ice and snow

rodney68 · Post by **rodney68** » Sun Nov 28, 2010 8:43 am

went out this morning to start bx,fired up a treat but no move think back brakes are stuck on,won't go up or down either but power steering works,could it have frozen un that position been ok till now in snow n ice,any ideas?

JayW · Post by **JayW** » Sun Nov 28, 2010 9:09 am

Entirely probable yhe circuit is frozen, it can happen if there's a lot of moisture in your LHM. Leave the car running with the bonnet closed til it warms up and all should be well.

Then think about changing the LHM...

rodney68 · Post by **rodney68** » Sun Nov 28, 2010 12:02 pm

left it running n ok now spoke to old owner said he did lhm july this year looked underneath n backend all frozen up with ice,normally park it near hedge which shelters it,left it on road last night n back was covered in snow but front clear but all ok now,lhm looks nice n green not dirty but will do when warmer weather turns up

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Sun Nov 28, 2010 8:12 pm

I've noticed that my car seems to take an age to rise now as well, my suspicion with mine is that the rear spheres are shot (the ride seems harsher from memory) & therefore it takes longer for the system to pressurise, seems to really struggle when its bloody cold. So add in my starting problem & it takes me approx 10-15mins before i can even drive away, a reall pain in the ass

Post by **docchevron** » Sun Nov 28, 2010 8:35 pm

LHM gets thicker the colder it gets aswell, which doesn't help, the TD's been struggling the last couple of days. Although both the valver and Phoenix fired up no problem and rose as fast as ever, largely due to having been in the shed I think.

The weather has been an utter ballache though, we were due to move into our new shed this weekend, as is, less than half the vehicles have moved since none of them wanted to start, even the forklift required a blow torch down the inlet manifold.
The uber reliable 132 froze it's differebtial valve so the park brake wouldn't release, and one of the older buses in the group seized it's engine despite having a good mix of anti freeze.

Apparently the weather is due to continue like this for a couple of weeks at least, so bad times ahead me thinks.

Post by **mat_fenwick** » Sun Nov 28, 2010 9:23 pm

Am I the only one who's actually enjoying the weather? Yeah, it's cold but just wear an extra layer! The snow looks pretty, makes journeys more of an advanture as well.
Plus I'm getting a noticable performance boost when the temperature is low. Last night coming back from Surrey in the early hours, the temperature dropped to -13 degrees C and it was really flying! I guess that means the intercooler isn't working all that well the rest of the time...

Back on topic though, I can't see that water would be a problem in the LHM - it wouldn't mix and surely it would just float harmlessly on the top of the oil in the tank?

oilman · Post by **oilman** » Sun Nov 28, 2010 9:37 pm

Water is heavier than oil.

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Sun Nov 28, 2010 10:42 pm

I'm enjoying the cold weather & seeing everyone else struggling in the icy conditions

all except for the cold starting saga every morning

Actually i've noticed the car seems more sprightly as well, cold air certainly seems to do the trick on n/a's as well

citsncycles · Post by **citsncycles** » Sun Nov 28, 2010 10:47 pm

Sorry to rub it in with those having problems, but my 14 doesn't seen affected much at all by the cold, other than the engine turning over a bit slower than normal (but never more than 1 turn) before firing right up

!

My previous BX, a 19RD, would generally need a couple of turns of the glowplugs at this temperature, once you managed to get past the frozen door locks

, but the hydraulics didn't seem to change on in the cold on that car. The GS is slower to rise in the cold, but the single cylinder pump is slower than the BX anyway, so is probably more sensitive to such things.

Post by **Defender110** » Sun Nov 28, 2010 10:53 pm

MULLEY wrote:all except for the cold starting saga every morning

Mathew
I take it you stayed tucked up in the warm today instead of getting out and changing those heater plugs

You will be very cross with yourself when you fianally get round to it and see how easy a job it is.

Post by **mat_fenwick** » Sun Nov 28, 2010 10:55 pm

oilman wrote:Water is heavier than oil.

So it is! I blame lack of sleep for not thinking properly about what I type!

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Sun Nov 28, 2010 11:42 pm

Defender110 wrote:
MULLEY wrote:all except for the cold starting saga every morning
Mathew
I take it you stayed tucked up in the warm today instead of getting out and changing those heater plugs You will be very cross with yourself when you fianally get round to it and see how easy a job it is.

I did have a go on Saturday, but the tools that i own didn't seem to be able to manage to get into the access that was available

So i couldnt get them out, if i had the right tools then it does look like its extremly easy....

kiwi · Post by **kiwi** » Mon Nov 29, 2010 1:03 am

Im Jealous.......not

My 19TRS is a bierch to start but the last week its been antastic this morning was the first time it kicked over on first key turn and kept running

But then I guess this big high sitting over us and the last few days of up to 30c and last nights low of 16c helped

Back on topic....the effects of the cold can do weird things to any car so no panic until the spring comes, but if its going to break winter is normally the time it does.

rodney68 · Post by **rodney68** » Mon Nov 29, 2010 7:10 pm

all ok this morning so must have been one of those freaky bx things,allways starts 1st time after following the how to start on the forum,minus 4 when i went to work luvin the heater better than the one in my 02 astra

Vanny · Post by **Vanny** » Mon Nov 29, 2010 10:27 pm

Any moisture in the system should be in the LHM reservoir, that's the whole point of all the filters etc. The only other place you might find it is down the end of the brake lines, but if the car is well maintained then there should never be moisture in the fluid lines.

So far i've seen about a 4mm maximum covering of snow, quite dissapointed.