For new owners of the BX TZD

tom · Post by **tom** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 3:13 pm

This article dates from early 2005. It will be edited and revised in the light of experience gained since then, but for now, Oscar's wish is granted...

So you have just won the auction and the bid was laughable.
You now have three months ticket or so to get your new car up together.
Viability: Rust in the front wheel arch is not a killer. Doors dropping off is. Likewise, rust in the rear door shuts, where the wing welds to it mean that this is a short life car. Prepare to break it for spares when the MOT runs out, Spend nothing. There are plenty of other BXs around at this time.
As you know, neglect of the cooling system is the Achilles' heel of this car. Wet carpets are a clue to a failed heater matrix which must be fixed. It isn't expensive to do but it will take a day or two.
Head jobs, done properly at home cost around £200 once you've been skimmed and pressure tested. I've done one and I would rather not do another. Cars without any water leaks or losses from the header tank are much to be preferred.
Start spending here.
Steam clean the engine bay. I mean it. You'll be safer, and the job will be easier. Best tenner you'll spend. That's a promise. The family's washing slave will appreciate it, too.

Drain the cooling system and remove the radiator. Inspect it for swollen transverse pipes, and if you have any, then scrap the radiator. Buy new. if not, reverse flush it with the Garden hose, drain it and fill it from the kettle to check for cold spots. If you find any, new rad.
Your rad was ok! Great. Buy deionised water, antifreeze, radiator cap, thermostat, fan switch and a new bottom hose. The latter is known to collapse internally, killing the engine. That will be the head gasket insured and it is always the first job to do on a Tizzydee. Read the instructions for bleeding the system carefully
and you should have no further problems in that area.
So now it will stay running.
Lazy starters are a doddle to pull off and a good strip and clean works wonders so don't spend here unless you have to. Spend it on a good battery instead! While you are at it,
Pull the wiring to each glowplug and measure to the engine block from the disconnected top of the plug. More than an Ohm? Change it.
Then it will start easily and smoothly.
Change the oil, air and fuel filters and the oil itself. Stick a couple of pints of petrol in a full tank of derv to clean the injectors.
That will keep it going. The cam belt will break when it feels like it but it isn't expensive, Just a fiddle to fit. Take the car to a garage to get the bottom bolt undone first and then do it up tight.
They are loctited in and can be a pig to do. Some may even snap but it is most uncommon. If it does, then you were born under a bad moon and the Hellhound is on your trail.
Now it starts and should stay running. Lube the front struts internally. Every BXist should know this one by now!
Prepare to spend fifty quid or so on the rear arm bearings, and easy DIY job. You'll need a 24mm Spanner for each end of the big bolt. Given time, do Alan Smith's mod to include grease nipples.
Assume that you will break bleed nipples on the calipers when bleeding the brakes. You need the right socket and some luck. Read Alan S on the subject. New disks and pads ciome out at under £50.
I'm inclined to do this as a matter of course.
Drain the Vulcans' blood and replace it with Hydrorincage. this job costs around £40 including the new LHM you'll be using in 2,000 miles time. THen change all five spheres and the pump drive belt..
Now it will work as it should. Once you get to here, you have spent
what you need to make the car fit for years more service. These are the essential jobs but nothing else should cost too much to fix.
I maintain that it costs about £500 to get a BX right. THen, with routine servicing, it will last a long time.

Oscar · Post by **Oscar** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 5:04 pm

Thanks Tom, that's the one.

FWIW, I unilaterally awarded Tom the "Order of the Green Sphere with Crossed Spanners" for his services to the Cit community in writing this.

tom · Post by **tom** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 6:02 pm

Alas, only the lesser order with crossed Pistons but One lives in hope...

Vanny · Post by **Vanny** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 7:00 pm

Crossed pistons, the mind boggles!

Is that like a crossed thread, some how?

Stewart (oily!) · Post by **Stewart (oily!)** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 7:02 pm

Nice work Tom, re the crossed pistons/conrods a mate of mine had that one as a tattoo

Stewart

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 8:53 pm

Looks like I'm alone - piston broke. (with apologies to the late John Bolster)

mnde · Post by **mnde** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 11:37 am

A fantastic guide!

Assume that you will break bleed nipples on the calipers when bleeding the brakes. You need the right socket and some luck. Read Alan S on the subject. New disks and pads ciome out at under £50.
I'm inclined to do this as a matter of course.
Drain the Vulcans' blood and replace it with Hydrorincage. this job costs around £40 including the new LHM you'll be using in 2,000 miles time. THen change all five spheres and the pump drive belt..

Not that I've ever done this fiddly task, but if I was to do it I think I'd bleed the brakes after I've replaced the LHM with Hydraurincage, rather than before, and then once more after refilling with LHM in 2000 miles. I must try this at some point. I've heard it's possible to bleed thru the flexis at the front instead of shearing bleed nipples?

Mark.

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 12:09 pm

The object is to remove air from the braking system - and so as long as you get it all out it doesn't matter how you do it.

BE CAREFUL - on a normal car you will only get a master cylinder sized shot of high pressure fluid coming out. On a Citroen system you will have the best part of a gallon being pumped out by an engine driven pump. If this heads for your eyes . . .

Much better to do it the proper way if possible.

mnde · Post by **mnde** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 3:26 pm

Ah yes, but I thought that there was also a secondary objective; to expel old/dirty LHM fluid that's been sitting in the calipers. So you bleed it until not only are there no bubbles, but the fluid is also clean.

I quote the good AlanS from the AussieFrog Citroen forum:

"Now a point to remember; the brakes are dead ends so the old or contaminated LHM is still in the lines to the 4 brake calipers. When you bleed them, you will find the liquid a dirty colour which will progressively turn to the bright green of fresh LHM as the old stuff is pumped out. This must be discarded. This will be an amount of approximately one litre combined, which you will need to get rid of. This is why I said 3/4 fill the tank."

Therefore I don't see any point bleeding dirty fluid through the brakes and THEN changing it... cos you'd then have dirty fluid still trapped in the calipers

Mark.

tom · Post by **tom** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 5:59 pm

Clearly the warning about the bleed nipples shearing is to be given before the instruction to bleed the brakes, as the next instruction is to drain the system and fill it with Hydrorincage which perforce necessitates bleeding the brakes.

meep · Post by **meep** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 7:36 pm

My way of getting that crank bolt undone for the cam belt:

Put the steering on full lock to the right, use the 10" and 5" extenstion bars, this allows the ratchet head to rest on the front tyre, while I swing on the old motorbike fork leg slipped over the ratchet

It went with that 'crack' that sends a shock down your arms

tom · Post by **tom** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 9:19 pm

Another way of doing it is to frighten it with the blowlamp to soften the Loctite...

Gareth Wales · Post by **Gareth Wales** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 7:24 pm

Does anyone have a Citroen part number for the bottom hose referred to above? Is this the one with a T-piece ?
Gareth

Gareth Wales · Post by **Gareth Wales** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 7:29 pm

........and anumber for the TZD fan switch, too. Please.

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 8:47 pm

Hi Gareth, mine didn't have the T-piece so I modified the new hose that did, got it from GSF, the fan switch I changed too, mine had 3 pins as I have 2 fans.

Bottom Hose with T-Piece N17912 (GSF) £17.50+VAT
Fan switch N93484 (2 pin) or N93486 (3 pin) (GSF) Both £8.50+VAT