New Member With Little Niggles.

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David
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New Member With Little Niggles.

Post by David »

Hi All. I bought my Citroen BX over 6 years ago & only recently realized this forum existed.
After reading through a few posts & seeing how knowledgeable some people are I thought this would be the place to be.

Its been off the road & parked in a garage for most of that time, however I have been driving it around some private land so it hasn't just been stood.

It, like most, has a few little problems which some forum members could hopefully explain a easy fix to.

Its front electric windows are very slow. The back ones shoot up & down & I know its not the motors because I swapped them around with the same results. Any ideas?

On the odd occasion I have taken it out & left it outside or washed it the rear foot wells &/or under the rear seats get wet. I haven't looked in to this one properly, however I thought of just trying to tighten the rear doors with the lock pin so they close more towards the rubbers. Any suggestions here?

Also the front height seems to be a little high since I had the sub frame off last year.
I have seen a little clamp which is on to the end of the height rod at the front of the car which connects to another rod going to the height corrector. How do I get to this clamp when the car is together? - I can only access it when the engine is out. & on the subject of the height rod, it keeps jumping out of its swivel mounting at the rear of the car as well, Just where it goes to the rear axle. How can I stop this?

Also a few questions from what I have seen on the forum;
Someone posted about changing the 5 gear in the gearbox, & after doing this their car was doing about 2000RPM when the car was at 70MPH.
What cars gearbox what this gear out of originally? As mine is very low geared.

There was a mod about altering the heater control panel, have any long term adverse effects come about after doing this mod or is everything still working fine for everyone that has done it?

Sorry for being long winded about this, there are probably more questions I have wanted to ask & forgotten about at the moment. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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Re: New Member With Little Niggles.

Post by Paul296 »

Hi David - I'm not a techy (you'll be getting plenty of that shortly I expect) but just wanted to say welcome aboard - if you own a BX and want to get the most from ownership, you are indeed in the right place. You don't say what model of BX you own which I think might have a bearing on the answers to some of your technical questions: the 5th gear mod for instance I think pertains to 16v models to stop them screaming the place down at cruising speeds!
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Re: New Member With Little Niggles.

Post by mat_fenwick »

Welcome. I've moved it to the Technical section to hopefully get a few more replies.

Electric window problems could be high resistance in the cables leading to each door - after many years the copper cores can break leaving less and less cross section to carry the current. Check voltage at the motor compared with battery voltage. Could also be physically sticking in the runners, in which case a silicone spray may help.

Rear leak could be door seal - check with chalk on the seal to see if water is coming in this way.

You can access the height corrector rod clamp from underneath, with the car supported properly! Can you post up a photo of the rear rod where it's popping out, so we can see if anything looks amiss?

Gearbox - what engine do you have at the moment? Tallest 5th gear is from the turbo diesel. Shortest (BE 'box) probably 16 valve at a guess.

Heater mod - no adverse effects after 9 years, so on that sample of one I'd say there seem to be no ill effects!
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Re: New Member With Little Niggles.

Post by David »

Hi, Thanks for your replies.

I never thought of the wires but I think i put a battery directly to the motor a while ago & it had the same results. So as you said it could be the runners & possibly not the wires. Will it be the runners inside the door (I have filled these with grease) or will it be the channels up ether side of the glass?

The rear doors - Will it need new seals or will it work just tightening the doors on the locks?

Here's where it gets interesting; I have no room between the sub frame & the transfer box, unless i pull the RH driveshaft out, but even then access is still difficult & I would still need the hydraulics working as I moved the rod in to the correct place. (don't worry about support, I always put concrete blocks under the car before going under it). As for a picture, How do I upload them on to here?

The engine is a standard 1.9 diesel (non turbo) & the car is a 1992 meteor hatchback.
Inside the gearbox the cogs are exactly the same size as the cogs out of a 1.7 diesel (non turbo) gearbox. From what I read (Somewhere on the forum) it said something like "BX's are low geared I got my 5th gear out of another gearbox", but I don't remember who said it & they didn't say what gearbox it was out of.

If the heater mod works OK, I will have a go at that at some point, Thanks for the input.

Also, the bleed screws on the rear brake calipers are leaking slightly, I have tightened them as much as possible & I know the rest of the calipers are fine because I put new seals in them, Will I need new bleed screws for them?

Thanks again for your help.
1992 Citroën BX 1.9 Diesel Meteor 4x4 - The Project.

1992 Citroën BX 1.9 TXD (with GTI engine; Mulleys old car) - Parts car.

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Re: New Member With Little Niggles.

Post by Defender110 »

The rear water leak might be blocked rear sunroof drains as well, and to second what Mat suggested about the silicone spray on the runners; I have had success on a lot of cars just by cleaning the weather seal guides with a wet scrubbing brush and then lubing the weather strip runners with a silicone type spray.
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Re: New Member With Little Niggles.

Post by mat_fenwick »

David wrote:Will it be the runners inside the door (I have filled these with grease) or will it be the channels up ether side of the glass?
We can't know for certain, but grease can go hard after time so might be worth cleaning this out and using a lighter lubricant.
David wrote:The rear doors - Will it need new seals or will it work just tightening the doors on the locks?
IF it is leaking between the door and seal, then either may cure the problem although arguably tightening the door against the seal is only curing the symptoms of a worn seal and not the real cause. Silicone grease may help to soften the seal and give it a bit more life. But you need to establish the cause otherwise you may be wasting time or money - it's also possible for water to get into the U section of the seal at the top where it's pushed onto the metal edge and make its way round to appear at the bottom. Or be something else entirely, as already mentioned.
David wrote:I have no room between the sub frame & the transfer box, unless i pull the RH driveshaft out
Hmmm, this sounds strange. I know you should be able to access the clamp from below, as I've done it! Unless we are talking about something different...again a picture would help!
David wrote:As for a picture, How do I upload them on to here?
Easiest way is to use the 'Upload attachment' box below the text box when you are typing a reply.
David wrote:The engine is a standard 1.9 diesel (non turbo) & the car is a 1992 meteor hatchback.
It's likely (as mentioned) they were talking about dropping the cruising rpm of a 16 valve. Raising the gearing for a non-turbo diesel may mean it doesn't have enough power to pull it, so it is a risk. I've not done any gearbox work, but you want the 5th gear from a TD, which can be swapped in situ after you unbolt the gearbox end plate. I think Vanny has done this quite recently.
David wrote:If the heater mod works OK, I will have a go at that at some point, Thanks for the input.
It may not have any effect, if your car isn't fitted with the extra wiring and relay (under the steering column) required.
David wrote:Also, the bleed screws on the rear brake calipers are leaking slightly, Will I need new bleed screws for them?
I've actually had this quite recently - IMO if anything is damaged it's more likely to be the soft aluminium threads of the caliper rather than the bleed screw. I drilled and tapped the caliper to the next size thread up which sorted it. I remember it was M7 as I didn't have an M7 bottom tap so had to buy one specifically! It could possibly be damage to the sealing face of the screw, so best to check.
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Re: New Member With Little Niggles.

Post by Tim Leech »

Welcome David!

You will get all the advice you need here.
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Re: New Member With Little Niggles.

Post by RobC »

Hello and welcome David

I too suspect your wet rear footwells and under seats are caused by blocked rear sunroof drains on either or both sides. You can test by opening the sunroof and pouring water onto the tray: if water backs up immediately and drips rather than trickles out behind the rear wheels then your drains are blocked, or at least partially blocked.

If you remove the rear light clusters and poke around you'll find the clear plastic pipes that are the drain tubes - blow up them with your mouth (beware) or compressed air to block them. You may like to protect seats in case of dirty water and muck flying out...
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Re: New Member With Little Niggles.

Post by David »

Hi Again All,

Thanks for all the replies,

I have put some silicone spray on the windows & that has cured them, Its the fastest I have ever seen them move! I put some on the rear window channels & the sunroof as well.

I have put some silicone spray on the rear door rubbers as well, hopefully it will sort them as well. It definitely isn't the sunroof 'leaking' because I have already checked that & the tubes are clear - I cleaned them out a while ago when I had problems at the front.

I will try to upload some pictures to explain about the clamps, the rear one I have put a cable tie around to try to hold it in. The picture at the front should explain the access issue (If they upload). Also please don't laugh at the colour of the sub frame & axle - I wanted to make them stand out.

The gear mod I saw had been done on a TD car. If (when I eventually get the car back on the road) my engine wouldn't pull a higher 5th gear, then I could always try a different setup. It just seems to rev high when seeing what speeds it will do in what gear on the ramp (it does 100mph flat out). Its probably not the right gearbox for it anyway because it had a auto box when I bought it, which lasted 5 minutes.
The manual gearbox is easy enough to dismantle anyway because I put new input bearings in it earlier this year.

Mine has the relay under the steering column; I have seen it, its just a case on making it work...

The brake caliper bleed screws; The fluid seeps up the center not around the threads so could that still mean damaged threads?

Thanks again for all the help.
Attachments
A closer look at the back rod.
A closer look at the back rod.
This one shows the back.
This one shows the back.
This one shows the front. The arrow is pointing to the rod, The clamp is just above the oil pipe.
This one shows the front. The arrow is pointing to the rod, The clamp is just above the oil pipe.
1992 Citroën BX 1.9 Diesel Meteor 4x4 - The Project.

1992 Citroën BX 1.9 TXD (with GTI engine; Mulleys old car) - Parts car.

2004 Citroën Xsara Desire. (Now gone).

2016 Ford Focus Zetec - Daily Driver. (Absolute bone shaker).
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Re: New Member With Little Niggles.

Post by mat_fenwick »

David wrote:I have no room between the sub frame & the transfer box
Ah. Your picture makes it clearer - yours is a 4x4 I see? In which case I'm not sure how accessible it should be!

The threads on the bleed screw don't actually do any sealing, but if they are damaged it may mean you can't tighten then up sufficiently to prevent leakage. You'll have to pop them out and have a look, but I'd be confident the problem is solvable.

Will have a proper look at the photos now - I wonder whether the clamp could be slid along the ARB a little more to help. Need to visualise it a bit more.
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Re: New Member With Little Niggles.

Post by MULLEY »

I personally love the paint job :) Have you got any pics of the rest of the car? Is it a hatch or estate? Nice to see a rare car being put back on the road & being used.
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Re: New Member With Little Niggles.

Post by David »

Hi All, Yes I forgot to mention I put a 4x4 system on it, Its now a Citroen BX 1.9 Diesel Meteor 4x4 Hatchback.
The rear arm bearings had gone in the original axle & the auto gearbox went so I thought... why not?

The paintwork is a mess on the car & really it needs a new front bumper, right wing & a respray. But I have 2 pictures from early last year I will try to upload.

The only way I can see of accessing the rod is take the driveshaft out then get 2 10MM spanners on the clamp & push it back slightly. Its about 3" too high (it at max height when the lever it in intermediate setting), & when its in low its about half way between low & normal height.

As for the back rod, it just keeps jumping out of the swivel bracket. Any ideas here?
Sorry for being dumb, but what does: ARB mean?

Also I have found a picture of my 5th gear inside the gearbox & for the record I can say the 4x4 gear ratio's are exactly the same as the 1.7 non turbo diesel gearbox.

I will have to pull the rear wheels off again & have another look, The screws were tight, so I don't understand why they would leak. If I do need new screws, What size & thread are they & are they specially for Citroen's or would any misc one do of Ebay (assuming its the right thread of course). Otherwise where would I get them from?

Also while I was under the car, I have been reminded of another little problem; the filler pipe to the fuel tank is leaking at the tank, Will I just need a stronger jubilee clip around it or have I done something wrong when reassembling it?

Thanks again for all the help.
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SANY1064.JPG
SANY0975.JPG
SANY0974.JPG
1992 Citroën BX 1.9 Diesel Meteor 4x4 - The Project.

1992 Citroën BX 1.9 TXD (with GTI engine; Mulleys old car) - Parts car.

2004 Citroën Xsara Desire. (Now gone).

2016 Ford Focus Zetec - Daily Driver. (Absolute bone shaker).
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Re: New Member With Little Niggles.

Post by mat_fenwick »

Interesting project :) Must admit I was slightly curious when you mentioned transfer box, but just assumed you were referring to the gearbox, especially when you mentioned it was a Meteor diesel! I'd be surprised if access was always that difficult on the 4x4s, as the ride height is crucial to ride quality, and a small adjustment can have a big effect.

ARB = anti-roll bar. I can't exactly visualise it, but I'm wondering whether the clamp on the ARB is too far along, meaning the default position of the swivel linkage is rotated further round than normal, so the rod from th height level isn't engaged in it fully. If that makes sense!

Pretty sure the bleed screws are M6 x 1 mm. I've used standard screws before, but there may be a range in available sealing face angles. I can't imagine anything which could cause a leak which wouldn't be visibly obvious once removed.
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1993 1.9 TZD Turbo Estate
1996 3.9 V8 Discovery
1993 VW LT35 campervan
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Re: New Member With Little Niggles.

Post by Tim Leech »

1.9d 4x4? Ace, well done.
Last edited by Tim Leech on Thu Oct 31, 2013 10:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: New Member With Little Niggles.

Post by Defender110 »

David wrote:Hi All, Yes I forgot to mention I put a 4x4 system on it, Its now a Citroen BX 1.9 Diesel Meteor 4x4 Hatchback.
Can't believe you've just thrown this in as a throw away remark lol. :? A 4x4 diesel is on the top of a lot of our wish list including mine. More details when you can please. =D> :wink:
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