reservoir return pipe - where's it go? Advice please.....

tim · Post by **tim** » Sun Dec 11, 2011 2:48 pm

The Red One sprung another drip last week so I couldn't put off the octopus change any longer. I also decided to bulkhead mount the new one. This has gone well and is nearly finished - but I've got one silly niggle which I hope you Xperts can tell me today (I've got to finish the job tomorrow morning). While removing the rotten old octopus in pieces the various white plastic return pipes became unplugged. I'm using the forum link printout of the colour diagram of 'how it works' to reconnect everything and this has been great. However....The white plastic pipe from the T-piece on top of the reservoir swings down into the pipe bundle past the engine and down below. What, exactly, does that connect to?? All the octopus takeoffs are occupied, and all the 'incoming' white pipes are married up. So I'm left with a little white stub forlornly hanging there with no apparent home. What have I mis-plugged? Perhaps the reality of this 1992 layout doesn't quite match the colour diagram? Over to you.
When the job is finished I'll qrite it up properly and we'll post some piccies as well now Andy has found out how to do this.......

Philip Chidlow · Post by **Philip Chidlow** » Sun Dec 11, 2011 3:09 pm

One of the white pipes from the T-piece does exactly as you say: it hangs forlornly about. It possibly performs a breather-like function, but as far as I am aware - after many BXs with the same - it's supposed to be unattached at one end. I usually nestle mine in the inner wing area.

tim · Post by **tim** » Sun Dec 11, 2011 3:54 pm

Yep, that's true, as does mine... but that is the short one. The other goes somewhere else. That's the one I mean. It is strapped in with the hose bundle running from the reservoir and terminates near the octopus.

citronut · Post by **citronut** » Sun Dec 11, 2011 4:31 pm

yes the short end is a breather/tank vent which originaly is through one plastic clip then pokes through a hole near the back of the inner wing along side the strut,

the other is a capilary seapage return from i cant remeber exactly, but must go to one of the small rubber unions, maybe front hight corector???

regards malcolm

tim · Post by **tim** » Sun Dec 11, 2011 5:07 pm

This is what I'm talking about - but the height corrector doesn't seem to have a white plastic return pipe, both are rubber all the way. I've already connected them up; if the octopus was in it's original location the short rubber stub would plug straight onto the height corrector (and at a lousy angle, which is why mine cracked in the summer....)

Way2go · Post by **Way2go** » Sun Dec 11, 2011 5:41 pm

The longer small dia clear pipe from the res cap goes to the security valve leak-off via a T piece that lives above the front sub-frame on the nearside. (The other arm of the intermediate T piece goes to the reg/accumulator leak-off.)

tim · Post by **tim** » Sun Dec 11, 2011 6:04 pm

Not so, according to the diagram! You have yer triple block (which I had to replace last spring with a home-made T-piece). Of these three pipes, one goes to the priority valve, which is bolted to the back of the cross member , one goes to the pressure regulator, and one goes to the octopus. So that's how I've rewired it. So, if the reality is different, how? If you hitch the 'stray' white tube to the only remaining one of the three takeoffs, then you have an octopus with a hole in it where something needs to be plugged in. Sory but I don't know how to put the 'link' in for the diagram but it's on the forum somewhere.

Gary · Post by **Gary** » Sun Dec 11, 2011 7:38 pm

I think it maybe the power steering ram leak off pipe that is joined at the t-piece on the top of the lhm tank

tim · Post by **tim** » Sun Dec 11, 2011 7:49 pm

OK, now we're getting somewhere. Nice one Gary.But... where exactly does this return plug into?? That's the crucial question. It obviously got unplugged when I disembowelled the dead octopus. It also, given its existing length which can't be changed, terminates somewhere close to the octopus. But there are no diagrams I can find on the forum which would show this. Which chunk of the power steering section does it plug into..... if I can't find out tonight I will have to go underneath the wife's BX tomorrow morning in the pissing rain with a torch. This is so much more pleasant......

Gary · Post by **Gary** » Sun Dec 11, 2011 9:25 pm

I assume you mean the pipe on the left of the filler plug on this picture this picture Tim?

if so it is supposed to be 2750mm long so it should go from the tank to the ram ,maybe it has been cut and joined .
I will try and look under my car tomorrow to see if this is so

tim · Post by **tim** » Sun Dec 11, 2011 9:39 pm

Yes, that's the one...... it hasn't been cut because it has the flared nipple on the other end so it is obviously original and has just become unplugged. Just going to walk the dog, then I'll check then posts again. After that it's bedtime then tomorrow a.m. if I haven't had any further info it's time to get under the White One with a torch. In the rain. Joy!On the bright side, I am getting amazingly familiar with BX plumbing.....

tim · Post by **tim** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 5:16 pm

Oh, well, no-one knows then...... I've got the beast running anyway and there are no puddles apart from where the height corrector feed popped off (see separate thread). Given that it is only fitted to the reservoir cap I would assume this has to be nothing more than a breather, but as there is already one that goes into the wing, why does it need another from the same junction? Odd.

RxBX · Post by **RxBX** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 6:25 pm

tim wrote:Oh, well, no-one knows then...... I've got the beast running anyway and there are no puddles apart from where the height corrector feed popped off (see separate thread). Given that it is only fitted to the reservoir cap I would assume this has to be nothing more than a breather, but as there is already one that goes into the wing, why does it need another from the same junction? Odd.

Hi Tim,
I don't know if you ever seen/looked @ THIS web page/site it may be useful also there the one that Tim posted up in the TECHNICAL FAQ look @ page 52/107.

I hope it may be of help !

.

Gary · Post by **Gary** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 7:04 pm

Hi Tim
I had a look under my car today a 91 txd and the pipe from the t piece on the lhm tank goes straight to the steering ram.
The lay out was different if the car is earlier than 87.
it is pipe no 15 in diagram below.

Hope this helps

tim · Post by **tim** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 8:02 pm

Gary - and rxbx - many thanks for that. I still have the problem though in that I cannot see where the thing actually plugs in. I had a look at the scrappy this a.m., no engine, and there is absolutely no visible place for this tube to plug in, at least seen from above. However, I have have been underneath mine for two days now with a torch and leadlight and if there is a takeoff point it's equally invisible from below! I'm sure this is the answer, but where the hell is this pickup point??? Maybe under the heat shield? The diagram shows a square block which doesn't mean a lot to me... and all these numbers.. they must have a meaning and I notice that both the mystery pipe and the hc return are labelled '15' - does this perhaps mean they are common? And yet there was no T-piece involved that I can see. I did look at the wife's BX this morning but the bundle was so tightly strapped up that it didn't help, and underneath was so shitty that you couldn't see anything.