New owner - questions

Anything about BXs
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Schnakey
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New owner - questions

Post by Schnakey »

Picked up a BX 4x4 GTI last night, is a in beautiful condition with 81k on the clock.

Am a bit worried about it. Overnight the car has sunk right down to as low as the suspension will go, and there is a large puddle of fluid under the passenger side front shock. I understand the hydraulics control everything on the car, so is it nromal to sink over night and is this fluid likely to be the hydraulic fluid?

Please help, never had a BX (or a citroen for that matter) before and worried I've been sold an unroadworthy car.
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Aerodynamica
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Post by Aerodynamica »

Hi! it's my first post too!

Well sinking overnight is normal on every hydraulic Citroen until the late 90s cars and to date.

The BX will healthily sink overnight but the fluid should all run back to the tank through the filters. If it is hydraulic fluid you need to check it out immediately! - it might not be a difficult repair - could just be a split rubber return pipe but needs investigating. The hydraulic fluid is bright lumenous green or transparent green when new, old unchanged fluid can be yellow or brown.

Sinking is normal but it generally shouldn't happen too quickly - overnight is a good sink speed. If it sinks while the engine is running it's worse news (my BX did this; would nose down at the front and pup back up in a cycle as the front left strut was leaking badly inside)
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stuart_hedges
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Post by stuart_hedges »

You are a brave, brave man. BXs as a rule are not that difficult to look after - certainly not as much as most mechanics think - but 4x4s are a rather different animal.

Can we have some pics please?

Sinking overnight is fine - fluid underneath is not. Is it green?

IME the most frequent cause of LHM (hydraulic fluid) loss is leaky hoses. Like water hoses, they do eventually get frail and start to split or weep - have a good look around and see if you can spot it. You'll find it easier if one person looks around while another sits in the car and operates the hydraulic systems (steering, brakes, raise and lower the suspension) as the fluid will probably leak out when one of those things is being used.

**Don't stick your head under the car when the suspension is in High, however tempting it is!**
Schnakey
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Post by Schnakey »

I'm not sure, it's on a grey gravel driveway, my fluid is low today, below the glass bulub thing, going to go and get soem more and see what happens.

Pics on their way, will go outside and snap some now.
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mnde
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Post by mnde »

Easy way to find out. Remove the filler cap from the hydraulic reservoir, and take a sniff of the fluid. Now stick a finger in the puddle on your drive; sniff. Hydraulic fluid has quite a distinctive smell.

Mark.
Schnakey
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Post by Schnakey »

Apologies for quality of pictures, were taken with my phone. Don;t do it justice, is externally in beautiful condition.

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stuart_hedges
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Post by stuart_hedges »

Oooh shiny! I do hope that's as good as it looks! You're going to have a lot of fun with that. The best colour too :lol:
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Philip Chidlow
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Post by Philip Chidlow »

Lovely condition and a nice colour to boot.

I suggest your leak might come from a strut return pipe but one way to tell how bad the leak is is to start the car up and look underneath. DO NOT get underneath it (very dangerous!) unless it is amply supported as a BX dropping on your head will not be nice.

See if you can see fluid flowing out, squirting of is it just dripping a bit? If, while it's stood there running and there doesn't appear to be spilling LHM in any quantity then it means you've got a leak in the low pressure part of the system. Unless it's a leak from the PAS end of things, in which case you'll only see that when the wheels are being turned.

If, as you suggest it's the strut area then it's in all probability a return pipe. There's always a chance it's not properly fitted too so you might only need to correctly secure it. But theses are a common failure and cheap to put right.

Where abouts are you?
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Post by Way2go »

Philip Chidlow wrote: I suggest your leak might come from a strut return pipe
Very little fluid emanates from these strut return pipes and would not result in a puddle unless the strut was faulty and internally leaking very badly. You usually get spots on the ground - no more. They are not operational returns just leakpast collectors.

More likely to be the Octopus or low pressure return pipes associated with it. I seem to remember (from a recent post) that the 4x4 has this mounted in a higher and more accessible position than all the other models. It is also indicative of the Octopus when the leakage mainly occurs with the engine off and car settling. High pressure leaks would usually only occur with engine running.
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Philip Chidlow
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Post by Philip Chidlow »

My mistake I meant return pipe (d'oh!) sort of generically not being specific! Having said that I wouldn't rule out a broken strut return pipe, but like you say it's not going to leave a puddle really...

...how big is a puddle?
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Schnakey
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Post by Schnakey »

A puddle is about 10" by 6" :)

I'm located near Street in Somerset. Apparently there's a specialist nearby I can go and see, am going to top up the LHM and fiddle with buttons etc to see if I can see a leak later on today.
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Philip Chidlow
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Post by Philip Chidlow »

That's a puddle. :)

Hope you get it fixed soon. Fancy bringing the car to the 2008 National in July?
• 1992 Citroen BX TZD Turbo Hurricane
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docchevron
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Post by docchevron »

Lovely place Street.
I'm down that way quite often as it goes!
Thats the car that was E bay was it not?
Lovely looking beast. I was rather tempted myself, but common sense prevailed.

Best of luck finding the leak, shouldn't be too hard I imagine!
Smokes lots, because enough's enough already!

Far too many BX's, a bus, an ambulance a few trucks, not enough time and never enough cash...
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mnde
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Post by mnde »

I have to say those are the best quality photos taken with a phone I've ever seen! :) Very nice car.

Mark.
Schnakey
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Post by Schnakey »

Yep, was on ebay. A lot tidier than it looked in the pictures.

National in july? whereabouts is it?
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