Mat's BX Blog

Caffiend · Post by **Caffiend** » Wed Apr 04, 2012 12:04 pm

Good grief ...

and there's me complaining that it might rain this weekend!

Even in Wales you don't expect that kind of weather in April, be careful out there! (and good luck with MOT)

Post by **mat_fenwick** » Wed Apr 04, 2012 5:24 pm

Thanks. It's melting now at lower levels, but will probably still be on the hills on my way back although they may have cleared it by then. I now have 12 months MOT with no advisories, but they did give me a scare when they phoned to say it had failed big style. 3 days too late for an April Fool joke though!

Dollywobbler · Post by **Dollywobbler** » Wed Apr 04, 2012 5:46 pm

Has been horrific today, albeit with much less snow down here in mid-Wales. A brief scattering this morning was all.

Feel sorry for your car Mat! A nice winter in the cosy garage and then straight out into this!

Post by **mat_fenwick** » Wed Apr 04, 2012 6:03 pm

Yeah, poor car! Still, it coped well. Off home in a moment to see whether we have electricity (had a power cut just before 8, so am hoping it came back on during the day for the sake of the food in the freezer).

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Wed Apr 04, 2012 9:38 pm

That picture of you all frozen up is ace

Looks hellish tbh putting chains on & then having to fix them. Derbyshire today was farily poor with the dual carriageway to Sheffield down to one lane as per usual. Always handy for me as i like driving in the snow so i had the fast lane all to myself & that was without my winter tyres actually being on the car because i changed them over a couple of weeks ago

The vredesteins were surprisingly good, but i was certainly slipping & sliding a lot more on them than my winter tyres, but made it to work ok. Not much snow on the road on my return journey which was a relief.

Post by **mat_fenwick** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 11:07 am

It's great to be driving it again, but a small problem has crept in over winter. The blower motors will intermittently cut out, especially when on full speed (transistor bypassed). Running a temporary good earth to terminal 3 of the speed control PCB in the dash restore correct operation, so looks like the common fault of a high resistance earth connection.

I have to confess when I've fixed this fault before for others I've simply run a supplementary earth lead to the earthing point under the passenger seat, rather than cure. (The car's owners were happy with a quick fix, but with it being my own car now I'd rather find the problem and sort it if possible). I believe the original earthing point is on the steering column, but will try and trace the wire later today and see what I find. It would seem strange that a connection in the car has suffered from corrosion though...

toddao · Post by **toddao** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 12:54 pm

I just saw the snow pics - unbelievable! Especially after that heatwave. The Germans have an expression : Don't go naked in April.

Is that the Yeti pictured there too? Looks really scary!

Post by **mat_fenwick** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 2:18 pm

Yes, that's the rarely seen Welsh Yeti. Looks very fearsome but responds well to gifts of wine...

Just tried to investigate the earth wires but without taking off the dash I can't trace them. They don't go to the earth point on the steering column (as the Haynes states), as that is clean and the blowers still work even when that's removed.

The only other earthing point it could be is m4, described as being 'behind console' and I'm not sure where that is. So I'll just add an extra earth wire for now, and if I ever take the dash out again I'll investigate further then.

Post by **Defender110** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 2:48 pm

mat_fenwick wrote: but with it being my own car now I'd rather find the problem and sort it if possible). I believe the original earthing point is on the steering column, but will try and trace the wire later today and see what I find. It would seem strange that a connection in the car has suffered from corrosion though...

Yes same as, I have coupled the earth link for the motor to the lighting earth lug but would like to find where the original has shorted out. I assume it is the earthing coneector that has burnt out due to ampage and assume the new temporary earth will eventually do the same??

Perhaps we could send them back into Citroen under warranty as it is obviously a common weak point

Post by **mat_fenwick** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 8:42 pm

It doesn't have to carry a high current, as all it does is carry the small switching current from the transistor. It does join up with the main earth from the motor(s) though before going to an earthing point somewhere, and my guess is it joins up at the connector to the transistor PCB in the blower housing. That would make sense, both for where the wire appears to lead and also why corrosion/high resistance would be a problem.

What I've done is link to the lighting earth on the blower control PCB - but what puzzles me is why Citroen had 2 separate earth paths. It looks like the original PCB design linked the 2 earths, but the track has then been drilled through to break the link (presumably cheaper than changing the etching). They must have had a reason to do this, but I can't see why!

Anyway, it's working now, with no apparent ill effects.

Post by **mat_fenwick** » Wed Apr 11, 2012 5:38 pm

Bugger.

Heater tap starting to weep coolant. Obviously feeling left out since I did some work on the electrical side of the heater system...

I have a spare tap, but is this as horrible a job as everyone makes out?

Mickey taker · Post by **Mickey taker** » Wed Apr 11, 2012 6:08 pm

No Mat its a piece of piss to do, you just need the new tap , some spanners and screwdrivers and most importantly a Vanny

Post by **mat_fenwick** » Thu Apr 12, 2012 12:40 am

Aye, everyone needs a Vanny!

I have a spare tap assembly, but phoned up the dealer to find the O rings from the tap to matrix (which I think is the only thing that's leaking) are now NLA. They aren't a standard round section O ring, and whilst I could probably obtain something that would fit, I like to have everything I need before I start, especially if doing the job in an evening now the car is back on the road. I've got a boxed set of O rings, which proudly claims to have "a selection of common sizes to suit most applications". In the several years I've had it, the O rings have been exactly the wrong size for everything I've ever needed one for!

Fortunately, Davidb (the guy selling lots of NOS parts) has a set in stock, and is going to post them out for a very reasonable price. I'll try and find a match for the old O rings once I take them out, for future reference. Vanny has mentioned that they aren't a match for any of the standard metric sizes he has.

Post by **mat_fenwick** » Thu Apr 12, 2012 11:54 pm

Just been out to take the dog for a walk, and there's a frost!

Can't remember one this late in the year before, but with the way this year's going, who knows what will be next...

Post by **mat_fenwick** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 9:14 pm

What a brilliant weekend! Saturday night over at Vanny's helping him dispose of a wine surplus, followed by an evening of chilling and chatting.

Then the very well attended X Rally - bit of a trek but worth it, and the drive back was great. After Shrewsbury I took the shortcut over the Berwyn mountains, and that was the most enjoyable drive I've had in my BX, and one of the most in any vehicle! Sunshine, the engine was pulling really well with bags of torque and all the corners just seemed to flow perfectly.