More fun with the BX

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

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jonathan_dyane
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Post by jonathan_dyane »

Hi Peter, thankyou for your advise, but unfortunatley my car is not the same as the '90 model. Later cars have a different thermostat housing, which on mine does not appear to have any bleed screws...
oilyspanner
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Post by oilyspanner »

THe later TZD motors (with the black plastic thermostat housings) appear to be self bleeding, a small hose runs from the head behind the stat housing to the header tank, on mine I also have an equivalent hose from the other end of the head as a legacy from its peugeot beginnings (behind fuel pump adjacent to the worst glow plug)I have plugged this with a bolt and can remove this when I need to bleed the system, with original TZD plumbing it is possible to remove the other one to let out air.
Stewart
jonathan_dyane
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Post by jonathan_dyane »

Ah, I see. So I guess I just like (gulp) pour it in....
Cheers Stewart,
Jon

Post by Jon »

Jonathan
Yes, mines the same as yours, late fuel filter with no bleed points around the thermo housing, and the only bleed point is in the top of the rad.
The only bleeding that I could achieve was by turning heater on, removing bleed from top of rad, then tipping the coolant into the header tank until it came out of the bleed hole in the top of the rad. I then started the car and left it ticking over without the rad cap on the principle that this would force air out. As the engine got hotter, the thermostat opened OK, and the level in the header dropped, I topped this up and left the engine running until eventually, the fans cut in.
Later, when it had cooled down, I checked the level again and added some more coolant. Its been fine since, and the level had not changed when I checked it yesterday, 850 miles later.
jonathan_dyane
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Post by jonathan_dyane »

Cheers guys, I shall change to fresh at the weekend, and swap hydraincage for LHM. Might even risk a wash (the car, not me!)
BTW, if anyone has any BX alloys taking up space I *might* just be interested; I'm continuing to lose hubcaps like there's no tomorrow, and I managed to get a puncture today too...
DLM
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Post by DLM »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">I can still remember Vanny doing his clutch job and all the associated dramas followed by him sorting them out in a very tradesmanlike way and doing a posting that was around for a while but then seemed to get lost<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
AlanS - I have a copy of Vanny's Q&A forum post on BX clutch change saved somewhere. Should Vanny be agreeable, I can dig it out.
bxbodger
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Post by bxbodger »

Jon, out of curiosity, how much has it all cost so far?
Jon

Post by Jon »

How much has it cost, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Well today, I spent another £200 quid on 4 Michelin Pilot Exalto directional 185/60/14 tyres!!!
The rough breakdown so far is:
Cost of BX £165.00
MOT £34.00
Tax £90.75
S/hand 16v wheels, bolts & tank sender from Vanny £50
Parts (lots of them @Staff rate) £310 fitted myself.
Labour to fit timing belt and water pump £110
Paint, cleaning materials and sundries £25
Cheapo JVC radio/ CD £80
4 tyres as above £200
So that makes...... <b>£1064.75.</b> AGHHHHHH!
I really wish that you hadn't asked me that, I've just gone into total shock. Luckily, my wife does not read this Forum.[:D]
No more great expense on the horizon, negociated purchase of a further BX TD with blown head gasket today as a spares vehicle..... oh and I'm getting the bonnet painted as it looks bloody awful, say £100 quid there.[:p]
alan s
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Post by alan s »

Looks like the cheapest part of this operation was buying it.[:D][:D][:D]
Alan S[;)]
alan s
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Post by alan s »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by DLM</i>

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">I can still remember Vanny doing his clutch job and all the associated dramas followed by him sorting them out in a very tradesmanlike way and doing a posting that was around for a while but then seemed to get lost<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
AlanS - I have a copy of Vanny's Q&A forum post on BX clutch change saved somewhere. Should Vanny be agreeable, I can dig it out.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Yes David, I think it would make a handy attachment to Jons as from memory, Vanny struck a couple of strange snags in his that he found a way around.
Alan S
jeremy
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Post by jeremy »

Jon
if the Bx turns out to be a car that you like then what you have spent will be money well spent. You have acomplished a great deal of work in a short time and hopefully now have a very well sorted and hopefully reliable Bx which will provide you with many happy miles of motoring.
Motoring sadly is an expensive pastime and as your car will cover a considerable mileage then its going to cost money as you need a properly maintained and sorted car. I know some people appear to drive for ever without spending anything or claim to do so but their mileage generally is tiny and a car will survive this as it never gets stressed. from what you have done to yours it sounds as though this is what yours was used for before you got it.
Incidentally are the tyres any good as I've got a set of alloys and need some new tyres on my TD Estate.
jeremy
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Post by DoubleChevron »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Posted - 03 Nov 2004 : 19:31:39
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How much has it cost, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Well today, I spent another £200 quid on 4 Michelin Pilot Exalto directional 185/60/14 tyres!!!
The rough breakdown so far is:
Cost of BX £165.00
MOT £34.00
Tax £90.75
S/hand 16v wheels, bolts & tank sender from Vanny £50
Parts (lots of them @Staff rate) £310 fitted myself.
Labour to fit timing belt and water pump £110
Paint, cleaning materials and sundries £25
Cheapo JVC radio/ CD £80
4 tyres as above £200
So that makes...... £1064.75. AGHHHHHH!
I really wish that you hadn't asked me that, I've just gone into total shock. Luckily, my wife does not read this Forum.
No more great expense on the horizon, negociated purchase of a further BX TD with blown head gasket today as a spares vehicle..... oh and I'm getting the bonnet painted as it looks bloody awful, say £100 quid there
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
You upto about $3000aud including MOT costs. That's what I call an extremely cheap car. That's basically what I bought my tired old BX19tri for about 3years ago. It did 90,000km's in the first two years I had it and has paid for itself multiples over. Talk about reliable, my wife was using to comute about 120miles a day and it didn't hold her up once.
If it sh!t itself tomorrow I could tow it to the rubbish tip without a concern cos it's paid for itself 100times over. But first I need to get my poor CX back on the road. It's been languishing in the shed for 3months now... Oneday I WILL find time to look at it [:(] I've purchased a lot of the front end parts it's needed off Ebay (from the UK) for 1/2 what it would cost to buy them here (including postage). It really is a shame there's no CX's left over there allowing me to buy the NOS parts on Ebay cheaply [:D]
seeya,
Shane L.
Jon

Post by Jon »

Jeremy
First impressions of the Pilot Exalto's are very good, they feel grippy, and there is little noise from them. They are a directional tyre aimed at hot hatches and the like, but I decided on them over the cheaper Energy range as the Exalto's are sold as a wet weather tyre, I've never found the Energy range to be much good in the wet. The Exalto range also has a raised shoulder to protect alloy wheels. They are not cheap, I was very lucky with mine as I got them just above cost through my friend's garage. tyre4u.com list them at £59.02 inc in 185/60/14H.
As regards the money spent on the BX in general, I'm not at all bothered. Its very economical, uses no oil & water, and all the usual bits that go wrong I have replaced. Since 7th October when it passed the MOT, its already covered 3280 miles. Its also comfortable and I enjoy it.
tomsheppard
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Post by tomsheppard »

Sounds about right. To get a TD into reliable condition costs about £1000 which seems a lot for a BX at 150,000 miles, which is why people don't bother. However, the next 150,000 miles are much cheaper than the first because ther is the small matter of the £10,000 depreciation.
When you consider how little car you get for a grand these days, the BX is a bargain.
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Kowalski
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Post by Kowalski »

3280 miles for £1000 plus fuel...
If we allow 8p/mile for fuel thats something like 40p/mile. Once you've done some more miles the average cost per mile will fall assuming nothing expensive falls off.
My Xantia probably costs me under 20p/mile to run overall, its nowhere near as cheap as Jon's.
That said, you could probably find a decent Xantia TD for £1000, maybe it would need a little work doing but still ...
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