Bongo Fury

Morning all,

quick trouble shoot required on starting issue, mainly to confirm or refute my finding.

bongo not starting,

this only happens when its cold

all lights on dash ok, glowplug light displays for normal length of time,

turn key nothing, can feel click on starter motor when key turned,

have replaced starter contacts last year, as i thought they were the issue.

i suspect battery u/s. have checked with a lidl battery tester (not sure how accurate they are) showing 11.5v but would have thought engine would have turned over.

now look though other posts.

Sounds like a dead battery to me. 11.5 volts is completely flat.

http://www.mmbalmainauto.com.au/PDF/Sta ... teries.pdf

Check all associated leads .. particularly the earth and battery contacts are clean / bright / tight .. BUT at 11.5v I would suspect the battery is duff / or not getting fully charged as at standing it should be 12.5v+

With the engine running around 14.5 volts ..

AS the temp decreases battery out put also decreases, now from memory once it hits about 5 degrees for every degree colder battery out put decreases more rapidly, hence loads of cars wont start on a cold mornings that are normally fine in good warmer weather
I would have the battery professionally tested.
I would also check all earths are present and clean.
If you know how it may be worth testing each glow plug too

Cheers guys, as i thought, its been starting on the turn all year, until this last cold snap couple of times, i turned the key, nothing then tried again, and it fires up, but this time nothing, now on charge.

hunt is now on for a replacement.

Indeed capacity drops significantly see graph below also charging is slower as headlights and sidelights at this time of year add more drain on the alternator instead of charging the battery.
http://rollsbattery.freshdesk.com/suppo ... -batteries

They can be had from the internet for about £80, someone will remember where.

A terminal voltage of 11.5 and an inability to supply heavy current usually equates to one cell being dead.

A good but temporarily discharged battery will still provide a fair amount of current at 11.5v. another sign of a dead cell is an inability to receive a high charge rate. Don't be fooled by a high voltage reading from the alternator with the engine running, that's not necessarily the same as plenty of amps going into the battery. If you can get one, a clip on ammeter is very handy to own, no need to disconnect any leads.

Best quick diagnosis is to see if Bongo starts with a good battery jumped across the installed battery. If it doesn't even try, then it might be some other fault.


Frank

Euro car parts usually have decent batteries with good guarantees at resonable prices. Ask for a discount at the counter, they usually oblige.
We could probably set up a Bongo Fury cash account to get us some discount I will enquire when I am in as I have a good relationship with my branch.

Bob wrote:They can be had from the internet for about £80, someone will remember where.

Justcarbatteries.co.uk. Early December were doing Bosch S4 for £77 incl del.

Link to them in this thread on starter batteries