BX fail

[Willy]

Photo0088 by willswitchengage, on Flickr

If I ever get a proper a blog on here/use the car more than once a week, thought I might start it in style

Travelling leisurely up the M1 near Nottingham at a steady 56mph, notice a lovely white cloud appearing behind me. The next thing I know I can see it under the bonnet and there's a big red light saying "stop" on the dash, I wonder what it means?

Fastest pullover in history/clever use of no ABS and I find the cause of the problem:


P1030444 by willswitchengage, on Flickr

Mr RAC said it was just the rubber degrading and not caused by overheating, dodgy cooling circuitry, overpressure etc, so phew and I just hope nothing else has been hurt in my steamy ten seconds or so. Managed to make the 80 odd mile remainder of my journey problem free, so a lucky escape and £26 on breakdown cover well spent

In other news, generally quite pleased with the car although I really regret not finding an NA diesel for the frugality and reliability. The petrol's an arse to start and all the power's where I never use it, so it feels quite sluggish. Many other niggles need fixing but their time will come.

[philhod]

My N/A's been on sale for over 2 weeks. Se for sale K39

[Tim Leech]

You get used to the way the 1.6 performs and adapt your driving style, I have a 1.9D, 1.9 petrol and 1.6 Petrol and as you say they are all different.

Regarding the carb, it may just need setting up properly, which should solve the problem. I know Barry Annells from Bourne Citroen can sort it quickly as hes done so many over the years!.

Right, im off to check my hoses!

[bx petrol auto saloon]

Dear Willy
Sorry to hear about the breakdown Willy cars have always been the same, just as you are consentrating on one area of the car and
having a good sort out on one particular set of problems, trying to nail
something inpaticular, they go and breakdown with something you were
not expecting at all
Well done on keeping a cool head and not getting steamed up.
take care.
Vince.

[Willy]

A quick change of coolant this morning and hopefully things will be a little better from now on, although working on the car did highlight a few other of the problems I have right now.

Sticky front struts When putting the car down from high position which I'd been working on it from, err, the front didn't go down when I selected "normal". Had to put it into "low" then quickly into "normal" again once it'd started t sink. Not a new prblem, has always been the case since I bought it. I wonder if this wuld help or if it's a dodgy height corrector, either way they do seem to creak up and dwn and ride feels like it's getting harsher.

Pressure regulator leaking in a very, very minor way. Still got a full tank, but I don't like the look of those green droplets that seem to form on that U-bend underneath from time to time.

Gearbox still leaking Still working on this one, gearshift still feels fine, well "fine" for a crappy old linkage-shifter (no worse than the brand new 207 I sometimes get to drive!), not popping out of gear or anything although 1st's synchro feels pretty worn. I always try and revmatch and don't drive like a dick anyway so hopefully it'll have plenty of life left.

Windscreen demister is rubbish! Only a little comes out of there and it all ends up firing at my face instead. Could begin to get annoying over these upcoming months...

Foldy down seats What is the point of them if you can't move the seat base forward and out of the way? They just seem to boing back into the upright position instantly, angry at whoever didn't tick that option box when they bought the car...

Glovebox fell off. Another one is in the post thanks to IOWBX

Drainback fail. Although car started fine this freezing northern morning, but it did get used yesterday tbf.

Other than that, good! Fuel consumption dropped dramatically after I'd been using it around the city for a month but hopefully I'll just use it more conservatively "no you cannot have a lift" in future. Exterior: Perfect. Scuffs on three of the corners and the stainless bumber inserts are beginning to peel in places, but otherwise not a single scratch. Interior, very good, although I think someone has had a dog/fluffy cat/afro at some point during past ownerships. Otherwise, generally enjoying "is that the car from the Back to the Future films?"

[Kitch]

Problem one - sounds like the height corrector. The sticky struts wouldn't be stuck enough to prevent the car sinking. If they were, you'd have a pretty shit ride!

Problem two - they all do that, sir.

Problem three - driveshaft seal?

Problem four - they're not brilliant, but should be better than that. Kinked/broken heater cable perhaps?

Problem five - isn't a problem. Lift the front of the base of the seat up and forward, then when it pops up, fold the base up like normal.

Problem six - apparently a common issue, though I've never had it happen in all the BXs I've had.

Problem seven - not even sure what that is (or tbf)! Fuel draining back? Not sure if you can get non-return valves that are petrol-proof.

Sounds like everyone up your way is as blind as they are round here. I got asked "is that the car from Ashes to Ashes?" I said "yes, if you're retarded." How does a BX look like a 3 door Audi? Or a stainless steel-shod, Gullwing doored sports car (sports car in looks anyway)??

[mat_fenwick]

Problem seven - not even sure what that is (or tbf)! Fuel draining back? Not sure if you can get non-return valves that are petrol-proof.

I remember the previous owner saying that it suffered from fuel drain back after standing around for periods. I think he cured(?) it by fitting an in line electric pump to prime the fuel system before starting. Is that still working?

You can buy non return valves for petrol, but if the problem is actually fuel vaporising from the float bowl after switching off, that won't help. To check if that is the case, start the car from cold and then turn off again as soon as it's started. If it is still difficult to start next time you come to use it, the fuel must be draining back. If it starts perfectly, then it's likely the fresh petrol was drawn into the float bowl and stayed there as the engine was cold.

[Dollywobbler]

To get maximum demist, you need to manually shut off the face-level vents I found.

Is the rear seat base really fixed? Never had that on any of my BXs. I find pulling the front edge of the seat up generally makes it pop-up so it can flip forward - wrecking the seatbelts as it does so (or if not, when it goes back!).

[Willy]

Problem seven - not even sure what that is (or tbf)! Fuel draining back? Not sure if you can get non-return valves that are petrol-proof.

I remember the previous owner saying that it suffered from fuel drain back after standing around for periods. I think he cured(?) it by fitting an in line electric pump to prime the fuel system before starting. Is that still working?

You can buy non return valves for petrol, but if the problem is actually fuel vaporising from the float bowl after switching off, that won't help. To check if that is the case, start the car from cold and then turn off again as soon as it's started. If it is still difficult to start next time you come to use it, the fuel must be draining back. If it starts perfectly, then it's likely the fresh petrol was drawn into the float bowl and stayed there as the engine was cold.

Yes you're right, the facet pump does still work fine, it can be heard and Linegeist put in transparent piping around it too so you can see it working also. It's definitely drainback, cold-starting the car immeditaley after an initial cold start (like you said) and it starts perfectly.

Problem three - driveshaft seal?

Seals are clean. It's originating from the level plug (or somewhere along that jin), I believe, which makes it a little more complicated

Problem four - they're not brilliant, but should be better than that. Kinked/broken heater cable perhaps?

The fan works fine and blows hot air nicely, just the majority of it comes through the point-at-your-face vents not the demister when on the demister setting. Could be a difficult fix.

Problem six - apparently a common issue, though I've never had it happen in all the BXs I've had.

Yeah the hinge design is awful, mine had already been repaired once, but now the hinge has snapped right off.

Sounds like everyone up your way is as blind as they are round here. I got asked "is that the car from Ashes to Ashes?" I said "yes, if you're retarded." How does a BX look like a 3 door Audi? Or a stainless steel-shod, Gullwing doored sports car (sports car in looks anyway)??

Judging on your Quattro and my Delorean, I think cars are identified by colour And the posh "Daddy bought me a car!" types round here seem to think the only identifiable cars in the world are a brand new Yaris, Fiesta or Mini.

[mat_fenwick]

The fan works fine and blows hot air nicely, just the majority of it comes through the point-at-your-face vents not the demister when on the demister setting.

What's the airflow like if you close off all the face vents, as Ian suggests? If it is still poor then you have a problem, if now OK then it's a design issue. There is a modification you can do to increase the blower speed on full, which gives the motor full battery voltage to avoid any voltage drop over the speed controller transistor.

The other option if you still feel it's not powerful enough is to fit twin blower motors as on A/C equipped cars, but you may struggle to find the parts...

[Willy]

BX fail #2

Leaving a car park earlier, warm engine, car drove fine for first 20 seconds or so then engine cut out. Kept trying to start it again but it would fire for about a second then cut out again. Eventually tried the facet pump... about ten seconds (a long time) on that and the car started and drove fine. Something that's never happened to me before. Any diagnoses?

[MULLEY]

Hot starting issue, isn't that a carb based problem?

[Willy]

Possibly. It's always started fine before when hot, although it does usually idle a little quickly (about 1100). It was very strange - as soon as I'd "primed" the carb with the facet (auxillary) pump for an unusually long time, it started fine and drove off fine.

The initial start wasn't the problem, the engine cut out a good 20 seconds after, I'd starting driving away then.

I thought maybe air in the fuel lines or something, although it might have just been the idle jet. Who knows?

[Mickey taker]

I was just about to post ,
are you sure its not drawing in air in the fuel line somewhere?
carb to manifold gasket or any of the joins in the line , do the pumps have a gasket or seal that could have perished

[Tim Leech]

Worth checking that the manual fuel pump is working ok?