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I thought black blokes were meant to have big choppers, that looks pretty normal.

Remove the oil transfer pipe where my circle is. Pour oil down this hole. Rotate the engine backwards to get the pump full of oil. Then rotate it forward to suck oil out the sump.

It was a five minute drive of @twosmoke300s early BX that got me interested in them, as well as my previous Xantia 😁

Did you take a detour through 1976 on the way home?

Potential yes, but not a certain one.

Is your name Luke?

People seem to be holding onto their cars for longer now. The old cost of living excuse but its absolutely true! For some people, as mad as it may seem, a 2011 Corsa is an old car.

I think that's more of a quirk than a feature! Most cars don't shut down for 10s or so after ignition off. So I imagine the ECU is still alive and immobiliser disabled during that period and hence can start it back up. Real run lock will kill the engine if you try to drive off with no key. I've already got my Foxwell code reader and BMW D+CAN lead, but both are too bulky to take with me. Apart from the R53 I had, I've never owned a car that I felt compelled to keep a code reader in the glovebox permanently. 😅

There is just something about these BX's that really do it for me. Never had one, the family have never had one, only been in one once for literally 5 mins........but if you'll forgive me a yoda moment and say 'much want there is in this one'! Looks like you're doing a cracking job and when you get it out on the road you can give yourself a proper metaphoric pat on the back, unless you've arms like a particularly long-armed orangutan?

Why do so many cars on the road right now sound absolutely knackered?, absolutely tons going about sounding like they've got no oil in, all sorts of rattling and knocking. Not even old stuff either (Although a disproportionate amount of the really knackered sounding stuff does seem to be Corsas from around 2011, including a neighbours that sounds like it's on its final death rattle, top end sounds like it's in bits), But todays 'oooft' was a Mercedes Sprinter. 21 plate. Sounded like a rod was trying to get through the block.

I'll be getting onto that tomorrow evening as a priority, cheers! Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk

I'd try the free fixes first - pull the relay out and give it a good shake, then drown the base of the stalk in contact cleaner. Hopefully that will fix it, and save paying a fortune (by AS standards) for a new stalk.

nice...well nothing has fallen off or been attacked by rust, so all doing well

128? You'll be lucky

When I worked in a pub, late 80's, PnB was a fav with the young ladies. (The future Mrs J went for scotch)

My prediction was correct. That's dipped beam on both pairs of headlights. Nobody flashed me at all, or drove evasively, so I think the alignment is honestly close enough. The spread of light seems sensible. Main beam is frankly absurd I'm not sure when I shall ever need it. A friend dubbed these 'JJ Abrams Spec'. They don't lens flare like that in person, only on camera. The car gods give, the car gods take away and because I improved the headlights they decided that 11 years is quite enough service for my rear number plate light to give. I'll have to dig out the spare and figure out how to connect the ridiculous hair-thin wires it has.

Unsure - the high beam works when pulled back, but it doesn't feel clicky when I pull it back. Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk

Are you sure it's the switch, rather than the relay ?

Ooooohh the want is strong, this looks very tempting... https://www.coches.net/x-57623558-covo.aspx

Where do you get the AS stickers from? Loving the Maestro, proper job. And you literally don't see them these days so really pleased to see you're looking after it and using it too.

I've been doing battle with the Seat Ibiza today, wrestling the front struts out only to discover the bits I ordered were wrong. Being an '09' I felt certain it was OK to order the 2009 bits as shown here: But they're wrong and I need this (2010) set of bits: Cue lots of ebay return filing and printing of return labels. It's weird but the later version looks much less substantial than the previous version, I imagine that's a tick in the box for the VAG accountants who were eagerly cost-analysing each nut and bolt. I did manage to get the rear strut off and the new one 'primed' for refitting, but I was cross at the car for depositing a load of mud and dust on me when I removed the rear wheelarch liner. Instead I decided to tackle the Avensis air con condenser. Front bumper removal is quite straightforward, but like a dick I forgot to take note of the order in which all the bits are sandwiched together: bumper, spoiler, undertray are all held together but now I'm refitting it I can't fathom how it's supposed to hang together, and there are stupid S-shaped clips/nuts that are confusing the heck out of me. I resorted to RTFM but it doesn't contain any detail for the undertrays and only a shit diagram for the bumper and spoiler. I'm sure it doesn't matter that much and a liberal sprinkle of cable ties would probably solve matters. First thing tomorrow I'll be phoning our tame mechanic Shaun to see if he can squeeze me in for an aircon regas m9 - his delightful assistant/daughter Annabel assured me this wouldn't be subject to the 3-week waiting list he's currently up against.

Small update: I bled the brake this evening. All the Citroen liquid stayed inside afterwards. I’m calling that a success. I need to throw a couple of exhaust clamps on it from halfrauds and then it’s ready to roll for an MOT.

First thing this morning, I hit the parts catalogue and called the main dealers - thankfully, they had some correct bleed screws and washers in stock, so I swung by after work. Annoyingly, this STILL wouldn't stop weeping, so I had to resort to a wee bodge with silicone. This ended up working, the coolant was successfully bled, wasn't leaking and the car reached the required temperature, with the cooling fan kicking in when required: Finally, I could resume the rebuild. Air filter housing and associated ductwork first. Then the wings and inner trims: And finally, the front bumper, bonnet, scuttle, headlights and wiper arm - this got a new blade. The old front blade was moved to the rear as it was still okay and better than the rear: With that done, I refitted the wheels, kicked the ramps underneath, fired the car up and raised the height. The fluid was low so I gave it another splash. Reversed it off the ramps and onto all four wheels again. As I've already bled the front brakes, I torqued the bolts up and fitted the trims. Not much left to go now! Annoyingly, despite it working perfectly a couple of months ago, the headlight switch is now not latching the high beam on, so the race is on to find a replacement before the MOT on Wednesday. Cheers.