Bongo Fury

Had a couple of issues this week with my glow plug relay, it was only working intermittently & looked like it may be due to getting a bit damp, so I took it off (10mm nut easily accessed with a diddly socket & ratchet) & tested it, & opened it up to have a look see





& that was after scraping some of the crud off .
Best not to undo this screw on the bottom (like I did ) before seperating the lid from the body of the relay, as I think this probably led to the coil wires breaking from the terminals, although I suspect they were a bit weak anyway.



It's basically clipped in all the way around. I tried to gently lever it off with a screwdriver, but ended up breaking the outer lip in a couple of places as it was a bit brittle, as you can see in the pics.
I cleaned out the crud & cleaned the contacts, terminals, etc, dried it out (twas a bit damp where the deposits were sat), resoldered the coil wires & tested it, all hunky dory, so clipped the lid back on & sealed the edge with some self amalgamating tape with insulating tape over the top - there is a seal all around the edge where the lid sits, but wanted a bit of belt & braces







Tested it again in situ, all ok, job done .
Hopefully this may help peeps to see it is just a basic relay, not much to go wrong with it & if they're not working, chances are it's fixable, rather than spending a fortune on a new Mazda relay.
If you do need to replace it for some reason, pretty much any 70 amp relay should do the trick as used in this thread - http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... plug+relay

Nice repair. I wonder if you'd have had that done if you'd gone to a "Real Deal" place, or just been charged for a new relay.....

dave_aber wrote:Nice repair. I wonder if you'd have had that done if you'd gone to a "Real Deal" place, or just been charged for a new relay.....

& Glow plugs & fuel filter along with anything else they could think of & don't forget VAT & labour as well as the time of the road while they wait for the "pukka" part All it cost me was half an hour or so

well done, nice to know they are repairable without to much hassle.
has that helped with the fuse issue ?.

Not sure if there is a fuse issue or not, but the 100 amp fuse is still runnning fairly warm after a couple of minutes of tickover with both batteires charging after being sat for a few days.

Nice job! & interesting to know it can be fixed...!

I heard you had a fair bit of rain down your way Kirsty...

Just out of interest.. Where is the glow plug relay situated?

I don't want to open the wrong box...!

Interestingly, just as I have been meaning to check my glow plugs, I have noticed that my engine has reverted to firing almost straight away!

I've cleaned up a fair selection of relays in my time and I guess the idea beats taking out a loan to buy a new one.


Frank

How much would i need to borrow for a new glow plug relay Frank?

Not entirely on topic but i replace my glow plugs today! Not big deal maybe, but i'm quite proud of myself being not technically or mechanically gifted at all! Just wanted to tell someone... lol

jaylee wrote: Just out of interest.. Where is the glow plug relay situated?

Just behind the starter battery, bolted onto the inside of the wing under a clear plastic raincover.

jaylee wrote:How much would i need to borrow for a new glow plug relay Frank?

Somewhere between £80 -£100 new (@ half that for a used one) Although this should include a new plastic cover -to be Frank, I'm not sure it's worth the premium

missfixit70 wrote:

jaylee wrote: Just out of interest.. Where is the glow plug relay situated?

Just behind the starter battery, bolted onto the inside of the wing under a clear plastic raincover.

jaylee wrote:How much would i need to borrow for a new glow plug relay Frank?

Somewhere between £80 -£100 new (@ half that for a used one) Although this should include a new plastic cover -to be Frank, I'm not sure it's worth the premium

& i'll double the shocked emoticons for the reply... Ruddy hell.. I thought i did myself a favour when i repaired my burnt out mirror switch!!

Somewhere in my junk box I've got some really heavy relays from big old Pye radiotelephones, the ones that were full of valves and lived in the boot of the car with a control box under the dash. For all I know the contacts may be worth a fortune for the platinum.

Rather than pay silly money I would have a go at wiring one to the base of a worn out Mazda relay. From memory the Pye ones have two sets of contacts. I'm motivated to fish them out and have a look.

Please, no more Frank jokes Kirsty. I'm fed up with people calling me about their drug problems! Before that it was always wisecracks about having money in the bank.

Frank