MOT DAY

Anything about BXs
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Tim Leech
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MOT DAY

Post by Tim Leech »

Tomorrow the GT has its annual Inspection, we now have a dedicated MOT Tester at work, who does them all day long, he has even mentioned his dislike of french cars :roll:

Drivers side brake is definatly binding and the drivers door handle still sticks, ive booked it in for a new bottom oil seal (its dripping) and a new cambelt while hes at it as the current one is over 4 years old (yes Ive owned the GT that long).

I will get the oil changed while its in the air and get them to try and lubricate the caliper, I guess its down to the lack of use, theres also alot of travel on the handbrake, a pair of new cables are in the boot just in case! (pads are new)
Lots of Motors, mostly semi broken....
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saintjamesy89
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Re: MOT DAY

Post by saintjamesy89 »

Roverman wrote:Tomorrow the GT has its annual Inspection, we now have a dedicated MOT Tester at work, who does them all day long, he has even mentioned his dislike of french cars :roll:
Haha unlucky for him! Not sure if any one could turn their nose up at a MK1 GT though. They're so pretty. Let's hope it passes then Tim!

I've just looked at the guide on here about changing the cambelt ont he 1.9 petrol cars :shock: looks a bit technical. When I did my little astra's all I had to do was take the cover off and slacken the water pump! And I had about 6" to work with (steady now).

Not sure why, but loose handbrakes are really quite irritating. There's nothing quite like a nice tight






















Handbrake :rofl:
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MOT Day.

Post by bx petrol auto saloon »

Dear Saintjamesy89
Cambelt on a petrol BX :?: Now that is where I can definately help.
First thing to do is, if you haven,t got one already is a workshop
manual, one very very kindly left in the car for me when I bought mine,
so you can familar yourself with the timing marks. As after me working
at a Vauxhall dealer for 8 years from '93 to '01. The timing marks on
the Astra,s and Cavalier,s etc. etc. are all at the 12 o,clock position,
which makes them very easy to renew. I know exactly about the water-pumps bieng slackened off to enable the cambelt to be renewed and
then use the waterpump to tighten the cambelt :wink:
I used Mr Meteor,s ( Brian,s ) absolutely excellant thread on the
subject of " replacing a cambelt on petrol BX " is really really a perfect
way to do a cambelt, it even has all the pictures you will need and more
to do the job to perfection 8) :P
I think if I am not mistaken, the timing marrks on the cambelt need
to be at 12 o,clock with a bolt in place to lock the camshaft sprocket
from moving. But the timing marks on the crankshaft need to be at
about 3 o,clock, no bolts needed to lock the crank, as you need to rem-
ove the bottom crank pulley.
On my 93 BX TXi with single=point injection, the way you need to
move the tensioner, to tighten your new belt, was different to Brian,s.
On mine, you use the tensioner to tension your new cambelt, as it has
a square hole in it that you need to put something like an allen key. but
the end has to be square to match the hole in tensioner. I used a metal
spike from one of my old garden lights, the bit that goes into the soil,
and cut it off to lenght, as you don,t have enough room for anything
else.
You will need to remove the engine mounting near the cambelt too,
and support the engine with a piece of hardwood on a trolley jack, as
you will need to raise and lower the engine at different points to gain
access to various different bolts etc.etc.
I found it best to remove the rocker cover so that you can time
the engine up on the correct cylinder. long thin screwdriver in no 1 plug
hole, to get no 1 piston to TDC you need to watch the valves on no 4
cylinder to be on the rock, This ensure that you will have the engine
timed up and firing on no1 cylinder.
Keep your specially made cambelt tensioning tool in your glovebox
for future needs.
The waterpump on these are just bolted in at the bottom of the
engine with a paper gasket that needs replacing aswell, If your in
there doing the cambelt, as I was told by many kind folks on the forum
is best to put a new waterpump and gasket, new tensioner, new
cambelt and do the HP pump belt aswell and the alternater belt too.
One thing I did, but your not forced to do it, I left a message of
thanks to Brian for all his wonderful hard work.
Another thing is that it is a little bit tight for room, but once you
remove the altenator, you can see thing alot better, and if you get
stuck, like I do sometimes I would be the first person to ask a stupid
question, they all on this forum very,very helpful and thoughtfull too.
Hope the Helps.
Good Luck.
Vince.
Passion Hydropneumatic Citroen,s

Cars;- 1993 White Citroen BX 1.6 TXi petrol
saloon auto with air-con & ABS.
47,594 Miles from new.
Owned for 3 years sorned.
1988 Silver SAAB 900i 2.0 8v F/lift,
saloon 5sp with 3 spoke Ronals,
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Tim Leech
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Post by Tim Leech »

Well it failed, on the items I mentioned, door handle is now sorted, Martins going to have a look at the brakes tomororw as they are binding and giving low handbrake efficiency.

Even so not bad for a 27 year old french car!
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Post by Defender110 »

Roverman wrote:Well it failed, on the items I mentioned, door handle is now sorted, Martins going to have a look at the brakes tomororw as they are binding and giving low handbrake efficiency.

Even so not bad for a 27 year old french car!
Good news, sounds like you just need to fit the new cables then and a caliper/pad clean out.
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Post by Tim Leech »

Defender110 wrote:
Roverman wrote:Well it failed, on the items I mentioned, door handle is now sorted, Martins going to have a look at the brakes tomororw as they are binding and giving low handbrake efficiency.

Even so not bad for a 27 year old french car!
Good news, sounds like you just need to fit the new cables then and a caliper/pad clean out.
The cables seem ok to be honest, I think its just with it sitting aorund for a such a long time it just needs taking apart, cleaning and greasing.

Going to get him to look at the rear pads too, when I took the rear wheels off to fit the new flaps they looks rather low.
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Post by Defender110 »

Cables can look ok but be fubared inside. I've just done the ones on my auto and they looked ok but wouldn't release properly so I had binding brakes. No binding now and H/B much better now with new cables.
Kevan
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Post by MULLEY »

The handbrake cable design on the BX is crap, it goes through a rusty eyelet think in the wheel arch, its no wonder that the casing gets damaged & water gets in & rusts them solid :x

What i was thinking of, was possibly fitting a similar sized eye from a fishing rod, they are smooth, don't rust & won't snag on the cable. Do you think that might work?
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Post by BX Meteor »

/\ interesting idea, will it take the sideways strain when the cable goes tight 8)
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Post by Brian »

Someone mentioned on this forum in the past, I can't remember who it was.

He fitted rubber/plastic wheels from a child's toy onto the metal ring, and this allowed the cable to move freely in both directions.

If any one finds a source, may be worth a bulk buy !!!
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Post by citsncycles »

Depending on the cost of new cables, it may be worth trying to lubricate the cables, or in the current weather conditions simply warming them up to melt any ice etc. in them.
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Post by Tim Leech »

There two new ones in the boot, so if they are buggered I will get them changed,
Lots of Motors, mostly semi broken....
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Post by BX Meteor »

slight thread hijack, but only slight (its still about handbrake cables)

When I had bought my BX in 2004, I had to replace one of the cables. Got a proper one with the extra blue outer, which is in the car and is still OK.

The car last had its MOT last May, and it had handbrake efficiency as an advisory.

The other cable is the one now causing the problem, so I decided to replace it. I bought a new cable on ebay (another proper one with the extra blue outer), put the front of the car up on axle stands, took both wheels off, undid both adjusters, removed them both from the hook on both sides, removed both of them from the hooks on the handbrake, got under the car to pull the old cable out and it would not budge !!!

I even pulled it through all the eyes and still it would not come out. Even the other one would not pull out.

As I say, both inner cables were released at both ends, both outers were released at the caliper end ....but the outers would not come away from the handbrake end from under the car !!!

I gave up and put everything back again and thought "f**k that". That was back in August.

Anyone else had this problem, any ideas ???
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Tim Leech
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Post by Tim Leech »

I just noticed the MOT man opened the boot with the tailblazer and has broken off the repaired part and just pushed it back in, :roll:, Superglue time :evil:
Lots of Motors, mostly semi broken....
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Post by Paul296 »

Roverman wrote:I just noticed the MOT man opened the boot with the tailblazer and has broken off the repaired part and just pushed it back in, :roll:, Superglue time :evil:
I HATE IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS!! :evil:

Whenever anyone else tries to open my boot; 'Whoah! I'll do that'! :D
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