My BX 19 RD 1987

[ruben]

Hi, new to the forum - hope this is in the right place

I bought my BX in April 2008 and instantly fell in love with it. It had one owner for 20 years from new who was an engineer and serviced the car himself regularly until he sold it to his neighbours son.... The new owner only bought it because it was immaculate and too good to turn down, after a few months he realised he had no use for it so put it on ebay, which is when I won it for a very good price (much less than the guy had hoped for!).

It's in incredible condition throughout, I drove it to Brighton once and 3 people stopped me at various times during the day to comment on my car.

It had new discs and pads in November 08 but other than that it has been as good as gold and not cost me anything.

I went away to South America last August and just returned.. It was left untouched on a driveway for 9 months. Got back last week, charged the battery and it it fired up first time. Amazing.

Drove it to the garage this morning for a service and MOT and it drove like a new car I was chuffed.

Got home and the garage called to say that he had put it on the ramp and the whole suspension is rusted beyond use and if fixable was going to cost me a fortune

I have to wait for the chief mechanic to get back on Saturday to decide weather or not he will do the job and then I have to decide if I can afford it.

I'm gutted.. Such a great car that has been cared for for 23 years and I might have to get rid.

It doesn't help that I have zero knowledge of car engines and how they work or how to fix them etc etc.

Fingers crossed it all works out, here are some pics I wanted to share with you guys:







Sorry I can't be more specific with the problem, as I said I am useless with cars.

Any thoughts from the experts?

Thanks!

Edit, forgot to mention I have every MOT certificate, fsh, the info sheet that came with the new vehicle, maintenance handbook, original key fobs from the main dealer in Farnbourough, the lot!

I will be devastated if it's the end.

[mat_fenwick]

I'm no hydraulic expert, but would suspect they mean the pipes. I am usually suspicious of garages, and you have to ask yourself that if it 'drove like a new car' can it really be 'rusted beyond use'? Nothing is unfixable, it is just a matter of price, and I would seek a second opinion at least!

[ruben]

Yeah sorry it is the pipes, and I too am very suspicious of garages in general.. Although this bunch have been very good in the past.

They are Citroen specialists and the mechanic had to scrap his own BX last week so they are familiar with the model.

He did ask the MOT centre if it was worth testing with the problem and they said no.

[Philip Chidlow]

Being a pre-1990 car it'll have the old unprotected pipework (unless parts have been replaced in the past). I suggest the first thing to do is establish exactly where the problem lies and to ask the garage to stop messing about and give a proper description of the issues. Then, it will be possible to make a fair assessment of the work needed.

[MULLEY]

The easiest solution would be to take your car to another mot station to the one the garage supposedly contacted to actually find out what it will fail on. Once you've got the failure sheet (if there is even one?) & the advisory sheet (again if there is one), then either scan the pages so that the experts on here can give you some advice about it, until we actually know what the issues are, no amount of speculation is going to help.

As an example, if its just the pipes are rusted to bits (is it leaking any lhm at this stage?), then the car can be re-piped. Cost wise is again dependent on how many & which one's, but may well be a lot cheaper than you suspect. Again, there might be some welding required, until we know more we can't comment on how much that would cost.

Dont give in yet, remember even supposed citroen specialists would view your car as worthless, hence if it needed a few hundred spending on it to get it roadworthy they may very well just say it's not worth it. If the car is in the condition that you've described, then repairing it is no big deal tbh, fair enough if it was going to cost you a grand, then you might re-consider but i doubt it'll need that amount spending....

[ken newbold]

If it is the pipes, it's no "picnic" trust me, but it's certainly not the end

The problem is, it's not just the pipes, often the unions to the rear brakes and suspension cylinders are well corroded in, it can take time to get them out or even cost new parts as well, especially on a car this age.

But like I say, it's certainly not the end.

Where abouts are you?

[mat_fenwick]

Good point Ken, they may well be reluctant to give a price for the job as the potential problems that may occur would mean increasing the price. Plus they probably don't want the risk of an immobile Citroen taking up ramp space if they have to wait for parts.

[Tim Leech]

As mentioned everythings fixable, and once its done its done, if the original pipes have lasted 20 years, then new ones should out last the car, you have to way up what it would cost to fix the old girl against the cost of a replacement. At least with the BX its a known quantity where if you were to spend £500 on a "banger" you could end up with a heap of trouble.

If it were me, I would put it in for an MOT, see WHAT it fails on, and get a quote to get it fixed and take it from there. I can here the MOT tester sucking through his teeth from here!

[ruben]

Thanks for the replies.

I'll wait and see what the garage say the damage will be (if they are willing to do the work) and report back when I know more about the situation.

[ken newbold]

That's your best plan. However, this car looks for too good to break! please offer it on here before doing anything drastic with it.

[kiwi]

I will chip in here and say

Dont Scrap it.

If that is the ONLY problem of rusty pipes then it will be a very worthwhile job to get them replaced. Cheaper but fiddly to do it yourself and cheaper still to ask for help on this forum and throw a few at your helpers.

By what you say just replacing those pipes will probably give the car anoher 10 years of life.

Nope I do not believe in the to hard basket if I did I would not have had the Head Gasket on mine replaced 2 years ago or on the other fished the offending bit metal out of the engine of another a replaced the otcopus pipe to keep it going another 18 months probably longer in a cheap spares car.

Sadly though the 19TRS bargain I have is heading for the back of the garage soon because of a wheel bearing, CV boot and couple of electrical gremlins for economical reasons. Not before I clock 300k (11k to go) will it be destined for the parts basket.

[demag]

As an example Ruben. When I bought my BX a year or two back it needed 2 driveshaft boots and a hydraulic leak fixing. I took it to the local independant Citroen "specialist" and he said, "Don't get spending anything on this mate, they're worth nothing."

It seems the garage fraternity look at everything from a monetary point of view. If it costs me 1 or 2 hundred pounds a year to keep my old car on the road then I think that is money well spent. It gives me something to do and keeps me off street corners . So if it is just pipes and it costs a few hundred quid it will be well worth it.

[Jayboy]

That's a cracking car and definitely not worth scrapping for a few hydraulic pipes. Yeah they're a bit of a pain in the arse to do but it's not the most complicated job in the world.

My first BX was an RD Turbo which I loved when it was briefly on the road but then it started blowing hydraulic pipes. Every time I fixed one, another one would blow days later. I ended up scrapping it and have regretted it ever since. If I'd known my way around BX's better at the time I would have fixed it all myself but lost the will to live!

Moral of the story - get the job done once, and do it properly. Replace any suspect pipes and she'll be good for years!

[scarecrow]

What is it for a complete repipe now, 3 or 4 hundred? From your description of the car I think you'd be hard pressed to find something as good for under a thousand.... and even then it'd be a stab in the dark.

I'm about to pay out around that much for repairs on mine - but I'm anticipating the satisfaction of driving off in the 'blue one' when it's all fixed up.

If you decide to get rid, then please advertise on this forum first.

[ruben]

Thanks again for the replies, I really appreciate it.

The garage are going to put it through it's MOT to see if anything else will need doing and will then carry out the pipe work if everything else is sound.

Unfortunately having a crack at it myself isn't an option.

I'll do some more detailed pics of the car for the gallery when I get it back.