Possible "Citroen" gold mine.

[saint gaz]

This is a bit of a long story but hopefuly with a good ending.

A few weeks ago I was leaving work when the chap who lives next door to the factory flagged me down. He buys and sells cars from the local car auction as a bit of a side line for some beer money (Tom). He was waiting for a 90 year old chap to turn up in his bx16 (h reg). Upon arival we were generaly talking away and the 90 year old chap Ted was saying how he does his own servicing and a few weeks ago swapped his starter motor over. Ted also owns an original rover 100 about 45 years old wich he has had since new.

Anyway last friday Tom nipped to my house to ask a bit of advice on behalf of Ted's bx. Basicly Ted was stuck on the local Asda car park as hes engine would start run for a few minutes and then cut out. Something very similar happend to me so i sugested they look at the ignition module. And pointed him in the direction of a local motor factors.

At lunch today i went to see Tom to see if Ted's bx was ok. He said they havnt had a chance to look at it today as Tom had been to a local market at Leigh. Now this is the interesting bit. On his way home from Leigh Tom spotted what looked like a small scrap yard. When he investigated this scrap yard was almost exclusivly bx's and xantias. Tom recons about a dozzen of each. The surrounding area is almost deralict. Tom went to a local wood yard to try and find out a bit of information it apears that the chap who ownes these has around 50 more in a field at the back of his home. Tom has gone to try and track this chap down to primaraly see if he can get a coil and ignition module for Ted. But he will keep me posted later today, to see if there are is any posibility of geting spare part's.

I dont know of any specific bx modles of if there are engines in the said vehicles but this could be a potential gold mine for parts.

I will try nd keep you updated.


gary

[cavmad]

Nice one Gary, sounds like it could be a God send! I`ll be most interested to hear the outcome especially as it seems it may not be too far away from me!

[Ian_Fearn]

If this is the same yard i've heard of before its full of old 2cv's as well.

[Oscar]

Sounds almost mythical, doesn't it? "There's an old field, where all the 2CVs and BXs go to die. They saw that if you see it, you're never the same again...."

[Stinkwheel]

If this is the same yard i've heard of before its full of old 2cv's as well.

I think the one you are thinking of was the one in wales Ian, the guy has just recently been cleared out by the council and everything 'recycled' as basically he was breaking lots of laws on scrap, health and safety etc etc.

[ellevie]

Sounds like the "elephant's graveyard" for BXs.

[saint gaz]

Right chaps an update as promised. In the yard are 6 or so bx’s and a dozen Xantias. At the chap’s house are around 10 Xantias and a bout 4 more bx’s most are diesels apparently. When Tom asked this chap about why he had all these old Citroens he basically said he does up old cars and is quite good at re gassing spheres. Reading between the lines I don’t think there is much chance of spares parts. I am going to try and contact this chap myself to see where the land lies.

If I find out any more I will let you know.

As a side note Ted's bx still wont start. They have tried a new coil. The engine turns but does not fire. Anyone any ideas? I have sugested an ignition module as the initial symtoms that i was told pointed to that. There is fuel getting to the carb and looks like a reasonable spark apparently.

[mnde]

I have an idea, as I am the resident expert on BX16 starting maladies...

Auto-choke.

If Ted was using his BX to go shopping to Asda, I'd guess he had a quite short journey. My other Meteor *hated* short journeys and often wouldn't restart. It also had a developing head gasket problem...

My solution (having found that the carb strangler flap was invariably shut!) - either take off the carb air inlet and stick a screwdriver down the throat to keep the strangler flap open artificially while you turn over the starter (bingo, started first time!) , or try starting the car with accelerator flat to the floor. It may help to have a spare car and some jump leads in case this proves to be a big drain on the battery. I know trying to start the Meteor after being laid up several months was quite an effort and I needed another car to provide constant "juice".

Good luck with Ted's BX!

Mark.

P.S There was a similar yard in Dorset full of GS's GSAs, some 2CVs/Dyanes and a couple of CXs, and lots of panels etc. I think that's all gone now because of the scrap health/safety laws etc. I've been trying to spot it on Google Earth, but I can't remember which town it was in!

[saint gaz]

Thanks for that Mark. I have just spoken to Tom and he said that Ted is back on the road after returning the coil and swaping it for a module. The old girl started firt time.

I have also spoken to the "gold mine owner" he seamed a nice chap his buisines goes by the name of britania motors. He sais he specialises in the hydraulics and re gassing and also does general repairs. I have aranged to meet him on Sunday to get an electric window winder motor. I will be able to gain more info as to the availability of spares.

cheers
gary

[saint gaz]

Yes thats the one.
Am i missing something???

[Philip Chidlow]

Great name; Dubbeldam

Who's Big Al?

[tim leech]

Dunno.

[Ian_Fearn]

I remember reading that quite sometime ago now. I was extremely impressed how much cr4p this bloke puts up with before he finally accepts his cars are shot!

He really does take the phrase 'driving it into the ground' very seriously!