Bongo Fury

Please Can any one help or give me advise ? My horn and temperature gauge on my petrol Bongo 1999 model are not working.

My garage (not a bongo specialist garage) said i needed a new temperature sensor for the gauge which i bought and they fitted and said was working but is still showing nothing on the gauge, as in it is below C for cold same as it was before the new part was fitted.

For the horn they told me to buy a new horn relay which i did and they fitted and the horn still doesn't work. They tested and said the horn it self works and the new horn relay works but there is an electrical problem between the relay and the steering wheel. They said i need to find an auto electrician to fix it as they cant fix electrical faults.

Any hep and advice would be very much appreciated?
Thanks Amanda

Without being pedantic what have you actually paid the garage for, as they appear to have failed to recitify either problem you asked them to attend to? I would be returning tomorrow morning and asking for my money back or the issues to be fixed. In the meantime are you able to check the fuses? Hopefully Geoff will be along to help out, this post he gives info of the sensors etc for temp gauge viewtopic.php?f=3&t=55759&start=15

Hi Amanda.

Sorry to hear you have problems, if you pop a rough location in your profile someone may be able to suggest a sparks.

With the temp sensor if you remove the wire from it and place it on an earth the gauge should move to hot. This will confirm if the problem is the sensor or the wiring.

Obvious first call with the horn is the fuse.

Thanks. I assumed the garage doing the work must have checked if the temperature sensor was working. I will ring them today and ask what they did.

It would be good to find a local mechanic that knows about Bongos. I live in Penzance in Cornwall. The nearest Bongo garage i can see on line is in Bodmin which is quite a long way away from me. If any one knows a mechanic closer to Penzance do let me know.

Thanks Amanda

they cant fix electrical faults

Aw, bless their little hearts. A mechanic who can't do electrical faults is like a chef who can't make an omelette. Do you know anyone handy with a meter? If not, it's worth removing the plastic from under the wheel (2 screws) and checking you don't have any partially seated plugs or obvious nasties.

I rang the garage and the mechanic insisted that the temp gauge worked when he left it idling to warm up for about 10 minutes but he said it was very slow. I just tested it and its true it did eventually get to 11oclock after about 15 minutes idling. Whats weird is I drove it for an hour the other day and it stayed on cold the whole time. Also why does it take so long to register a temperature when its idling. Hmmm!
any ideas?

Regarding the horn he said the fuse on the horn was the first thing he tested. he said the horn itself works and the horn relay works its something electrical between the relay and the steering wheel.

Someone's most probably had the thermostat out. I'd get this to a different garage as most engine wear takes place in the warm-up phase and you want that to be as short as possible (hence the thermostat). There's usually a reason why people take thermostats out and it's usually a bad one...