Stripey Technical

[vulgalour]

KevR, that's a supremely sensible suggestion.

[Dollywobbler]

Though I'd like to point out that both front wheel bearings have been replaced in the past year. I'd still take it to a garage. I don't think the BX is particularly unusual. Took my garage mere seconds to work out a plan of attack.

[citsncycles]

It's one of the advantage of the BX over earlier models such as the GS - hydraulics aside, a lot of stuff is standard PSA, so most garages should know what they're doing with it.

When I do mine, I hope to get the ball joints out myself but may take the hubs to my mate Tony's garage as he's got kit for taking the wheel bearings out.

[KevR]

Just don't do what I did once - get your brain working backwards and try and press the bearings out from the wrong side... Managed to bend my hydraulic press!

[vulgalour]

Am I right in thinking the back doors on the estate are the same as the ones on the saloon? Don't think I'll need to replace them, but thought it sensible to ask while I thought on. Nothing doing on investigations today because it was a)raining and b)work has started to get busy, FINALLY.

[Dollywobbler]

Yup. Exactly the same. Glad work has got busy for you! I'm awash myself at the moment. Tinkering time set to zero.

[vulgalour]

Noticed today that the speedo needle bounces at 60, and my speedo isn't exactly accurate at other speeds, seemingly reading slightly higher than I'm actually going. Dad suggested that needle bounce means imminent cable replacement, your thoughts? I've never had a speedo cable misbehave or fail before, so I'm new to the symptoms.

[mat_fenwick]

Some degree of bounce is fairly normal for the BX, down to the fact the cable is in two sections (presumably to share the lower section with the (shorter cable run) LHD cars. There tends to be a bit more friction than normal at the cable join. I'd concentrate on the rust for now...

[MULLEY]

I've had a wobble on mine for 6yrs now, doesn't appear to have gotten any worse & my speedo overeads by 10%, saves on fuel

[vulgalour]

There's stuff I'm still learning, hence the many questions. The rust is always at the top of the list, but it would be foolish to ignore other jobs if they can be rectified while small and cheap. In a couple of weeks the welding should hopefully begin, just a few more things to get out of the way first. If I had a 'regular job' money would be less of an issue, but then I probably wouldn't have the time needed to fix things and weld up holes thanks to a lack of garage. Swings and roundabouts.

[mat_fenwick]

Yeah, it was tongue in cheek - my remark about the rust. If doing other jobs spurs you on before you get the welding done then go for it! I notice on your blog you mentioned about the ball joint clonking; it may be the anti-roll bar drop link instead. Probably best for you to get prying to find the play before buying parts. ARB drop links are easier to change

[vulgalour]

I'm usually much better at spotting wit and pith in remarks, I blame the internets. Hopefully I'll have some time today to get wiggling things, provided the family don't descend upon me again.

[vulgalour]

Tinker time had, and some things found out.
> Fuel filter full of BCBs and fat. I didn't have any spare petrol and didn't want to use water so I rinsed it with the diesel in the filter housing and wiped off what I could before reconstructing the whole thing. The filter paper looks in good shape, but a replacement probably wouldn't go amiss.
> Driver's side LHM return pipe perished so much it looks like it's been the victim of a knife attack. I have no idea how this is holding any pressure.
> Large bush under the car to the passenger side at the front appears to be crumbly. I'm not sure what this bush is for as it's the only one under the car. It might explain the quiet knocking looking at the state of it.
> Driver's side tyre isn't worn on the inner edge all the way around, just in a few places. I find that a bit odd. It's certainly not as bad as I thought it was when I saw it off the car.

The car will now start without needing lots of priming, though it's reluctant to do so which I guess means there's still a problem somewhere. However, it seems to idle a bit smoother than it was since clearing out the filter casing of chip fat excesses.

Apologies for the lack of illustrative photographs, I've run out of Photobucket bandwidth for the time being.

[citronut]

if you mean the leg/strut return pipe there should not be any pressure in it at all, if there was this means the strut high pressure seals are failing,

the two leg pipes one is a vent the other a seepage return

regards malcolm

[mat_fenwick]

Sorry to be dense, but what are BCBs?