berlingo van

[keithn410]

hi guys new to the forum hope you can help. i have a1997 berlingo diesel van. was running fine until the other night after parking it for the night the ignition lights remained on with the key out of the ignition? now i can start and run the van fine but it will run without the keys in the ignition? i am disconnecting the battery at work and at nights. the immobiliser keypad has also started playing up and im wondering if my problem could be connected? any help would be much appreciated. cheers.

[DickieG]

Without having a diagnostic/Lexia session it's difficult for me to say exactly what the problem is but in your circumstances I'd be inclined to get the engine running then unplug the keypad so that its now bypassed. If the keypad is anything to do with the cause and then gives up altogether you won't be able to start it, if you later on want to refit the keypad you simply re-connect it but make sure you know the last set of numbers entered otherwise you'll end up not being able to start it forever.

A bit of a wild guess here but something in the back of my mind tells me that some Berlingo's have a problem with water leaking onto the fuse box down by the drivers right knee causing all manner of weird problems such as yours, I might have the wrong vehicle but in the absence of any other suggestions its got to be worth a look.

[keithn410]

hi DickieG, thanks for your reply. i have kinda ruled out the keypad as the source of my problem. even when its disconnected it dosent make any difference to the problem. i have checked all the earth connections to the engine and bodywork thinking it could be this. i removed all panels in and around the steering column and fiddled all the wiring in hope that the dash lights would flicker or go out to give me a clue where to look. but no joy with any of this? iam now thinking maybe my ignition barrel and key could be at fault? do you know if its an easy job to change these over for diy mechanic? many thanks. keithn410

[wheeler]

The water ingress to the fusebox/ BSI only really affects later multiplexed models. Id be inclined to think an ignition switch fault, fairly easy to change diy aslong as the key turns in the ignition.

[spider]

I'd agree. Have seen a few later ones where a replacement screen was not sealed (or something) and that caused water into the BSI resulting in some very odd problems but at '97 its not plexed thankfully.

It probably is the ignition switch / barrel itself at fault, although I'd have quick check of a few things such as main earth leads in case its backfeeding somewhere due to high resistance in a main earth lead (battery / gearbox etc) as electrickery can do some very strange things, although that seems a bit unlikely.

[keithn410]

hi again guys and thanks to spider and wheelie for your replies. ive removed and checked/cleaned and refitted the earth to bodywork and earth to gearbox leads. im pretty convinced my problem now lies with the ignition barrrel as the above made no difference to my wee vans symtoms? i will change the barrel and let you know hows things go. once again many thanks for your replies. keithn410

[keithn410]

hi guys just a quick update on my elec problems. i was going to replace ignition barrel but a friend suggeseted spraying wd40 on my key and directly into barrel.i did this and it seems to have cured my electrical gremlins?? hope this can help someone in the future. many thanks keithn410.