My first BX 16 Valve!

Tell us about life with your BX, or indeed life in general!
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nstarmore
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My first BX 16 Valve!

Post by nstarmore »

Well went to pick up my TGD yesterday, my first ever BX, for those who missed it, it's this one from egay:

mmmmm filthy

Anyhow I've never known a 45 mile journey to take so long, took me and the Mrs 2 hours to get there after trusting a satnav with the directions (never again!) and turned up at the dirtiest farm you've ever seen, which immediately worried me, none-the-less I had a quick look around the car and all seemed fine so took it home, only problem was, we were in the middle of nowhere and I forgot to bring some LHM with me and as was expected it was running seriously low so the journey back was very interesting with hardly any brakes, heavy steering and pretty much no clutch, not to mention the stop light glaring at me!

Got back and topped up with what LHM I had (just over a litre) and it still wasn't enough to get the marker to the top but was enough to get the light off.

Then went to the jet wash (in the dark) and got all the crud off it and it looks ten times better already but it's still going to need a hell of a lot more cleaning and I haven't started on the interior yet, which smells like a 1980's Peugeot, and is just as filthy as the bodywork so will get cracking on that this weekend.

The bad bits:

Have had a quick look for rust and so far all seems to be good as the only bit I've spotted is, oddly enough (or perhaps not on a BX), a nice size hole at the very top of the driver's side inner wing, not sure if this is an MOT fail or not but I will soon find out.

There seems to be a very odd short circuit somewhere as when you turn the ignition on and start the car you have to turn the key back a little bit otherwise the indicators won't work, which is annoying me already so that will be going to the auto electrician in Newport to have a look at, hopefully it'll be a relatively cheap fix.

There is a small LHM leak from some where around the passenger side area of the engine bay (no idea what that is yet).

The sunroof is sealed shut, Why I'm not sure, but a don't want to risk unsealing it in case the sealant is holding the metalwork together :?

The glovebox is broken (surprise surprise).

And finally and most importantly there is a wheel trim missing, which means I will have to track one down as I can't take having odd wheels and aftermarket trims are a BIG no no (if anyone has one going spare let me know, paint condition isn't an issue as I will refurb them anyway).

So there we are so far. I haven't seen it in the light since it was jet washed so I'm quite looking forward to that.

I shall try and get some new pics up soon as well.

Overall though, I'm well chuffed with the car (considering that most people would consider a car of this age with this many problems as scrap) and the most important thing was that even though it was hard work to drive home it made me feel 10 times more special that the Xantia ever could (not that I'm slating the Xantia as it is without doubt a superb car)!

If anyone has any advise feel free to share :D
Last edited by nstarmore on Fri Mar 21, 2008 8:08 am, edited 8 times in total.
Nic

- 1995 Xantia SX TD (daily hack)
- 1987 BX 16V (project)
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djoptix
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Post by djoptix »

£150, bargain.

Well done for keeping it on the road, buying something like that is a million times more environmentally friendly that tarting around in a Prius or some other horror.

Electrics are always rubbish on these. If it's been stood for a while, just use it for a few days, keep the heater on and the windows cracked open. Drying things out always helps. Might help lose that '80s Puegeot smell too :D

I highly recommend the dash cleaner that Asda sell, it's only about £1.50 and makes all your interior plastic/vinyl look like new!
Good heavens! My signature's been moderated...
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m_2975
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Post by m_2975 »

Congrats Nic!!!!

Your little electrical problem with the indicators will be the ignition switch. Replace it as the spring that pushes it back to "run" is broken or gunked up.

Dry the interior out in the sun with some heat not that summer's coming and then air it out really well.

I don't know if you have it ofer there but there's a product here in the supermarket called "Nilodour". It's fantastic and gets rid of all smells leaving a neutral smell after (much like a new car).

The hole in the wing will most likely need to be welded and the sunroof is most likely sealed because it leaks (hence the smell inside).
To fix the sunroof you need to unblock the drain tubes and make sure that the sunroof glass is lined up level with the roof.



Michael
My Cars:
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nstarmore
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Post by nstarmore »

Right just a quick update as since I've got it back to my place I've not had much chance to have a look at my new toy due to the sunlight getting freakishly shorter now winter is setting in (as I'm sure everyone else is all too aware of - I'm sure the days are getting shorter by the year, or I’m just getting older :? ).

Whilst trying to show one of my colleagues why I was so enthusiastic about a £150 90's Citroen (unfortunately getting my new age BMW owning work mates to see into our way of thinking is not proving too easy) I did manage to locate the hydraulic leak. It seems to be coming from a pipe that has split clean in half behind the passenger side wheel, it looks fairly accessible and I'm hoping it will be easy to replace, although being a relative beginner to mechanics as well as Citroen's I won't know until I get a Haynes Bible.

Thanks for your advise djoptix, I went to my local ASDA to have a look for that dashboard spray as I've run out of the one I use and they didn't have any interior cleaning products what-so-ever, so I couldn't get any of the stuff you mentioned so I'll have to go to a better stocked ASDA and try there, my local has always been a bit crap for stock.

I've had to combat the smell (it was bad) so on that trip to ASDA I bought a similar product to what you mentioned Mike, I can't remember what it's called but you basically spray the foam onto the seats and carpet and it absorbs into the material and neutralises the odours and replacing them with a lovely fresh smell and dries in 5 mins, lovely. I nearly used the whole can on the car though and as a result the 'fresh' smell is a bit overpowering, oops.

Cheers for the advise on the ignition switch Mike, I was thinking something along those lines as well so I shall be approaching my friendly neighbourhood Citroen enthusiast about nicking the ignition setup off the GTi he's currently breaking and as I've been told I can have whatever I want off it for nowt, which sounds like a good deal to me.

As I'm completely skint at the moment I can't do much more until next payday but water is pretty much free so I'll be using plenty of that to try and make it a tad more presentable over the weekend and I will try to get some much needed pictures up.

One final note, which amused me and says something for how dirty the car was; I walked past it this morning and noticed that even though I jet-washed it the other day the words 'clean me' are still clearly visible on the bonnet in BIG letters so I'll be getting the polish out on the weekend as well...made me :lol:



edit - :shock: that wasn't such a quick update after all, hopefully if you got this far I haven't bored you to death :?
Nic

- 1995 Xantia SX TD (daily hack)
- 1987 BX 16V (project)
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nstarmore
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Post by nstarmore »

Right I've finally taken some pictures... this is what it looked like after I brought it home and jet washed it:

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Since then I've been cleaning the interior as I've mentioned and am getting somewhere. After I got bored with cleaning last weekend I decided to take some more pictures:

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Now I'm starting to get somewhere with that interior as you can see its starting to look quite nice, aside from the horrible seat trim (more on that later):

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But still more to do on the driver’s side:

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Now the first bad bit I found as soon as picked the car up was the rust on the front wing and was after a quick look around the only rust, although it is pretty bad at first glance:

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Yesterday I took my car to Geoffrey Rothon of the Citroen Car Club who happens to live a couple of streets down from me where I raided the GTi that he is breaking for all the parts I could possibly get. With some mild organisation within an hour or so the interior of the car looked like this:

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Obviously the driver’s seat also came out and pretty much everything else aside from the main part of the dashboard. After pulling the seats and boot carpet it seemed appropriate to do everything else that needed doing in the interior whilst we were there, Geoff showing me what to do and me helping and assisting and learning... a lot!

Overall in a day’s work we managed to change the seats, put in a working glovebox, test every single bulb in the dashboard and replace any that were worn or blown, change the ignition barrel (cheers Mike, this fixed the indicator problem nicely), change the clock, clean the carpets in the areas you can't get to with the seats in situ, change the heater switch panel (rather fiddly) and removed and cleaned up the spare wheel carrier bolt. Not bad for a day’s work, although in all fairness that probably would have taken me a month to do on my own :P

Geoff also sold me a complete set of tidy TZD wheel trims to replace my 3 as well as give the car a once over and point out anything else that will need doing. Unfortunately this check revealed what I now know is a BX weak point; the boot floor...mine has a nice set holes in it, although it is far from past repairing.

Overall the car looks a hell of a lot tidier inside now (even though the seats do need a clean) and it is a novelty having all the dash lights work.

It did get dark by the time we finished yesterday so I've had to take the pictures today instead in this miserable weather so apologies for the quality but this is what the car looks like today as it sits sulking in the rain outside:

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Comments are more than welcome.

Thanks for looking
Nic

- 1995 Xantia SX TD (daily hack)
- 1987 BX 16V (project)
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MULLEY
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Post by MULLEY »

Top choice of seats, had those cruddy ones fitted to the Gti as well, replaced with the proper Gti interior one's that you've now fitted. Its all starting to come together nicely, top colour that car as well, very smart.....
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Post by ken newbold »

Where's my reply gone :(
They think it's all over, it is now!
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1992 TZD Turbo Estate - SORN
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Post by MULLEY »

Thats computers for you Ken :lol:, you thought you'd selected save, but it was delete :oops:, they just decide one day to do the complete opposite of what you tell it, they are rebelling i tells ya :lol: .
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charlie
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Post by charlie »

bloody hell mate youve been busy :wink:

look like uve picked up a little beaut 8)

ull have to keep us all informed on how u get on with it and compare it to that other cit of urs
yes.....
the colour is....
guiness white..........
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polaris37
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Post by polaris37 »

Those seats are fantastic. Very comfortable and they last forever.
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nstarmore
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Post by nstarmore »

Right ok, I have updated this for quite a while now and I thought I'd put a little post in to explain the progress...or rather lack of.

Unfortunately the BX has been sat all on its own wallowing in the self pity of a very very flat battery and one of the return pipes still leaking, all due to a lack of funds. Where have these funds gone, well, ironically after all my Xantia defending if has finally started costing me some serious money.

Over the past couple of months I've had 4 new tyres fitted (a bargainous £150 for 4 BF Goodrich 185/65/14's) and very good they are too, even if they do have substantially stiffer sidewalls and, as a result, slightly harsher ride. This has been compensated for by the fitting of some new(ish) rear sphere's off the BX GTi that the seats for my BX came out of (mine were bouncing fairly badly).

Also I have had a brand new accumulator sphere after discovering the old one was completely flat :oops: and the LHM has been changed (again neglected and coming out a lovely pee yellow colour), the tank and filters have also been cleaned with petrol so the car drives and rides 10 times better now.

The glow plugs have been changed as these too were way past their best and at the same time it was discovered that my throttle cable had a lot of slack in it (explaining the poorer than usual throttle response) so this was also adjusted, not that it's really that difficult.

Unfortunately this hasn't taken away from the fact that the clutch is way past its best and does need changing and now that I am getting better throttle response the clutch has started slipping rather more noticeably and the pedal is getting a lot stiffer. So, since we (me and Geoff) may as well pull the engine out to do the clutch I've decided that it would be a good idea to give it a once over meaning that the clutch will be changed along with the manifold gaskets, various other seals around the engine, check and possibly changing the gear linkage rod, timing belt and water pump. The parts are on order and the car only had to last about 2 weeks before it would get its treatment but, as is the way of sod's law, on the way to the cinema last Tuesday the clutch clip, inevitably, snapped and left me stranded in Newport town centre, joyous! Anyway it’s back home now and sat waiting for parts (and time) to arrive and I am carless.

So that’s it you're just about up to date. I'm already getting fed up of having to ride as passenger in coil sprung cars. Not that I'm ungrateful of the various lifts I've had (thanks if any of you generous people stumble across this).
All I can say is thank god for this forum as it really is keeping me going at the moment.

Just in case some of you non-Xantiaphobics are interested here are some pictures of my (uncharacteristically dirty) black beauty, hope you like.

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Oh and by the way the headrest covers arethere puely for naffness purposes, I don't actually think they look good, although Flat Eric is there for Kudos points :D
Nic

- 1995 Xantia SX TD (daily hack)
- 1987 BX 16V (project)
tim leech

Post by tim leech »

A sx model with the same interior as mine, I see youve change dthe rear lamps, I did as mine faded and went white
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nstarmore
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Post by nstarmore »

Yeh thats the same reason for me changing mine, the S2 lamps looks much better imo. As far as the seats are concerned they haven't been changed but the spec of mine is quite unusual since I have the later SX interior (I think) and the chevrons on the grill as opposed to the bonnet yet no keypad and 14inch wheels yet I've seen LX models on the same reg with the 15's and keypads, I'll have to get myself some brochures and figure out what's what.
Nic

- 1995 Xantia SX TD (daily hack)
- 1987 BX 16V (project)
tim leech

Post by tim leech »

In 1996 they did do a facelift, which included upgrading the wheels on the turbo diesels to 15", changed the gearknob to be more domed and a few more bits, my car is a 94M and has the key pad immobiliser as its a 1.8 petrol, I never thought they fitted it on a diesel as it was linked to the igntion system.

The Chevrons moved from the bonnet to the grille in mid 1994 at the same time they added a drivers airbag.
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nstarmore
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Post by nstarmore »

ahh thats what it must be then, the ones I've seen must be petrols, I didn't think the engine made a difference, I thought it was just down to the model level. Incidentally even though it doesn't have the keypad it does have an immobilisor (the dongle type where you insert the plastic key before start up) but I think thats aftermarket. The other wierd thing about mine and possible others is that it has an alarm but no siren, when it goes off the headlights flash and thats it :lol:
Nic

- 1995 Xantia SX TD (daily hack)
- 1987 BX 16V (project)
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