(Touring with the "N" Reg Auto-Free Top 2.5L Diesel Bongo . - No, not the dreaded lock-up behind bars in the prison.
)No problems apart from backing into a lump of granite and knocking the back box off with a clean break. Welding was an option, and has now cured that problem. I don't know who left all that rock laying around on Dartmoor, - but it was very naughty of them !
Dartmoor has got to be one of the most litter free places in the U.K. I would think.
Even more suprising when you begin to realise there are hardly any litter bins around. People who go there show great respect for the environment.
Distinct lack of vehicles on the moor this year. Fuel prices starting to bite in ?
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I digress.
Just after Christmas last year (2010) there was a no-start problem. I traced it down to no +12v supply to the glow plug rail.
Winter time and dark evenings meant that I got a little lazy and just trailed a couple of wires out and connected up to a spare battery in the passenger footwell to get 'em " Glowing ".
Yeah I know ! - Cowboy repair technique, but I kept her rollin' didn't I ?
Primary on the glow plug relay had gone o/c, but I couldn't quite get my head around the fact that one supplier was quoting £89.00 for what the circuit diagram was telling me was a quite normal 63amp relay.
I cut the case off of the relay with a hacksaw and found ? - Yep ! - A quite normal, basic relay, as per circuit diagram.
I purchased a 70amp rated relay locally from **Here* for £11.58, and soldered the new relay to the base of the old one.
5 months later there are no problems. Quite a saving against the top quote price of £89.00.
A "secret" switch and a "seperate" bulb now included in the relay circuit now serves as an informant of voltage to the glow plugs, - also how long they are in an "On" state, - and as a partial theft deterrent.
What I would like to do now is trace the wiring from the footbrake/brakelight switching to the lock mechanism for the gear selection so that I can include a proper disable/theft deterrent switch. (Permanently locked in "Park" when switch is off.)
I would like to be able to do this without ripping and tearing at the steering column, cutting the ceiling joists, pulling up the floorboards, and re-seeding the lawn.
Would someone be kind enough to tell me where to snip the wire, the colour code of the wire, the best place to access the wire. In fact anything that may be helpful other than coming around and doing the job for me.
There must be someone on the forum who has also thought of, or done this as a theft deterrent ?
Many thanks for listening to/reading my small tale.
John. ( Not that far away from Falmouth.)
