Bongo Fury

Hi All

Picked our new Bongo up from S. Wales yesterday, overall very pleased how the sale went.

As I am new to the Bongo, on the drive home I tried the 'hold' button on the way home but to no avail, nothing happened ... not even the hold light coming on when pressed!

First thoughts ... problems??? Anyway, had a quick Google search and found stuff such as switch U/S, bulb blown etc etc. Phoned the seller who sells Bongo's etc so knows them well and he hadn't heard of this before.

So, took the gear leaver cover off as thought it could be a broken wire but to my joy, there is a large white plastic multi-connector at the bottom of the gear shift ......... this was unplugged!! Plugged it back together and the hold light came on when pressed. Then took the Bongo ( we've called him Bob ... sorry!!! ) and the gearbox did what it should and changed gear no problems when pressed, hold light going on/off at the same time. Fixed??

This is my dilema now .... why was the connector undone? Can anyone give a reason why this may have been undone ( looking at the possibilty it is to mask a known problem hence asking you guys! ) or, as I am thinking, it may genuinely just have worked loose!

No reason to suspect the seller, just curious to know if I should be worried or not?

Thanks

Mark

you remove it to get to glow plugs so may welljust be a mistake

When I bought my Bongo, the guy that sold it advised me not to use the hold button. He said if there was ever a problem with it it could cost megabucks to fix. To that end he suggested I just do without that function which I haven't really missed. Just wonder if the previous owner was given the same advice and decided to disconnect it just in case.
Haven't really heard of any problems but he seemed to know what he was talking about.

Is your gearbox giving you any trouble without it working if not I can't see why you don't couple it up and give it a try

the laird wrote:Is your gearbox giving you any trouble without it working if not I can't see why you don't couple it up and give it a try

No, wrong end of the stick here! I have already re-connected the multi connector & tried the box, all works Ok now re-connected including the 'Hold' light which wasn't working either.

My question was : Is there any known reason WHY this would have been un-connected in the 1st place ( apart from the glow plug answer it seems not! )

Dunno why yours was disconnected .. but I would like to say that I use my HOLD button all the time ..

Like dropping out of 'overdrive' to 'up the revs' while climbing hills .. better for the engine than slogging it .. and better on fuel than using 'kick down' ..

Engine braking particularly in icy weather ...

Leave in HOLD then manually moving the gear lever from L ..2 .. D for more 'spirited 'get away'...

If you are towing a trailer / caravan ...

Pottering around town ..

DITTO Mike wallsall, i use it all the time for the same reasons, the guy in the garage where i go said its there to be used and with the japanese engenering on the bongo he reckons its almost bulletproof.

I've still not quite worked out what the HOLD function actually does on mine

See the Manual here http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... 97#p574497

TimC wrote:I've still not quite worked out what the HOLD function actually does on mine

An extensive search will reveal discussions on this subject... A fair question to ask.. http://igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/view ... old+button

Ah Geoff.. Beat me to it!

Basically it locks the gear in your selected mode L .. S .. D .. or dependant on road speed drops the box down a gear ..

if you are in 'D' it will drop the box out of 'lock Up' (basically like putting a Five speed manual into fourth .. or disengaging the overdrive in earlier boxes ..

Try it .... if you are in 'D' and say doing 40mph ... look down at the rev counter as you press in the 'HOLD' button the engine revs will increase by around 500rpm ..

Lets the engine rev more freely to save 'slogging' it up hills or using the (fuel consuming) kick down on the accelerator pedal ... better engine braking going down steep hills .. or simply using engine braking in slippery conditions ..

On mine .. putting the HOLD light on a V6 when starting off in 'L' gets the Bongo away sharpish .. the engine freely revs up to 5500 - 6000 rpm before I manually changeinto 'S' .. then into 'D' .. then knocking the HOLD light off .. where it smoothly goes into 'overdrive' ..