Power Steering BX feed me that wisdom baby!!

CommY · Post by **CommY** » 08 Oct 2004, 06:40

THE POWER STEERING ON THE OLD MAN'S BX has BECOME HEAVIER, two things
1. Is the XANTIA power steering lighter than the BX's
2. Why would power steering become less 'power assisted'. It's not BAD by any means.
Appologies POWER STEERING IS NOT COVERED in the 'CommY's past experience knowledge bank'.
Sorry for shouting, to late to retype.
As an aside, why would anyone in their right mind want to turn the most excellent/comfortable/competent family saloon (aka Xantia) I have yet come accross into a racing machine?? My lack of mind is boggled and not just by theb drugs}.

wrinklet1 · Post by **wrinklet1** » 08 Oct 2004, 12:20

Hi, I would guess that your fathers BX power steering probaly needs a clean out. It's part of the hydrolics, so you willl have to drain the LHM tank and put Hydroflush in and run it through the system for a month or so. After doing that, drain and refill with LHM fluid and bleed the brakes too. You may have to do Citrobics on the car to clear any air in the system. Read your haynes manual if you have one as this tells you how to do the job.
Paul
PS Also, colder weather thickens the LHM slightly causing the assistance to reduce.

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 08 Oct 2004, 19:22

Form the sound of it your dad's BX is suffering from a tired hydraulic pump. The steering is controlled by the FDV which is the first component in the circuit after the pump and relies on a high volume of fluid to work. The accumulator is not in the steering circuit and so the steering is entirely dependant on pump and FDV function.
How quickly does the rest of the hydraulic circuit work - or is it getting slow?
I know mine sufffered from heavy steering (with little or no assistance) and a new pump completely cured it. Having said that I did have a FDV problem at the time as well.
Another thought - is the rack and steering in general nice and smooth or is the mechanism stiff somewhere - jack up both front wheels and see if its nice, smooth and free.
jeremy

oilyspanner · Post by **oilyspanner** » 08 Oct 2004, 20:06

Having changed pumps and LHM recently with no discernible difference to my power steering and brakes yesterday I bought some Hydraflush, I have only done around ten miles so far but the steering appears to be lighter! will report when its done some more miles.
Stewart

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 08 Oct 2004, 21:23

I wonder if its freed up the FDV?
pressure in the brake and suspension seems to play funny tricks. I have just changed the pipe from the regulator to the saftey valve as a clip had ground its way through it! The leakage was tiny - say 1 litre every 500 miles but I'm sure the ride is better!
I had a wrongly assembled FDV! (ball bearing relief valve was the wrong way round) Brakes worked perfectly but light would come on and car wouldn't rise correctly. Steering was perfect with new pump!
Jeremy

oilyspanner · Post by **oilyspanner** » 09 Oct 2004, 14:37

The stop light is now going out instantly, I have noticed with other BXs that the hydraulics improve after some LHM catastropy involving pipe changes and big leaks, I imagine that those cars must have dislodged some muck somewhere in the system.
Stewart

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 10 Oct 2004, 05:02

Stop light going out immediately can mean that the accumulator sphere is flat! - it should take a little while to charge up.
I'd always put the new LHM feeling down to the molecules getting mashed up in the first few days - sadly it doesn't last!
jeremy

CommY · Post by **CommY** » 10 Oct 2004, 18:04

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Form the sound of it your dad's BX is suffering from a tired hydraulic pump. The steering is controlled by the FDV which is the first component in the circuit after the pump and relies on a high volume of fluid to work. The accumulator is not in the steering circuit and so the steering is entirely dependant on pump and FDV function.
How quickly does the rest of the hydraulic circuit work - or is it getting slow?
I know mine sufffered from heavy steering (with little or no assistance) and a new pump completely cured it. Having said that I did have a FDV problem at the time as well.
Another thought - is the rack and steering in general nice and smooth or is the mechanism stiff somewhere - jack up both front wheels and see if its nice, smooth and free.
jeremy<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Jeremy thanks for your valuable input. My Dad had the spheres done 8 MONTHS AGO the rest of the hydraulics seem fine, goes up and down quickly, height is A OK and all the push down/load tests work properly only the brakes seem slightly less sharp than normal especially first stop or two (this could be the pads warming up) but then are their usual excellent selves. But every now and then they seem to be a bit iffy for no reason, you have to push harder to get the usual response, I would describe it as brake fade but without overheated pads.
I will check the smoothness of the steerings operation and report back.
Are the hydraulic pumps from a BX 16 Athena (J reg) interchangeable with the BX 1.7 td (TPZRNF(or whatever)(H reg)