Advice would be very welcome

Anything about BXs
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saintjamesy89
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Advice would be very welcome

Post by saintjamesy89 »

Hi Guys, not been on here much for a long time, work seems to be taking over my entire life. I find myself, unintended, with three jobs and a day off once a fortnight. Part of this reason is i'm phasing one weekend job out into the other but cannot do it at once, and the other is that i'm saving toward a bigger and newer daily driver.

The advice i was after is about my TXD turbo. Today it went in the garage for a mock MOT to see what needs doing for the MOT at the end of the month, turns out that's quite a lot. I thought it'd be a bit of welding to the sills, under the washer bottle and an exhaust backbox. But the list goes on.

Backbox holy and leaking gas and soot.
Sills corroded both sides at the back.
Corrosion on the passenger rear footwell.
Rear suspension subframe mounts excessively corroded.
Rear height corrector weeping (odd, there are no drips on the driveway at the back)
Headlights mal-adjusted (too low because the rear suspension is too high)
Front brake pipes corroded.
Handbrake out of alignement and ineffective (drivers side caliper has a spring on the handbrake mechanism) apparently this has worn the drivers side brakes much more than the passenger, so a set of pads is also required.
Ball joint busted (don't know which one), not surprised, thought something was up on the front.
Numberplate light out.

All in all, apparently 16 hours labour at the chaps best approximation which equates to £600 at his rates. This doesn't include parts, as he didn't know if/when he could get them.

So the advice. I have saved up roughly £900 for my new car, with a goal of 2K and the BX sale. Should I keep it and fix it, blowing nearly all of the money i've saved up so far for my new daily, or I could borrow other money from myself and Steve to make it up to a couple of hundred short of the original goal of 2k and then buy my new car, but i'll have to sell the BX - I really don't want to scrap the thing, in the year i've had it it's done 15000 comfortable, economical and more or less trouble free miles.

Thanks all.
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mat_fenwick
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Re: Advice would be very welcome

Post by mat_fenwick »

The fact you're asking suggests you have doubts, and to run a BX as a high mileage daily nowadays you need to like the car enough to spend a fair bit of time and money on it. In your position I'd sell the TD BX, buy something you don't really care about as a daily hack, and use any free time/money to work on the GT.

I suspect you'd resent spending £600+ on the TXD instead of the GT, but only you can answer that...
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Re: Advice would be very welcome

Post by MULLEY »

Probably sounds worse than it is, so it needs some welding which sounds like thats where the majority of the 16hrs quoted comes in? Some of the things you could do yourself to reduce your costs, even £600 is cheap motoring for a year tbh, & who knows if you spend £2k on another car that won't present itself with a load of problems & cost just as much as the BX to get through its next mot. Cars are a gamble, at least you know what the BX needs doing.
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Re: Advice would be very welcome

Post by saintjamesy89 »

mat_fenwick wrote:The fact you're asking suggests you have doubts, and to run a BX as a high mileage daily nowadays you need to like the car enough to spend a fair bit of time and money on it. In your position I'd sell the TD BX, buy something you don't really care about as a daily hack, and use any free time/money to work on the GT.

I suspect you'd resent spending £600+ on the TXD instead of the GT, but only you can answer that...
Spot on Mat, all of the above. Although I do very much like it, it has been and still is a stop gap albeit a truncated one, i'd hoped it'd get me to next summer without major incident.

Mulley, the major point is the welding, and the subframe mount area at that. Apparently it's been welded here before, as well as other areas around the back end which are still ok. Some stuff I could do myself, although time at the moment is so limited, I haven't seen my mother for two weeks (which i've been given a right ear bending about) so I don't think i'll have any spare time to do stuff before the end of the month.

Just for some context, the garage I use is a hydraulic specialist, the chap who owns the business has worked on BXs for his entire mechanical career and his advice was that if the subframe mounts were OK, then fix it, but as it's been welded here before and needs doing again - he advised it was up to me but he wouldn't.

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Re: Advice would be very welcome

Post by Paul296 »

I'm probably with Mr. Fenwick on this one. It seems alot of money to spend on that particular car. For me this would be the clincher: 'Rear suspension subframe mounts excessively corroded.' It sounds like rust might be making itself at home under there and what's actually visible might be just the tip of the ice berg. In short, possibly sending good money after bad. In your position I'd find the cheapest, lowest spec, low mileage ZX (or similar) I could find and sink some proper time and money into that GT - once it's sorted you really can't lose on that car.

Nice to see you back Tom btw - you've been missed. :)
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Re: Advice would be very welcome

Post by saintjamesy89 »

Thank you Paul, hope all is well your end? Sensible words, sir. Although a little too sensible, i'd really like something a bit bigger, a bit quicker and a not too much less economical than the TXD, so although a very cheap ZX could be had, that's not for me.

I think i've more or less decided on an X type 2.0d or a D5 Volvo S80, shame I just couldn't have a couple more months of saving to get a really decent top spec one. I'll have to compromise now.
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Re: Advice would be very welcome

Post by Defender110 »

saintjamesy89 wrote: Just for some context, the garage I use is a hydraulic specialist, the chap who owns the business has worked on BXs for his entire mechanical career and his advice was that if the subframe mounts were OK, then fix it, but as it's been welded here before and needs doing again - he advised it was up to me but he wouldn't.
To echo what he and others have said; I have witnessed very badly corroded subframe mounts which includes the rear sill area and I have long thought that this one particular corroded area will sign the death warrant of a lot of BX's now and in the very near future as it did with my last BX. You have to draw the line somewhere when it comes to constructional safety and this IMHO is the line. Patching and repairing this area is not a viable long term option. Total cut-out and replacement is the only true option but this would be a time consuming expensive option to do properly. If it was an E-type Jag then maybe but a BX :? :?:
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Re: Advice would be very welcome

Post by rutter123 »

good advice/\ but a real good close inspection of the sub mount areas can reveal all manner of horrorrust, for £600 you could go out and buy a welding rig and diy. my tzd was quite rotten all around the n/s/r 1/4 and sill/sub mounts, boot floor etc usual suspect areas, welded it myself and still good 5 yrs later, small welding rigs are always handy when owning bx'x.
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Re: Advice would be very welcome

Post by MULLEY »

As above, nothing is impossible to fix, especially if you know a man with a welder :)
2002 C5 2.0 HDI Estate - Jasmine - Now SORN
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Re: Advice would be very welcome

Post by Thread Bear »

Is it possible to buy a solid MOTed running BX diesel for £600? I think it just about is. That and your situation suggest that it is probably time to end this relationship, even if it were to buy another BX. Someone else with the time and skills may well rescue the car for a bit of revenue, scrap price. So your ahead. As to buying the cars you mentioned, its personal. I would prefer to find a good BX and look after it knowing its foibles and that it is unlikely to loose any further value and might gain. But then that will work for me and my needs at the moment.
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Re: Advice would be very welcome

Post by Tim Leech »

I agree with the guys Tom, I thnk using a tired BX as a daily aswell as trying to restore one is a big ask for someone (I class myself in the same catagory) who isnt as mechanically gifted as some on here.

I would get a modernish but reliable daily to give you time and cahs to get the GT sorted.
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Re: Advice would be very welcome

Post by electrokid »

Not sure that I could add to the wisdom already proffered here - not easy choices but good luck with it Tom. The only other thought - if you could possibly do without a daily driver for a couple of months or so to get some breathing space and to save a few more ££££s towards the next motor - if you have the space to SORN it ? Harder to get work done on a motor that's laid up of course. And see if there are any offers for the TXD from the guys here.
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Re: Advice would be very welcome

Post by Mickey taker »

Oh and the most important bit

Volvo all the way mate ,
if your thinking Jag you might just as well buy a mondeo
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Re: Advice would be very welcome

Post by saintjamesy89 »

Thanks for your input guys, can't do without a daily unfortunately, my daily commute is around 25 miles each way. Haven't the space to SORN it either...

Lets hope someone on here buys it (if you haven't already, then check out the cars for sale section)! The Volvo i'm viewing Saturday, the garage does trade ins, but only offered scrap money for it and they'll undoubtedly break it and scrap it :(

Like Volvo's Mick, S60 looks odd at the back and has not a lot of leg room in the back, don't want an estate or i'd have a V70 like you. Also like Saab 9-5s but put off by the old Gm 2.2 dti and the more expensive to run but lovely isuzu V6 tid. I've heard X types are more or less prettier Mondeos, really wanted the 2.7 twin turbo diesel XJ but we're talking way out of my budget there! Fingers crossed for Saturday.
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Re: Advice would be very welcome

Post by citsncycles »

I've worked on the rear sill / subframe area, and can see why the garage is saying what they're saying. While it's a shame for any BX to come to the end of the line, it's a lot of money to shell out on a car you're planning to replace, and that has other non-MOT related issues such as roof corrosion. I doubt the garage would do more than a patch up to keep it going another year or 2 at that price, as I suspect the work required to sort if properly could turn into the scale of work done on a certain St. Tropez by Chevronics earlier this year!
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