The Myth, The Legend, The Citroën BX 1.9 Diesel Meteor 4x4!

[David]

I completely forgot to reply to the previous posts here.

From what I've seen, it's just luck of the draw with the flywheels. Some have the cut-out, some don't. If the car originally has an alloy sump, then it'll probably have it, whereas if it's a steel sump, then it'll probably be the non-cut-out flywheel. My car originally had a steel sump & an automatic flywheel, but I've never tried an alloy sump with the driveplate.

Yes, cutting a piece out would allow it to be fitted, but I was reluctant to cut any metal off because the spacer plate is already hollow, and with my car being a bit leak happy, I didn't want to give it any more weak points where the oil could potentially leak out!

Well, it's been a busy few weeks again with the BX.

Firstly, I decided that I needed to fix the rear speakers that were rattling, rather than actually playing the radio, so I found a pair out of an old stereo system and adapted them to fit in the BX brackets. Then I connected 'em up, and great! Actual audible sound! While the C pillar trims were off, I decided to give them a good clean, so in the sink they went.

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Then I thought it was about time that I cleaned the roof lining, greased the sunroof & rust proofed the inside of the roof, so I pulled the roof lining out of the car, dismantled & cleaned everything, painted the inside of the roof, which wasn't actually bad, & started reassembling it. I never realised that the roof lining was so dirty. It looks much better now! The sunroof moves much faster too!

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While the A pillars were off, I decided to get the windscreen replaced, which I've wanted to do since I got the car, so I asked one company to do it, and he never bothered showing up, (it turns out that he's an unreliable a**, but I won't dwell on that), so I asked another company to do it & the next day, I had a shiny new windscreen!

Next, I decided to finish getting the AC system in order, so I pulled the dash out & dismantled all the recirculation flaps, heater fans etc, and gave everything a good wash while it was all out of the car. I had to make some new plates for inside the flaps, as the pivots had rotted away on both. I used an old roasting tin, which was a perfect thickness!

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I then had to alter the holes where the flaps mounted into the car, as they didn't fit quite right, so I got the grinder out & slightly enlarged them. After some cleaning & new paint, things started going back together.

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When I reattached the fan wires that I made when I installed the AC system, I wasn't happy about how slow they seemed to go when they were running, so I altered the circuit. I connected another live to the 2nd fan, and ran another neutral to the control relay inside the car, Then I decided to give each fan it's own control relay, so it uses 1 wire for the slower speeds through the transistor, & when the relays are activated, they both have independent earths now. It's true tornado speed! (The red & white wires that are plugged together are for the 4x4 diff lock light)

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Then I had another look at the A/C "black box" issues that I was having last year. The box itself turned out to be fine. The culprit was this:

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As I didn't have another lying around, I used a temp sensor out of an old Peugeot 208 mirror, soldered it in & so far it seems to be working.

I then reassembled all the interior of the car & left it running for a while. Then I found that I had a leak from the dreaded heater tap! So I just pulled the steering shroud back out & removed the tap. I then disassembled it & found the culprit.

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The leak was coming from the top of the tap, around the control rod, which was that tiny seal at the top of the picture! Luckily, I had a new O ring, which was a perfect fit. It's extremely awkward to fit in though! It then took me around 2 days in total just to get the tap back in! How could anyone do it in 2-3 hours?!?

After checking everything over on the car, I then took it to a garage for an MOT & to have the A/C system gassed up.

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The A/C system is very cold. It's great, although it uses a lot of the power from the N/A engine.
It also sailed through the MOT, although he (verbally) advised me to get the exhaust replaced. I also got comments like "it's mint" & questions on how I'd put it together.

Can anyone recommend any decent insurance companies now? I'm thinking of insuring it as a classic, as it won't be being used much.

[Jaba]

Impressive work there David. You have been busy.
I insure mine with Peter S Taylor on a Classic 3k miles policy with agreed value for £89. https://www.bishopcalway.co.uk/

[rutter123]

I've always used Footman James for my TD comes in less than £100 not sure on miles p/a.

[deltic]

The car looks to be really coming together David!

https://www.bxclub.co.uk/forum/download ... &mode=view

Your shot of the roof lining is most interesting as I was going to post something along the lines of "Citroen BX: loves driving, hates sunroofs". I'm well versed in keeping the rear drain tubes clear, but the front ones are a different matter giving rise to leaks on my first GTi.

My first issue was accessing the tube running in the A-pillar due to sound proofing which is well and truly stuck to the pillar! Eventually I managed to access the bottom of the tube on the driver's side, but didn't even attempt it on the passenger side as access seemed even worse. I also dropped the roof lining to give a little access at the top. As far as I could ascertain both tubes were not blocked and were attached.

This then brings me on to the the second issue, why do I keep getting leaks? Could it be that the design of the area where the tube meets the roof lining is inadequate and that anything but a small amount of water just overwhelms the drain? Any thoughts on this? Removing the roof lining is probably a bigger job than I can reasonably tackle...

[Jaba]

This then brings me on to the the second issue, why do I keep getting leaks? Could it be that the design of the area where the tube meets the roof lining is inadequate and that anything but a small amount of water just overwhelms the drain? Any thoughts on this? Removing the roof lining is probably a bigger job than I can reasonably tackle...

Where exactly does the leak come from. You can test the tubes by pouring water into the metal channel with the roof open. The water should drain away readily down through the tubes without any leaks at all usually.
You can get leaks from the area above the front doors where the sunroof frame in the headlining meets the roof. This area is sealed with mastic from the headlining to the roof which hardens with age and no longer keeps the water in the channel. I have sealed mine using silicone sealant, applied easily when the sunroof is open.

[deltic]

This then brings me on to the the second issue, why do I keep getting leaks? Could it be that the design of the area where the tube meets the roof lining is inadequate and that anything but a small amount of water just overwhelms the drain? Any thoughts on this? Removing the roof lining is probably a bigger job than I can reasonably tackle...

Where exactly does the leak come from. You can test the tubes by pouring water into the metal channel with the roof open. The water should drain away readily down through the tubes without any leaks at all usually.
You can get leaks from the area above the front doors where the sunroof frame in the headlining meets the roof. This area is sealed with mastic from the headlining to the roof which hardens with age and no longer keeps the water in the channel. I have sealed mine using silicone sealant, applied easily when the sunroof is open.

Thanks, that sounds about right for where the leaks are when I pour water down. I'll try to inspect more closely.

[Tim Leech]

Nice to meet you David at the National, your car is very impressive

[deltic]

Yes, good to meet David too - you really rose to the challenge of creating that 4x4!

Was it just me but I got the impression that there was an awful lot more enthusiasm for BXs which can only be a good thing. But where were the ZXs or even SMs? Or did they all turn up on Sunday?

[David]

Yes, good to meet David too - you really rose to the challenge of creating that 4x4!

Was it just me but I got the impression that there was an awful lot more enthusiasm for BXs which can only be a good thing. But where were the ZXs or even SMs? Or did they all turn up on Sunday?

Nice to meet you David at the National, your car is very impressive

It was nice to meet you both too! Thanks to everyone for all their compliments! I had a fair bit of interest in the car, at least from the people who realised what it was. it's too bad that I didn't have any ramps for you to have a better look underneath.

I was expecting more cars there too. Did more arrive on Sunday?

The car drove down to the National Rally & back again with no problems, asides from an oil leak from the rocker gasket, so I'll have to replace that.

It's clocked up over 400 miles now in the last week. It's nice to actually drive it on the road. I've already had people waving at me & making comments about it wherever I've gone.

In the end I used Adrian Flux for the insurance; "Peter S Taylor" & "Footman James" were completely useless & unhelpful.

Removing the roof lining is probably a bigger job than I can reasonably tackle...

Removing the roof lining isn't as difficult as it first appears, provided that you're willing to have it out for a few days while you take the time to investigate any problems & allow you to take your time to reassemble it. The only things that are worth mentioning, are that there are some screws at the front that can corrode. If they do, then the job can quickly become a headache if you can't get them out. Secondly, it'd be advisable to have some super glue ready, just in case your drain tubes become detached (or have already, which could be the cause of your leak), and thirdly, you'll ideally need a second person to help you put it back in. Granted it can be done on your own, but it's not easy.

[David]

Wow, how time flies, I didn't realise how long it'd been since I last updated this.

The BX has been running generally well over the last 2 years, although I haven't been using it much, it's clocked up just over 3000 miles.

I have been busy repairing and modifying little things on it though and trying to get everything right & make sure that the car is reliable.

In February 2022, I finally had a custom stainless exhaust made for the car, and it's much better than the previous one. It's a bit louder than I'd have liked, but they said it's as quiet as they could make it. Generally, if I keep the engine speed down though, I can't really hear it. I've just noticed that I've got no pictures, so I'll have to upload some when I get some!

I was also fed up with that oil leak from the pressure regulator, so I sent it off to Pleiades & a week later, it came back like new!

Next, I noticed a bit of a rumble from (somewhere) under the car, but I couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was. I spoke to the mechanic that MOTed it, and after a bit of investigation, it turned out that 3 of the wheel bearings were noisy. Worryingly, 2 were on the back. With it being a 4x4, no one seemed to know what fitted and everyone said that they couldn't be sourced. I then spoke to a local parts supplier, just out of hope, and it turns out that this information couldn't be more wrong! They're exactly the same as the front wheel bearings! So they were replaced, and the rumbling got quieter, but didn't stop. I then replaced the propshaft bearing again (it turned out to be a cheap & bad part) and it got quieter again, but it's still slightly there. I now think that it's the gearbox. I'm currently investigating that, but I'll come back to that later.

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I also wanted to do the estate rear wiper mod for a while, so I acquired a switch from the 2021 national rally, and in July 2022, I finally did the wiring and tried it! It was easier than expected, BUT, the new switch is grey, and ideally I'd like a black one. It now works like the estates always did!

To be honest, I'm still not 100% happy with how it works though, as you need to lightly press the switch for the washer to work, which isn't easy then you're driving along and watching traffic! There's also no function to keep the wiper constantly on, whereas there is in my Ford. The relay is there now, so I might modify it more at some point.

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I didn't like how untidy the bumpers were, and as I already had a new one for the front, I removed the rear bumper and sent them both off for a paint in June 2022. They look so much tidier now! The paint shop weren't 100% sure of the paint code either, but I think that they did a great job!

Then the weather started to go bad and the car was parked up mostly for a few months. As I was busy with other projects, I didn't do much with the BX. Until this year.

Oh at one point, due to unforeseen circumstances, I think it was around May 2022, the BX became my daily driver for 2 weeks. It did well & I had no issues from it.

Here's a picture of it at the 2022 national.

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[David]

Just another update on this.

While the car was parked up during the bad weather, it worsened an already irritating fault; so it made the car almost unusable. I went to use it in March, and it took a LOT of cranking to get it to start, so much so, that it actually flattened the battery. After charging the battery, I did get it to start, and went out in it. After it had been parked for about 2 hours, it took an immense amount of cranking before it burst into life again. I thought that I couldn't leave it like this as it would destroy the battery & starter in no time, and potentially leave me stranded, so the thorough investigations started.

The car previously would 'cough' upon start-up. I'd previously investigated, and it lead me to a feed hose & the injector pump. I replaced the hose & had the pump rebuilt, or so I believed, so I thought that surely, it couldn't still be that. After the initial rebuild, I simply couldn't find any other reason for it 'coughing'. After checking it thoroughly recently, I found that there was diesel running off the bottom of the pump. After some research, I ordered a seal, then removed & disassembled the injector pump. It wasn't as bad as I expected it to be, but it was still daunting with all of the springs and that tiny washer in the centre. It turned out that the culprit was the rear seal, behind the injector block. It was old, brittle, and in really bad condition, so there is no way that it was replaced when it was previously 'rebuilt'.

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After it was reassembled & refitted, it started & ran MUCH better, even after leaving it overnight. It was the best that it'd started in a long time, but it still wasn't quite right. After some more research, I tested the glow plugs, just to rule them out, before I sent the injectors off for testing. As luck would have it, the one next to the gearbox had an open circuit! So I ordered a new one & fitted it! It now starts perfectly! (Bare in mind, I had the flu during this whole drama).

The car then ran great for a few weeks, and got infrequent use.

It then got pushed into daily service & became my daily driver for a week at the beginning of June as some idiot crashed into the side of my Daily driver: the Ford. Most annoyingly, they just drove away, and despite giving the Police all of the details, they weren't interested. It's been repaired now, but I'm still annoyed with the hit & run driver & the Police.

While the BX was my daily driver, it was great. It ran perfectly and clocked up around 250 miles with no issues.

It still has that strange knock from the front, which no one can find, & that weird bearing noise at speed, which I'm currently investigating.

I took the car for an MOT 2 weeks ago, and it passed with no issues, although he did (verbally) advise me to repair the leak from the back of the transfer box. I've ordered some transfer box seals from France. The seller has said that there's a delay due to being out of stock, but I hope that they come soon.

I also quickly realised that I wasn't happy with the gear ratios in the car when I got it on the road. Sure, it's fine if you're driving around below 50MPH, as they're close together & you can get up to speed quickly, BUT, if you're travelling down the motorway at 70MPH, the engine was doing nearly 4000RPM. It's too high! So, I've acquired a turbo diesel gearbox from a forum member (thanks John). He advised me that it's faulty & I know that it won't fit straight in the 4x4 anyway, but hopefully the gears are all OK, so I'm going to pull everything out & see what I can make. So far, just to test it, I've put the 5th gear in my gearbox, just to see if the engine would pull it. It does. It's brought the RPM down significantly. It's happy to cruise at 70MPH now, which it wasn't before. The only problem is that there's a huge jump between 4th & 5th gears so there's no real gear that the car's happy at travelling at 30mph in now. In 4th it revving high, and it won't pull 5th unless you're going slightly down hill. I'm intending on building a 4x4 turbo diesel gearbox to put into the car, hopefully it'll sure up the before mentioned issues.

Here are some pictures of the gear swap:

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Edit; here are some pictures for the next post, I couldn’t upload any more on it. Also, if you look in the picture above, the one with 5th missing, the visible bearing there is the really noisy one in the gearbox.

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[David]

Well, what a few hectic weeks it's been with the BX!

If you've followed my other threads you'll probably know what I'd ordered some oil seals from France for the transfer box & that I was having trouble with them not arriving, well, if you didn't know, you do now! It took 3 weeks & 2 days for them to arrive & even then I had to collect them from the depot!

Following on from my previous post, I got to work in making a 4x4 turbo diesel gearbox to bring the engine rpm down at higher speed. As the car had to come apart to replace the gearbox, I thought that it'd be a good time to repair a few other faults that I was aware of at the front end; namely that oil leak from the back of the transfer box, that oil leak from the l/h side of the engine, a coolant leak that I found behind the engine & to try to find that mysterious knock. The engine had to come out to get to that oil leak, so it seemed like a good time to have a thorough look & fix anything that I found. I'd also acquired some big end bearings for the engine & seems as the sump needed to come off to get that oil leak, it seemed like a good time to put them in.

I had a Peugeot 405 MI16x4 gearbox lying around, so I dismantled it so I'd have a gearbox case that I could build up without initially dismantling the car. I also dismantled the TD gearbox that I got a few weeks ago & started to swap the gears over. I put all new bearings & seals in it, & I had to use the Citroen selector shafts as the Peugeot one is slightly different. Once the bearings came, I put the gearbox together, using the TD gear set & the 4x4 case. I actually had to use the Peugeot input shaft too, as the TD one had stripped the splines on 5th gear. Luckily, the input shaft is the same & 1st & 2nd gear are also the same, so I didn't have any issues getting it together. (1st, 2nd & reverse are machined into the primary shaft, so cannot be changed independently).
Despite the minor difficulties, the gearbox was straight forward enough to reassemble.

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Now I had a gearbox reassembled & the transfer box seals had been ordered for a week at this point, I made a start at dismantling the car & pulled the full engine out. I still needed the 4x4 drive cog from my old gearbox to put in the new one, so once everything was on the floor, I dismantled the old gearbox to remove the drive cog. I also gave it a post-mortem to find out if it was the gearbox that was making that rumbling noise that I've been trying to find for over a year. It was! 5 of the 6 bearings were noisy in it. The worst was the LH bearing on the secondary shaft; it was rough when rotating and very noisy. I don't understand why all the bearings had gone noisy though, as two were replaced when I first put the 4x4 system on the car, and it'd done around 3500 miles since!

I then made a start on the engine. It was the hockey stick seals that were leaking, so I ordered some from Citroen & replaced them. The old ones were brittle & cracked. Really, I should've replaced these last time I had the engine out, but I thought that it wasn't them leaking. Lesson learnt; if in doubt, replace it!

While the sump was off, I replaced the big end bearings. 2 of my shells had huge chunks missing from them, so they did need changing. The oil pump was in the way of 2 of the cylinders, but it's simple enough to remove. Then the engine started going back together. It was straight forward enough.

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Next; the water leak. It looks like it was the bottom heater hose. I checked everything else, & it all looks OK. I couldn't find a direct replacement, so I got some generic oil hose & an adaptor because they're different sizes at both ends. As the engine was out, I had to improvise here, so I measured the old hose & cut it to a rough length. I then had to come back to this later. It was a bit fiddly, but it all went together nicely. The new hose is also oil resistant, so hopefully it shouldn't swell & get damaged by any oil if any leaks happen again.

While I was working on that water hose, I noticed that there was oil running down the side of the engine; behind the timing belt cover, so I pulled it all off to investigate. It turned out that the camshaft seal was leaking! So, I measured it up & ordered two. I wasn't just doing one now! It turned out that the old one was the wrong seal! No wonder I had never ending leaks! They came in three days & I replaced them & built up all the timing area again. Luckily, no oil had gone on the timing belt.

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Oh, while everything was apart, I sent the hydraulic pump off to Pleiades for a rebuild, as it was previously weak & a couple of replacement pumps that I've acquired have been no better It's nice & quiet now, but I've not driven it enough to notice the entire difference yet.

Next, it was time to dismantle the transfer box. I knew that this would be awkward. I only wanted to replace the rear seals, which involves removing 1 bolt & 6 nuts. The bolt is nearly impossible to remove! It's a stupid square bolt too, so it's not easy to grip. After initially trying, I enlisted the help of an engineer friend to get it off. In the end, they made a socket to unscrew it, but it was still too tight; it snapped their first socket, so they used an oxyacetylene torch, some pipe grips & the tool, while I stood on the transfer box & pipe grips to get it off. I couldn't get any pictures here as we were both struggling with it. Once the bolt was off, I removed the six nuts and found the offending seal. It then took over another week before the replacement seals arrived! It went together a lot easier than it came off.

I then started rebuilding the car. At this point, I had less than a week before the National, so I was sure that I wouldn't be able to get the car together in time. Luckily, it all went together fairly easily.

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As for that mysterious knock; it was the lower engine mount rear bolt; the one that goes into the subframe. The bolt wouldn’t tighten, so I just replaced the nut & bolt!

I finally got it running on Saturday, but I then had issues with the LH front drive shaft. The spring inside it had snapped & it was causing the engine to violently wobble. Luckily, I had a broken shaft in the parts pile, so I stole the spring out of it & fixed mine. Luckily, I span the drive train up before I dropped the car on the floor, otherwise I might not have found this in time.

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On Sunday, I dropped the car on the floor & realised that the (!) light was on. Luckily, it was just low on LHM oil, so I topped it up, then got some diesel & headed straight to the national. It drove there and back with no issues, besides a leaking door seal; which I managed to replace while I was at the national, and did nearly 300 miles. I don't usually drive it in bad weather, so it’s probably been leaking for years; I've just never found it.

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The gear ratios are a lot better. It was happily cruising at 70MPH the whole way & didn't sound like it was over revving; it was doing around 3000 now rather than around 4000. I also noticed that the engine oil temperature only rose to 80 degrees, opposed to 100 last time, so the lower RPM must've helped. I've not driven it enough yet to see what it drives like in all conditions nor on hills, to see if the ratios are too high, as I used the 16/63 TD final drive too. If it's to high, I might need to put the original 16/67 final drive back in.

[panky]

Phew, right down to the wire