earth, the loom to the ECU is accessible as the ECU is mounted in the Passenger footwell up behind the storage box - take this out (it unclips once you ease it over the two rubber front stops) and look up underneath and you should see it.
Suggest you report back after checking that lot and we will keep our fingers crossed that you will find it

AH just spotted in your last post that you say the door light doesn't come on at all, do you mean the actual Cab light above your head or the Dashboard Door Open light ? in your first post you said that was on all the time ?

[oshkosh]

Sorry if I confused everyone earlier, the cab light above my head doesn't come on at all.

[oshkosh]

another thought has come to mind,the problem started as I dropped my wife off at work, just as she slammed the passenger door shut. inside the door frame ,the wires for the electric windows etc are held in place with a clip , could this course the short if a wires snapped as the door is constantly open/closed?
what I meant to say earlier was on the dashboard, the door open warning light stays on.

[missfixit70]

If the door open light only started staying onafter a door slam, I'd check that door switch first maybe?