Bongo Fury

Hi Bongonauts
Out of the blue, my diesel has started being slow to turn-over on start up, eventually not starting at all - no click, as with a solenoid issue. Thinking it was the battery (lots of short journeys here on IOM) gave it a good charge-up, but no joy. So, forked out for a new battery. It now starts a little better, but still slow on the turn-over and, occasionally, threatens not to start at all. My bet would be the starter motor itself (do they have carbon brushes that can be relplaced?).
Checked the engine-battery earth and the voltage on the battery when running (14V) so all seems good there. Thinking I might try hot-linking the starter, without the ignition on, to see if it spins over, but tricky to get in there with the jump lead.
Any ideas?
Cheers

Manxda wrote:Hi Bongonauts
Out of the blue, my diesel has started being slow to turn-over on start up, eventually not starting at all - no click, as with a solenoid issue. Thinking it was the battery (lots of short journeys here on IOM) gave it a good charge-up, but no joy. So, forked out for a new battery. It now starts a little better, but still slow on the turn-over and, occasionally, threatens not to start at all. My bet would be the starter motor itself (do they have carbon brushes that can be relplaced?).
Checked the engine-battery earth and the voltage on the battery when running (14V) so all seems good there. Thinking I might try hot-linking the starter, without the ignition on, to see if it spins over, but tricky to get in there with the jump lead.
Any ideas?
Cheers

There are repair kits for Bongo starter motors that are much cheaper than a replacement - check out ebay. BUT the usual symptom the repair kit is there to fix is just a click and no turning, not slow turning, though I could have that wrong.

The slow turning could be a brief interlude prior to the'click' as the brushes finally burn away. Out of interest, does a trap with a hard object to the starter help at all? If the brushes are only just dead, then this can sometimes get the connection back enough just to get you going again. Won't work for long though as the brushes will soon burn away even more.

Sounds like a classic sign of duff (burnt)commutator and or brush set.

Could also be problem with the earthing strap. Try a jump lead from the engine block to the battery negative terminal (you may need to daisy chain two to get the right length).

Simon Jones wrote:Could also be problem with the earthing strap. Try a jump lead from the engine block to the battery negative terminal (you may need to daisy chain two to get the right length).

Thanks Simon, but I've tried that. I was hoping that it would be that easy!
Cheers
Ian

mikeonb4c wrote:

Manxda wrote:Hi Bongonauts
Out of the blue, my diesel has started being slow to turn-over on start up, eventually not starting at all - no click, as with a solenoid issue. Thinking it was the battery (lots of short journeys here on IOM) gave it a good charge-up, but no joy. So, forked out for a new battery. It now starts a little better, but still slow on the turn-over and, occasionally, threatens not to start at all. My bet would be the starter motor itself (do they have carbon brushes that can be relplaced?).
Checked the engine-battery earth and the voltage on the battery when running (14V) so all seems good there. Thinking I might try hot-linking the starter, without the ignition on, to see if it spins over, but tricky to get in there with the jump lead.
Any ideas?
Cheers

There are repair kits for Bongo starter motors that are much cheaper than a replacement - check out ebay. BUT the usual symptom the repair kit is there to fix is just a click and no turning, not slow turning, though I could have that wrong.

Thanks Mike. I replaced the starter solenoid 2 years (6K miles) ago - it's the cold weather jobby, with the solenoid piggy-backed on the starter. Could be a duffer, though.
Cheers
Ian