Clonking in the enginebay of my BX. Dangerous?

This is the Forum for all your Citroen Technical Questions, Problems or Advice.

Moderator: RichardW

Post Reply
Yéyé
Posts: 3
Joined: 10 May 2005, 02:27
Location: Netherlands
My Cars:

Clonking in the enginebay of my BX. Dangerous?

Post by Yéyé »

Hi there,
Since august 2003 I'm the proud owner of a BX 14 Deauville. I've bought it with 118.000 km (about 74.000 mi.) on the clock. Since then I've added 17.000 km (about 10.700 mi.), most of it during two summer holidays to the south of France.
Since I've had the car all four spheres have been changed and also all four tires and I have had Hydraflush in the system. This, together with the fact that I commute by train, and that way don't have the daily experience of driving my car, is the reason I still don't know what the correct handling of a BX should be (it's also my first car).
Now the suspension is nice and smooth. It sometimes needs the hightcontrol lever to get te front up, especially when it freezes or in very dry hot weather, but I suspect the operating levers of the front HC (it also won't rise when you sit on the bumper with the engine idling).
The steering is direct, no noticable play and no wobbling steering wheel and the car runs in a straight line, also when braking.
The only thing is that I find the car is making more 'rolling' movement than in the beginning and it leans over quite a bit. Even when changing lanes on the motorway it rolls to an fro quite al lot, like a 2CV. Since a couple of months I also hear a LOUD clonking noise from the front suspension. At first it was quite faint and not always there, but now it's getting louder and it's always there.
It occurs when I'm riding at low speed over the uneven cobblestone pavement here in the historic center of town, or when driving over badly done patching up of the motorway at high speeds. It also occurs when going into a sharp bend and the car leans over suddenly. I then hear one loud clonk, and again when the car levels straight. It's not there when riding over even speedbumps in a straight line, but when I approach speedbumps in a diagonal line you can hear the clonking, following the rocking of the car.
The noise seems to come from the RH frontside of the car. My Cit mechanic has checked the ball-joints for play (they do that with a chisel welded onto a 2m long rod with the car on a lift and one mechanic hanging onto the rod and another checking for play, so very thoroughly I think...) and also the droplinks. They've found no play whatsoever.
I don't think this will be the cause, but just to inform you: Just before my last trip to France last summer I've hit a kerbside with my right frontwheel, resulting in a badly damaged (old, brittle) tire wall. Just after that I noticed no difference in the tracking of the car, but during the trip home from my holiday after more than three weeks, halfway home suddenly there was hardly any movement in the righthand front strut, it gripped violently and the brake also started whisteling on and off. After the winding roads of the Roussillon I also noticed on the straight Autoroutes that my steeringwheel was suddenly a bit offset.
The day after I got home from dry and hot Roussillon into the damp and cold Dutch climate the strut was moving smoothly again (????). My Cit mechanic has found no damage to the righthand front suspension. I've had Hydraflush in the system and since then I've had no troubles with gripping struts, although they sometimes creek like an old castle door when rising. The brake stil sometimes whistles for a while, but after slamming the brake a couple of times it goes away.
To cut a long story short, could you tell me what might be wrong with my car? I fear there might be some dangerous damage or wear to my BX that's gone unnoticed.
User avatar
AndersDK
Posts: 6060
Joined: 21 Feb 2003, 04:56
Location: Denmark
My Cars:
x 1

Post by AndersDK »

Your BX has been checked a couple of times by your trusted mechanic - so I really doubt any safety matters has been overlooked.
I think your BX suffers from dry front strut rods in general - a very common problem which makes the struts stick and emits heavy noise.
It's time you get your hands dirty [8D]
Set the BX height to max - then lift up the plastic gaitor protecting the shiny strut rod. Now with your hand (ok then - a rag may be used) spread some standard bearing grease all over the shiny surface.
Then do the LHM lubrication : http://citroenz.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=730
I'm dead sure your BX feels like new after this prescription.
jeremy
Posts: 3959
Joined: 20 Oct 2002, 16:00
Location: Hampshire, UK
My Cars:
x 2

Post by jeremy »

Probably a good idea to start with the easy bits first. Tracking would generally produce some form of pull in the steering - generally towards the side of the road. What it will always produce is uneven tyre war - to-in will wear the outside, to-out the inner edges - so it the car has run for a while without the tracking being adjusted - have a good look at the front tyres for uneven wear.
Front drop links are notoriously difficult to diagnose - and for the cost of them its often easier just to replace. they aren't necessarily very well lubricated when new and I had one start to produce rusty stains and the occasional rattle after about 10,000 miles. You describe ralttles when the anti-roll bar is stressed - none when its not - which suggests drop links. I have a device which is a grease nipple with a hollow needle attached which is handy for sticking through boots and pumping in grease and this silenced my drop link.
The suspension should always ride at the same height and be soft. Tom sheppard has described a system for lubricating struts in the hints and tips section of this site and this is worth doing, also putting a little grease on the outer sliding section of the strut - I've put a couple of drops of oil through the sphere mounts - but dound spray grease was better. Don't use too much or a tester may think the strut is leaking!
The height corrector is probably sticking - and the linkage including the rod going into it will probably need lubricating. You may be able to reach it from above on a 1.4 and the best suggestion I have seen is to use a brush with some grease. On my TD its very difficult but LHdrive may mean things are a bit less congested!
Its also worth having a look at the track control rubbers (inner wishbone pivots) which should be firm, lower ball joints (cheap but nearly impossible to get out yourself), subframe mounting bolts (use sheer brute force and a big lever on a socket to tighten!) and possibly but almost unknown - anti-roll bar pivots. It is also possible and quite common on 16 valves for the anti-roll bar to move sideways and start touching things.
That should keep you busy for a while!
jeremy
citronut
Posts: 10937
Joined: 29 Apr 2005, 00:46
Location: United Kingdom east sussex
My Cars:
x 92

Post by citronut »

another thing that can cause nocking is lower engine stabalizer bush,this gets contaminated with oil and breaks down the rubber regards malcolm
Yéyé
Posts: 3
Joined: 10 May 2005, 02:27
Location: Netherlands
My Cars:

Post by Yéyé »

Thank you all for your answers,
I've been browsing through the forum (should have done that before asking eh?) and my bet's on the droplinks for the moment. Will try that first.
Wheel alignment has just been adjusted by my Cit specialist (not the official "Wouldn't-you-prefer-a-nice-recent-Xsara-that-we-can-finance-for-you-instead-of-repairing-that-old-lump-sir?" dealer but a nice little garage with good reputation, where my BX is one of the more 'modern' cars maintained. They mainly do DS, CX, SM and a lot of 2CV and derivates).
I think the off-set steeringwheel has to do with the metallically squeeking RH side rear wheelarmbearing [:(!] (no leaning wheels however, and no play at the arm according to my dealer [?]).
-Since I've bought the car it has run nicely for 'bout a year, but now she seems to reveal all the known probs of a BX. Now it's only waiting for the 1.4 headgasket to blow...-
Jeroen
Post Reply