TIMS BX BLOG

Tell us about life with your BX, or indeed life in general!
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Defender110
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Re: TIMS BX BLOG

Post by Defender110 »

What was the outcome of the brakes then mate? (Margo)
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Tim Leech
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Re: TIMS BX BLOG

Post by Tim Leech »

It was a shot master cylinder, a new one cured it. Resealing the old one made it worse!
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citsncycles
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Re: TIMS BX BLOG

Post by citsncycles »

Resealing can do that sometimes with a badly scored cylinder - the old seals would have conformed to the imperfections as everything wore.
Mike Sims
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Tim Leech
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Re: TIMS BX BLOG

Post by Tim Leech »

Well a generally crap car (not that the cars are crap, well some may say) day yesterday, managed to finally wash the RD estate and am pleased with how well it comes up, although its constantly wet which is not how I like my cars due to the shite weather. The passenger window has packed up again and I managed to loose the roll pin out of the drivers door check strap, oh and one of the bolts for the drivers seat is seized solid half in and half out and now rounded off.....

Went over to the lock up to check things over, drop Kitchs slide (well he says its for the boys) and interior out of the RD off aswell as the bargainous £10 exhaust for the estate I bought as a spare.

Its well documented that the Xantia has been a complete pain in the arse since I bought it 8 years ago.... someone suggested fitting a throttle postion sensor as a remedy, and for £7 (what it cost on ebay) I thought why not, also a new idle control valve just in case as theres not much else left to fit.

So whilst I was spannering on the Xantia (the stupid torx for the pot sensor had no room to get at thanks to the alternator bracketry) I left the GT running as I always do to charge the battery and get it nice and warm.....except this time the cooling fan didnt cut in and I had forgotten to put the blower on hot........I heard a hissing and a squealing sound to see steam coming out of the bonnet of the GT and coolant pissing out all over the floor. A fast sprint to turn it off showed all the warning lamps on and the temp gauge reading over 120 degrees......it continued to spit all its coolant everywhere after it was turned off.

10 minutes later it had cooled (with the heater on full to dispurse the heat) and it started up and seemed to run fine asides a very squealimng alternator after being doused in antifreeze! Half an hour later I topped it back up and bled the system, the heater was warm and seemed ok asides a misfire from water getting in a plug hole recess.....I just have to hope now I havent cooked the HG, but with my current luck with cars I doubt it......

The idle control valve of course didnt fit but the pot sensor did and seemed to make the engine run more sweetly and seemed alot less fumey and rich but I will have to let it idle for a while (and of course watch it like a hawk) before I put it for a MOT and see if its running properly.

Bastard.
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Tinkley
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Re: TIMS BX BLOG

Post by Tinkley »

I take it a new thermostat switch - the one in the side of the radiator has been procured for the GT?

If you short the fan cut in ie remove the connector and put in a wire with 2 spade ends to short it you can test it fast. I'd very nearly put money on that part being the culprit. You need the right one for the model as I believe there are very small temperature differences between models to activate fan cut in.
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Tim Leech
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Re: TIMS BX BLOG

Post by Tim Leech »

Tinkley wrote:I take it a new thermostat switch - the one in the side of the radiator has been procured for the GT?

If you short the fan cut in ie remove the connector and put in a wire with 2 spade ends to short it you can test it fast. I'd very nearly put money on that part being the culprit. You need the right one for the model as I believe there are very small temperature differences between models to activate fan cut in.

Gonna have a look this weekend and see if its blown or not, the car normally sits bang on 85 degrees and the fan has always cut in before so I think the thermostat is ok, but probably not the fan switch.
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Re: TIMS BX BLOG

Post by Tinkley »

If I remember rightly the circuit is No 4 so check the fuse, a 20 amp one. It only has a few parts so is not a complex loop to debug. I've had 2 thermostats go and the first indication is the amber lamp...then the red. At least with the car moving the cooling is actually pretty good. My 1.6s (and old 14RE) don't have a temp guage but I like to hear the fan noise cutting in. I was very good after the engine swap and ran it up until it cut in. For some reason this car does not transmit the noise as much as the other two despite having the fan from one of the others!

Check that the fan is not seized too. I had all of this on this car - fan seized, fuse blown, thermostat knackered all at the same time and it still ran..... Eventually after the red lamp came on and I let her cool off, I just went right through it. Still not sure I've got the sensor leads on the back of the engine the right way round after swap but at least the lights will come on even if in the wrong order!. At least the coolant in the last two cars has been clean(ish) when drained, which does give some confidence. The only other cause can be a blocked/gummed radiator which is not very nice.

Good luck with it Tim.
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Tim Leech
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Re: TIMS BX BLOG

Post by Tim Leech »

Strange the fan DID cut in once the engine started to cool, so maybe its a poor connection etc.
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mds141
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Re: TIMS BX BLOG

Post by mds141 »

I had the same problem on the valver Tim. If I let it idle for a while, the temp would creep over 90 without the fans kicking in. A new thermo switch on the rad cured it.
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Tim Leech
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Re: TIMS BX BLOG

Post by Tim Leech »

OK Mark, Ill try that, probably from a diesel though as they are a lower temp
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Tinkley
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Re: TIMS BX BLOG

Post by Tinkley »

Don't be mean, buy a new one!. You just cannot be sure with a secondhand one unless you pre test it. Of course extracting it drains half the coolant.... :lol:
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citsncycles
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Re: TIMS BX BLOG

Post by citsncycles »

Hope you haven't done any damage Tim. As it restarted from warm you may have got away with it, but you really also need to start it from cold to make sure - I've had them pressurise from cold for a few seconds then run fine before now.
Mike Sims
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Tim Leech
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Re: TIMS BX BLOG

Post by Tim Leech »

Will do Mike, it will be cold on Sunday when I start her up.

Ebay want £13 for a temp sensor...sounds alot, last one was about £5!
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citsncycles
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Re: TIMS BX BLOG

Post by citsncycles »

That's the downside of the values going up on our cars Tim - some parts dealers assume the more valuable the car, the more they can charge for the parts for them.
Mike Sims
BX 19RD Estate Mk1 - Timex!
BX 4X4 Estate - Oh god, I've done it again!
BX 17RD MK1 - it called to me!
BX14 TGE, - SOLD
XM Turbo SD,GS Club Estate,Visa 17D Leader,HY Pickup,Dyane Nomad,Dyane 6,2CV AZL,Falcon S,Trabant P50,3x Land Rovers (88" series 1,109" series 2a FFR,series 2a Marshall ambulance),DKW F7, Lambretta LD150 x 1.5,Mobylette SP93,Ural Cossack,Ural M63,CZ 250 Sport,Honda Varadero 125,lots of bicycles & tricycles including (but not only) Sunbeams,Higgins & Bates!
Tinkley
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Re: TIMS BX BLOG

Post by Tinkley »

Well some time ago the Citroen price was about £34 VAT inc...... circa 2007.

The second one I bought was a lot cheaper but around a tenner.
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