Project BX17RD - the further adventures of PBO

[vulgalour]

Seemed appropriate.

[SmokinWaffle]

Finally got it back today - was lovely to see it sitting in my mechanics yard waiting for me - he's had a few busy days/sudden jobs so it was delayed a couple days.

It was indeed the live wire from the Fuel cut off solonoid that fell down and arc'd against the pump itself, melted/scortched wires back to the glow plug relay and a bit near the back of the engine but that's all re-done now.

He's concerned that it has some sort of gypsy curse on it - as it caught fire and then today it very nearly got written off while he was standing next to it as somebody crashed and rolled there car right next to it. If you look in the attached video - you'll see him bolt across the bonnet. Fair play to him, good escape. No damage to the bonnet, wouldn't care if there was!

I think that it just really loves me - and whenever anyone else has it (be it him or @vulgalour) it just misbehaves and has a paddy / attracts bad mojo.

Very happy it didn't get squished (and my mechanic). Onwards.

[puddlethumper]

2 hours ago, SmokinWaffle said:

Finally got it back today - was lovely to see it sitting in my mechanics yard waiting for me - he's had a few busy days/sudden jobs so it was delayed a couple days.

It was indeed the live wire from the Fuel cut off solonoid that fell down and arc'd against the pump itself, melted/scortched wires back to the glow plug relay and a bit near the back of the engine but that's all re-done now.

He's concerned that it has some sort of gypsy curse on it - as it caught fire and then today it very nearly got written off while he was standing next to it as somebody crashed and rolled there car right next to it. If you look in the attached video - you'll see him bolt across the bonnet. Fair play to him, good escape. No damage to the bonnet, wouldn't care if there was!

I think that it just really loves me - and whenever anyone else has it (be it him or @vulgalour) it just misbehaves and has a paddy / attracts bad mojo.

Very happy it didn't get squished (and my mechanic). Onwards.

 

Bloody hell ! That was a bit close.

[dozeydustman]

That was a close escape! Was the driver of the rolled car speeding/acting like a knob/pissed?

[vulgalour]

Bloomin eck!

[SmokinWaffle]

On 11/1/2020 at 5:56 PM, dozeydustman said:

That was a close escape! Was the driver of the rolled car speeding/acting like a knob/pissed?

It was someone going through Chemotherapy apparently - she said everything just went blurry.

 

 

[junkyarddog]

What make is the beige car with the red bonnet to the left?

Looks vaguely Avenger like to me.

[SmokinWaffle]

On 11/2/2020 at 11:20 AM, junkyarddog said:

What make is the beige car with the red bonnet to the left?

Looks vaguely Avenger like to me.

Unsure!

BX had a bit of a paddy today, I think the clutch cable/clip has snapped and sent the clutch to the floor, which resulted in trying to tow it, the towing eye snapping off then limping it home in 2nd.

Updates to come....

[SmokinWaffle]

Finally had a chance to take a look

 

• Seemingly no cracks in the pedal box
• Cable appears intact (outer anyway, I'm only assuming about the inner)
• Can't see the plastic clip at the back of the pedal/pedal box people keep talking about but I'm assuming that's not broken

With my limited mechanical knowledge, I took out the bits to get see where the cable went and it goes to this little....thing:

Now, the cable ends there - It's just attached to the gearbox using a bit of metal as a bracket. So the cable doesn't go into the gearbox in any way. That doesn't seem right...

Am I right in thinking there is meant to be some sort of linkage/arm/lever between the end of that bit and this convenient hole in the gearbox housing - like this:

That would explain why the pedal has fallen as there is no tension on it from the non existent "arm" on the cable, which I assume disengages the clutch when it's pulled back when you depress the pedal. Also explains why I can't pull the cable back anymore than it is as if it's come off the arm it'd already be as slack as possible.

Going to have a closer look tomorrow - and apologies if this is super super obvious thing - I'm still learning and was happy that I spotted it. Am I right?

 

 

[Mr Pastry]

19 minutes ago, SmokinWaffle said:

Am I right?

Basically yes - there should be a clutch release lever something like this:

[SmokinWaffle]

7 minutes ago, Mr Pastry said:

Basically yes - there should be a clutch release lever something like this:

Ah. That'll be somewhere at the side of the road in two pieces. 

So I can assume a sheared bolt in the hole in the box too! 

[Mr Pastry]

24 minutes ago, SmokinWaffle said:

Ah. That'll be somewhere at the side of the road in two pieces. 

I'd be a bit surprised if it has actually fallen off, as it is attached to the release shaft which runs through the clutch housing.   Will probably be obvious in the morning.

 

[junkyarddog]

Your cable is broken,the clutch leaver is still there at the bottom of the pic,partly hidden.

[SmokinWaffle]

1 hour ago, junkyarddog said:

Your cable is broken,the clutch leaver is still there at the bottom of the pic,partly hidden.

Could you annotate the lic? I can't quite see it... 

[spartacus]

Well spotted JYD.

I think it's this part, the broken line indicates the path the cable would take.

Apologies for the schoolboy style graffiti.

 

[SmokinWaffle]

34 minutes ago, spartacus said:

Well spotted JYD.

I think it's this part, the broken line indicates the path the cable would take.

Apologies for the schoolboy style graffiti.

 

Thank you so much!

I'll double check tonight, but if that's the case it looks like it's just the bit that has attached to that has come off so I just need another cable, this one as far as I can tell!

[junkyarddog]

44 minutes ago, spartacus said:

Well spotted JYD.

I think it's this part, the broken line indicates the path the cable would take.

Apologies for the schoolboy style graffiti.

 

That's it.

 

[SmokinWaffle]

Thanks to @junkyarddog and @spartacus - you were correct. Cable has snapped!

So I need this one - but I've been offered a NOS one on Facebook with the same part number:

 

Which appears to be the same but is missing the bit on end of the cable of the Chevronics one?

Or is that just a stock image? I can't quite tell what that bit is for....Facebook one is half the price of the Chevronics one which would be nice!

[spartacus]

I'm not familiar with BX clutch cables but that looks like a nut/locking nut adjuster type of assembly. I can't tell from the pic but the Facebook one looks like it has a slot in it that locates over the clutch arm. Hopefully somebody else will know for sure.

[SmokinWaffle]

12 hours ago, spartacus said:

I'm not familiar with BX clutch cables but that looks like a nut/locking nut adjuster type of assembly. I can't tell from the pic but the Facebook one looks like it has a slot in it that locates over the clutch arm. Hopefully somebody else will know for sure.

Cheers. I've emailed chevronics and will give them a call later - not that it'd be in their best interests to direct me elsewhere - but they seem nice enough.

[SmokinWaffle]

Just waiting to hear back from Chevronics, I know they have a few members of staff off and are very busy at the moment so I'll give it a few days. I've got my other halves 62 plate corsa to rock around in in the meantime which has a heated steering wheel & heated seats - so it could be worse.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

33 minutes ago, Fabergé Greggs said:

....A little bit of irrelevant info tinged with bitterness never hurt anyone though...

EFA

[SmokinWaffle]

To be honest - they could be raving lunatics who kick children in their spare time - but there aren't many places I can get a new clutch cable for a 1.7 non turbo diesel BX so......yeah.

Of all places that I expect random political saltiness or interjection - Autoshite isn't one of them....back on topic please.

[artdjones]

If we can tear ourselves away from political dialectic?-

Item no.7 will be needed as well. It's a small weight that fits on the end of the cable so will have dropped off with the broken piece.

95596054 is the Citroen number.

[SmokinWaffle]

43 minutes ago, artdjones said:

If we can tear ourselves away from political dialectic?-

Item no.7 will be needed as well. It's a small weight that fits on the end of the cable so will have dropped off with the broken piece.

95596054 is the Citroen number.

Thank you very much! That's the sort of wonderful help this forum is full of. I also found this which was interesting
 

Phoned a local Citroen dealer and they said they've never stocked it - but can see the part on their system but have no idea where I'd get one. Nothing on eBay or Google either - and I doubt Chevronics will have it. For the £20 or so I'm saving I doubt it's worth the faff - I'm just going to go ahead and order the cable with all the gubbins.

[artdjones]

There is one for sale on eBay.fr:-https://www.ebay.fr/itm/112635117890

It's only €5.76 but he wants €15 to send internationally. Maybe message him to see if he could post it cheaper?

That's what it looks like, 45mm in diameter, probably not too hard to make one.

 

[SmokinWaffle]

3 minutes ago, artdjones said:

There is one for sale on eBay.fr:-https://www.ebay.fr/itm/112635117890

It's only €5.76 but he wants €15 to send internationally. Maybe message him to see if he could post it cheaper?

That's what it looks like, 45mm in diameter, probably not too hard to make one.

 

Blimey - you're some sort of super sleuth! Impressive - thank you.

Although tempting, the time taken to do it and the potential for it not being correct/a faff for the sake of saving around £20 isn't worth it I don't think. I think I'd still be missing this bit too which is pictures on Chevronics:

Chevronics seems the only place that has that - even this one on ebay doesn't appear to (albeit not genuine citroen)....starting to wonder if it's just a stock image

[SmokinWaffle]

Cable ordered.

[SmokinWaffle]

Progress has been slow due to many things going on in life - but Chevronics rung after I ordered the cable and told me that they'd refund me as the other cable would fit - so happy days there. £25 saved.

Went at it with my dad - was great to spend 4 - 5 hours working on it and learning stuff as always.

Getting the old cable out wasn't too bad - had to take off the pedal box but that was easy enough

 New cable installed:

..

Took a while to work out the clip due to it being cold and my brain not working

But I now see what people mean about that bastard little retaining clip....after spending about half an hour twisted like a contortionist in the footwell (why did they design it just enough that the average size person can't get the right leverage or angle on the bits they need to?!) - I got the pedal box back in aaaaaand....the fucking clip came off and the cable dropped. Just after I secured the box in. Made even more annoying that you have to have someone hold the master cylinder while you're messing about otherwise you risk pushing it out and potentially damaging brake lines.

So - we did what any logical people would do and cable tied the hell out of it:

Didn't come off that time! Another bit of contortion getting it back in and all good. Until we realised we had run the cable up inbetween some solid brake/hydro lines which wasn't great as it was moving it and could damage it over time. Pedal box out again, unclip, push it down, push it back up....christ there isn't a lot of room behind the engine on that side - I'm glad I have small hands.

Eventually - all back together we move to the engine bay, put the end of the cable over the lever and.....can't tell how it works? Seems that it's just floppy as anything and would never push the lever into the gearbox.

Oooh. Whats that. A shiny piece of metal that looks much shinier than the rest of the bay? Looks like there should be something there? Looks like the end of the adjuster bolt/pin sheared which caused this whole mess in the beginning. 

As you can see - where the red dot is there should be some sort of pin that sits on the lever that goes into the gearbox to release the clutch (there is a dimple in the lever for it) which now no longer exists.

Had a chat with Chevronics today and they said I need a pin which is £3 and it's somewhat common for this to happen - not the end of the world but I'm gonna talk to them tomorrow as I don't see how I would attach a pin onto the end of something that is sheared off. I'm sure they can clarify...

So he sits on the drive, slightly elevated waiting for the part:

Soon, my friend. Soon.

(yes the back is safely chocked / axle stands are solid - it's not going anywhere)

[vulgalour]

BX ownership is not complete without having the mess about with the pedal box.  Congratulations, you are now a real enthusiast of the model whether you like it or not.