In search of new shite - EDIT: BX Bought

[burraston2006]

Wouldn't mind trying a BX bit I still miss my Xantia. Keep looking at the 3.0 V6's on flea bay but not too sure if they are giffard mobiles or shite mobiles!

[cort16]

I wonder if the BX is the most owned car in autoshite history? I think nearly everyone on here seems to have owned one at some point (1984 Mk1 BX GT - 1996-1997).

[Lacquer Peel]

I haven't owned one, but I'd love to try one, I almost bidded on a slightly decrepit BX estate a couple of nights ago.

 

I keep picturing myself in an early one with drum dials and a 1.9 TD conversion.

[garethj]

Is there some kind of suspension flush I should do or am I better off not touching?

[Guest]

Fine BX-ing, Gareth. I hope that you are not regretting biffing the Chuggapug in favour of hydro-dramatics.

[dollywobbler]

A flush might sort out some of the minor ailments. It doesn't respond very swiftly to suspension height changes for instance, and the intermediate setting doesn't seem to work at all. It was on my To Do list but then other Citroens happened...

 

Alternatively, you can just enjoy it as is. I've done 5000 trouble-free miles in that car. It really does drive a lot more sweetly than the TZD I have now. The brakes are actually not too shit hot by BX standards. Never did get to the bottom of why. As you've found, they certainly do work, but BX's usually have an even sharper pedal.

 

Hope you enjoy it!

[Micrashed]

BX's are brilliant if you get a good one and a world of pain if you get a bad one. Ive had two worlds of pain and two worlds of ear to ear grinning.

But despite this new wave of BXmanship I feel I have done my time on the BX shovel and my next venture back into Citroship will be either a Xantia or a nice early C5 though it has to be said the wifes C8 is probably giving me my fill of odd Froggy shenanigans.

 

Good luck with her

[Caffiend]

It's the ABS I reckon. If I ever have to stop sharply it takes at least four months off my life wondering whether the damn brakes are actually going to work ... the one thing I really don't like about my TZD. Well, that and the pram handle spoiler. Two things. That's it though, honest. I'm biassed, but you get a lot of bang for your buck with BXs, and that TXD looked like a fine one, lacquer peel notwithstanding, enjoy it.

 

No new forum needed, why doesn't everyone just move into bxclub.co.uk?

[mrcitroen]

BX's are certainly becoming the motor of choice around here

 

And with good reason too!

 

Good stuff!

[garethj]

Day 3 of BX ownership

 

If you know 20 different swear words, can you give the sentence below a generous dusting?

 

The key wouldn't go into the ignition lock.

 

This was at work, so I gave it some releasing spray, tweezers and tiny screwdriver to see if I could see what was wrong, probably one of the locking pins had dropped out or bent. Couldn't do it. I'd only recently cancelled my AA cover because my bank account gave me RAC, so I gave them a ring and a man in a van arrived within half an hour.

 

"When you park it, never put the suspension down, makes it difficult for us to recover"

"The suspension sinks after a while. And I didn't think I'd need towing"

"Yeah, ignition barrel has collapsed, happens all the time. Shouldn't have bought one of these, ask anyone in the trade and they'd tell you to stay away"

 

And so on, and so forth

 

He kindly booked a recovery truck for when I'd finish work and the driver arrived pretty much on time. He had it loaded quickly, was helpful and we had a good old chat about cars and bikes on the way home. I phoned GSF to see if they had a replacement ignition barrel but only the Northampton branch was showing it in stock, not a problem because Northampton is only 40 minutes away, and even my nearest branch is 30 minutes. Reserved it at Northampton branch.

 

Saturday morning I was in Mrs_garethj's Jaguar again, up to Northampton to collect the ignition switch. Then I set to work, so day 4 of BX ownership looked like this

 

I got the old switch out and the new one in, turned the key to the first notch and the starter motor was cranking away. Onto the second notch and it was the same, turn the key onto the third notch where the starter should turn and the starter stopped but the ignition lights came on.

 

I spent some fruitless time comparing the old switch to the new one, but the old one had 8 wires and the new one only 6. I took the new one apart to see if I could re-index the barrel and switch, but no. I didn't have a Haynes manual for the diesel BX so hit the BX forum hard. After a while the answers came up and armed with my multimeter and a few people's help I figured out that one of the harnesses had the wires connected wrongly. The plug on the new switch and the socket on the car can only be fitted one way but either the ignition switch wasn't for my car, or it was assembled wrongly in the Valeo factory.

 

Today I connected it up correctly and it works properly. Then it was simply* a matter of putting everything back, which means I can take it to work again tomorrow. Now it's working I'm a lot more relaxed, but over the weekend the car wasn't far from being dumped on waste ground with a gallon of unleaded and box of matches. I guess I'm just used to the reliability of a 1995 Peugeot 205

[Guest]

1996!

 

Now I just feel bad.

[dollywobbler]

*hides under a rock.*

 

Right. No-one else on Autoshite is allowed to buy a car from me. That's two BXs that have ended up on recovery trucks this year...

 

Irony being that the 300,000 mile BX estate I bought got me home from Manchester with no problem at all, then 660 miles to Kent and back with no problem at all! Am I just lucky? (grabs frantically for a piece of timber)

 

Glad it's all sorted Gareth. Just one of those things I guess - can't predict it. January last year, the 2CV did similar when the key refused to turn in the ignition many miles from home. Managed to bodge my way out of that one...

[garethj]

Don't worry - I understand the risks of buying a 20 year old car, the Autoshite guarantee starts to fade at the end of the street.

 

Whilst there was much laughter at work that "owning these old bangers" has caught up with me at last, the truth is that it could happen to any car. The lippy RAC man said it had to go to a garage to be fixed, there's no way I could repair it at home. Horseshit of course, even if things go wrong they're comparatively easy to fix whilst newer cars are eating up £80 per hour at the chrome and glass dealerships.

[Guest]

I am on first name and Christmas card and you can come to my house and fuck my sister terms with most of the RAC men in the south east of England, and they mostly love old shite cars, mainly cuz they can fix them at the roadside, er, sometimes.

[hairnet]

you KNOW when youve been wobbled

 

meh it happens

 

least it wasnt bits falling off

[dollywobbler]

This might make you feel better Gareth. Similar car, up to a grand already!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1992-CITROEN- ... 1089630601

 

I'm starting to think I should have sold it in Ebay. BXs (of the right spec) have been fetching very silly money on there of late.

[garethj]

There must be some mistake, the value of a car only goes up after I've sold it. You could set your watch by it.

 

I fixed the BX on Monday night so took it to work on Tuesday, a Citroen sympathiser wasn't too surprised it broke because his 2CV broke it's ignition switch thanks to water leaking through the flaps. By comparison, the BX is very sensible.

 

My daily commute is 75-80 miles so it doesn't take long to get the hang of a car. I bought it because it should give better than 205 diesel performance for not much worse mpg. I haven't measured the fuel economy yet but the performance is certainly good enough, the turbo is helping noticeably from 2000rpm and it pulls strongly to 4000rpm where you change up. Where the 205 was running out of puff at 60mph and needed full throttle and a long run-up to overtake, the BX accelerates nicely in either 4th or 5th from that speed. The 205 was really struggling to accelerate from 75mph and you were relying on downhill sections to get to 85, but the BX pulls really well to 100mph. When you're at 70-80mph it's right in the boost zone so overtaking is quite easy, it makes for a relaxing drive.

 

The ride is very comfortable indeed, it has me searching out bumpy sections of road just to see what it's like rather than swerving to avoid them. It does the amazing job of making the car feel very solid (which I'm sure it isn't) with soft suspension (which it doesn't exactly have either). I think Ian mentioned the suspension on this one was harder than most BXs and the BX wasn't supposed to be as smooth as the DS or GS but it's still very nice.

 

It starts well, the screen demists properly and it's got a good radio, that's the essentials covered. I can't say I'm absolutely in lust with it, but I've forgiven it for breaking down last week.