BX distributor affected by heat?

juraj · Post by **juraj** » 26 Oct 2008, 22:49

Hi All

I posted a while ago about my BXs poor running, consensus was it was most likely the ignition module.

So i went to my local auto electrician looking for heat sink compound and he had the opinion that the modules rarely fail, he said the trouble sounded like distributor hall effect sensor or HT leads.

So I replaced the HT leads as the original had values ranging from 1800 - 9000 Ohms, new ones were all 2200Ohms.

After doing this work and going out for a drive the problem surfaced again but very quickly, normally it would do around 25km and play up in the city centre - ie stop start, now after about 5 km and in open driving conditions the problem occured. This time worse than ever, complete stop instead of poor running, after about 5-10 minutes it would fire up again and fail within a few minutes again. So I tried pouring water on the module and coil and heatsink plate, no difference. Then I remebered the electricians words and poured water on the distributor and the car fired up straight away. Coincidence?

So do the electronic sensor in the distributors fail in this way? I have never heard of it before.

Also funny that it should get so much worse so soon after it gets new HT leads. I didnt fit original citroen just some generic Bosch variety, do BX eads have extic resistances? Or shud they all be arund 2200Ohms?

bye all

juraj

deian · Post by **deian** » 28 Oct 2008, 21:55

No hairline cracks in the rotor arm is there?

That is so overlooked, and so hard to find, a crack would open the circuit, and water would join it back together.

TBONE · Post by **TBONE** » 29 Oct 2008, 10:36

also check the carbon brush inside the distributor cap if its worn it will arc out and if it is then change the rotor arm as well as it will wear the new one out in no time

juraj · Post by **juraj** » 30 Oct 2008, 08:30

thanks guys

but i think the cap and rotor are fine,

my next question is are Ducellier and Bosch distributors interchangeable? As a known good Ducellier from a BX is available to me.

Bye

Juraj

Post by **CitroJim** » 30 Oct 2008, 08:43

Hi Juraj,

I'm late in on this. The other thing that can fail with heat on the Bosch is the pick-up coil in the distributor. Also, the vacuum advance capsule is known to fail. The diaphragm punctures and air is let in. Very important too to ensure the pipe between the carb and advance capsule is in good nick. They perish badly. This pipe can cause all sorts of running problems.

As to wether or not the Bosch and Ducellier are interchangable, I would have thought so if the one you can get hold of is for the same basic spec. of engine.