Project BX17RD - the further adventures of PBO

[Ian_Fearn]

@SmokinWaffle I can’t tell you how happy I am that you are making good use of the roof bars. I tried to shift them for years and really didn’t want to bin them.

[CaptainBoom]

I'm really glad to see that you both have settled in and the BX is performing well with its duties - like it should!

Are your new neighbours chod-friendly?

40 minutes ago, SmokinWaffle said:

do it all in the freezing cold on the cold concrete because I'm a mechanical masochist it seems

That's the stuff, Winter is for fixing, and summer is for driving what you fix!

[SmokinWaffle]

1 hour ago, Ian_Fearn said:

@SmokinWaffle I can’t tell you how happy I am that you are making good use of the roof bars. I tried to shift them for years and really didn’t want to bin them.

It would have been such a shame! They're getting very well used! Cheers again.

46 minutes ago, CaptainBoom said:

I'm really glad to see that you both have settled in and the BX is performing well with its duties - like it should!

Are your new neighbours chod-friendly?

That's the stuff, Winter is for fixing, and summer is for driving what you fix!

We will soon find out! Haha. There is another one that arrived today in front of the 405 but that's a secret....

[beko1987]

When amys nan was near the end I used to get tasked with picking her up/we'd take the xm as I could raise it right up for her to get into... 

[vulgalour]

Those pictures deliver great joy.  That's what old cars are all about really.  Your lack of lights might be down to the plug coming unseated and nothing worse, it did it to me after loading up the boot once and a quick unplug-plug of the connector sorted it.  Do you find it rides better loaded to the gills?  Always felt like it went round corners even better to me when it was jam packed with stuff than when it was empty.

[SmokinWaffle]

19 hours ago, vulgalour said:

Those pictures deliver great joy.  That's what old cars are all about really.  Your lack of lights might be down to the plug coming unseated and nothing worse, it did it to me after loading up the boot once and a quick unplug-plug of the connector sorted it.  Do you find it rides better loaded to the gills?  Always felt like it went round corners even better to me when it was jam packed with stuff than when it was empty.

Turns out it was just the spade connectors on the brake pedal having come off, probably due to this relay with a broken mount swinging about (or me having a fat foot) - easy fix though. I'll stick that relay somewhere soon too.

And yes - it rode comfier when it was rammed! Still very comfy without, mind, but a noticeable difference. 

[Rust Collector]

Glad to see your move went well mate, hope you're settling in ok. When I picked up the parcel shelf from you for my BX I was quite enamored with the 405, so I'm glad that's now out of purchasing distance 😅 If it's just patches on the outer sills you need to do on the BX I'd say try and get it done in the summer whilst it's warm and dry(ish), I did 3 days lying on a cold driveway last November welding up my Favorit and I can't say it did any favours for my motivation towards doing any further work at the time 😆

[SmokinWaffle]

On 6/7/2021 at 10:41 AM, Rust Collector said:

Glad to see your move went well mate, hope you're settling in ok. When I picked up the parcel shelf from you for my BX I was quite enamored with the 405, so I'm glad that's now out of purchasing distance 😅 If it's just patches on the outer sills you need to do on the BX I'd say try and get it done in the summer whilst it's warm and dry(ish), I did 3 days lying on a cold driveway last November welding up my Favorit and I can't say it did any favours for my motivation towards doing any further work at the time 😆

Glad to see you signed up! Awesome stuff. Nothing is out of purchasing distance if you want it enough  

I'll see how I get on - not sure I've got enough time in my life this summer to learn it all - and if I do it'll be on the 405 before I risk ruining the BX!

I've noticed since I did that fully laden trip it's much comfier - less bouncy. The roads up here are much nicer than around where I used to live, combined with it riding better it's like I'm flying everywhere on a magic carpet.

On furniture duty last night again picking up a bathroom cabinet and some shoe storage:

[SmokinWaffle]

Did a tip run the other day:

Was a scorching day.  Been so busy I've not done much but drive it - but things are settling.

[SmokinWaffle]

Things are getting less hectic. 

Picked up various stuff in this since my last post but I can't be bothered to collate the images right now! 

Sadly, from the heavy rain the other day the BX seems to have developed some form of PTSD - now the wipers refuse to shut off - it just doesn't see the off setting weirdly, all the others seem to work. 

Cleaned the connector in the scuttle with no joy, going to take a look at the various wiring this weekend - anyone have any magic BX specific wiper switch fix beforehand? 

[vulgalour]

Not a problem I experienced, but one I was warned about.  Sometimes something in the stalk gets stuck connection wise so the advice was to run it through the settings as quickly as you can for a bit and then it unsticks.  Check the column shroud isn't jamming the stalk too, if you've knocked it with your knee it can sometimes hold the stalk just in a position, usually just needs a gentle wiggle of the trim to sort it.

[SmokinWaffle]

Turn's out it's an actual physical issue as far as I can see, took the wiper arm/stalk out:

The contacts were dirty, so I gave them a good cleanup along with the corrosponding bit on the arm:

But it just seems that over time some of those little circle bits have worn flat, which means it doesn't always detect when you select one via the stalk. I did have it working perfectly but it's inconsistent - settled on it for some reason doing the wiper once when the ignition is switched on, once when I start it - then it's off, first and second speed don't work unless I hold it in a really specific position but the fastest one does - so it's driveable which is important as my other half isn't here a lot of next week so I don't have a spare car.

The relay also did some weird stuff/buzzing so I'll probably replace that while I'm at it, although I'm mostly sure that's because of the contacts/switch being a bit derpy. I did try propping up the electrical contacts that had worn with something bit it didn't seem to make a difference, as well as pinching the metal and extending the spring on the bit on the arm to make it extend a little more forcefully to make contact - sadly no go. Probably just a bit past it's best:

Blue + red = speed 3

red + red = Speed 2

which would lead me to believe that Green + Red should be the slowest speed but seemingly not - even when I join them with a screwdriver or bit of wire - the others were fine. Must be something else on the arm that does something I didn't realise.

Either way - was fun to learn how it works - now to find a spare good one to swap it with!

[Fumbler]

I thought BX wipers were two speed with intermittent- at least mine is. I probably should check the spare ones I have in a bag somewhere.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Could you pop a small blob of solder on the contact just to re-dome them?  That's what I'd do in absence of being able to source a replacement.  Might not be as durable but would be a free fix.

[Sunny Jim]

Two speed + intermittent on my '88 16RS too, not heard of a 3 speed wiper. GM's suggestion sounds good.

[vulgalour]

Pretty sure it's a 2 speed, I never had three out of it.  Fast was never quite fast enough for a real downpour on the motorway so you had to slow down a bit to see where you were going... but that's not a bad safety feature to have I guess.  Interesting to see how the innards look on the stalk, I expected it to look considerably less robust than that.  It's a standard PSA stalk on these isn't it?  Fairly certain it's shared with similar vintage Peugeots.

[SmokinWaffle]

41 minutes ago, Fumbler said:

I thought BX wipers were two speed with intermittent- at least mine is. I probably should check the spare ones I have in a bag somewhere.

I will thank you very handsomely if you have one. I have many spares but this isn't one of them annoyingly.

12 minutes ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

Could you pop a small blob of solder on the contact just to re-dome them?  That's what I'd do in absence of being able to source a replacement.  Might not be as durable but would be a free fix.

 

8 minutes ago, Sunny Jim said:

Two speed + intermittent on my '88 16RS too, not heard of a 3 speed wiper. GM's suggestion sounds good.

 

3 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

Pretty sure it's a 2 speed, I never had three out of it.  Fast was never quite fast enough for a real downpour on the motorway so you had to slow down a bit to see where you were going... but that's not a bad safety feature to have I guess.  Interesting to see how the innards look on the stalk, I expected it to look considerably less robust than that.  It's a standard PSA stalk on these isn't it?  Fairly certain it's shared with similar vintage Peugeots.

Sorry - it is intermittent + 2 speed - in my head that was 3 speed - so you're all correct - it's intermittent that doesn't work. Before I had it apart intermittent was stuck on - it wouldn't make the contact as it went back past it to realise it was off - now it's hit and miss. I did think of using some solder @GrumpiusMaximus - but the gap it needs to fill really is so very very small and I didn't want to totally snooker it as I need the car next week!

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Fair enough!  In which case, you can employ a small child to climb out the window with a rag to clear the windscreen for you. 

In all seriousness, what does the other side of the contact look like?  Anything you could do with that?

[SmokinWaffle]

On 7/11/2021 at 9:17 PM, GrumpiusMaximus said:

Fair enough!  In which case, you can employ a small child to climb out the window with a rag to clear the windscreen for you. 

In all seriousness, what does the other side of the contact look like?  Anything you could do with that?

Nah, it's just got worse over the last few days too and it's now pretty random when it wants to work or not.

Found a new old stock one for £28 posted to me though so I got that - probably quite hard to find an unused one so that'll do nicely!

Did an Ikea run the other day:

And also picked up a massive new desk for my home PC setup from a Coach company/yard - no pics of it but a nice boot open picture:

The seats have been down 24/7 since I moved up here 6 weeks or so ago, it may as well be a van at this point! It swallows anything I put in it. If it doesn't - it goes on top of it.

It's disgustingly filthy too, my other half got me a beautiful Karcher pressure washer with all the gubbins and foam lance ect for my Birthday though and I just got a hose reel from Screwfix this evening hopefully I'll give it a nice clean soon - it needs & deserves it!

[SmokinWaffle]

Gave it a very good 2 hour wash and hoover, using the posh Karcher my other half got me - even had the snowfoam/bottle attachment thing so it was good fun. It really was filthy - I was almost ashamed - it's done many many miles since it's last wash. It changed colour in a lot of places - it was grim! Various tree sap and sediment really took some cleaning.

Looked beautiful afterwards:

I even took it to a local pre-98 car meet - although I was 2 hours late as I misread the time...

Some cool stuff there too:

Cleaning it did reveal some of the rusty spots - really need to get on top of that in the next 6 months or so. Not dire by any means - but they're there.

Also got the new old stock indicator - very glad I went for it rather than save a tenner for a used one. It's - as expected - brand new - but it's so odd getting 30 year old parts that haven't been used - no sun damage/shiny plastic....feels special. I'll do that this weekend.

[Jikovron]

This is a marvelous car to see about in the flesh in 2021, complete with the epic plates!

[vulgalour]

I like how the updates have mostly just been "I put a load of stuff in it again, maybe I'll wash it." because that's really what you want from a car.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Hah!  I knew about the pressure washer prior to its gifting to you and the efforts to persuade you not to buy one...  Great to see it in use and the BX looking so glorious!

[Zelandeth]

Still remember a couple of months ago when we went to pick up a couple of split system air conditioners the look on the sellers face when they both disappeared into the boot of the Xantia with ease.  He was adamant we'd need a van.

Roof bars are really useful to have.  Not something you need every day, but when you need them, you need them.

[Talbot]

On 7/11/2021 at 9:02 PM, SmokinWaffle said:

it's intermittent that doesn't work.

There is a separate intermittent timer relay.  This has probably come lose/failed/been nicked/eaten.  The column switch is probably fine.

[MJK 24]

Fame, at last!

[SmokinWaffle]

On 7/30/2021 at 6:46 PM, MJK 24 said:

Fame, at last!

That's pretty darn cool! I joined and said hi. Thanks for posting it! Love seeing people enjoying it. 

On 7/22/2021 at 12:22 PM, Talbot said:

There is a separate intermittent timer relay.  This has probably come lose/failed/been nicked/eaten.  The column switch is probably fine.

Oh God don't tell me that now! I'll fit the new one and see what happens, but I may well be back to pick your brain. I did check all the relays and they appear fine and if I hold the stalk very carefully it works fine so I'm hoping it's that... 

On 7/22/2021 at 11:19 AM, Zelandeth said:

Still remember a couple of months ago when we went to pick up a couple of split system air conditioners the look on the sellers face when they both disappeared into the boot of the Xantia with ease.  He was adamant we'd need a van.

Roof bars are really useful to have.  Not something you need every day, but when you need them, you need them.

Taken them off now as I've got all of the big stuff in the house / move mostly done, but they are priceless for convenience! 

The BX now has a friend of the same age! Always wanted a 340 and its the one that was saved from scrap by @NorfolkNWeigh the other day. It's a nice little thing. 

For a day or so while my drive was being done the outside of my house looked like an episode of the bill from the mid 90's. 

Might make a seperate thread for it, might not. Who knows! 

[SmokinWaffle]

On 7/22/2021 at 12:22 PM, Talbot said:

There is a separate intermittent timer relay.  This has probably come lose/failed/been nicked/eaten.  The column switch is probably fine.

Thankfully - this wasn't the case!

There is something rather naughty about getting new old stock parts, even with the mouldy box:

To think this has been sitting on a shelf for 20+ years...

Oddly the new one has one less pin on the connector than the original (new on top, old on bottom)

But fitted right in and solved the issue entirely - hoorah! It's odd how new this single piece of the car feels. Weird.

Don't judge my shoes, they're a thinking mans shoe.

I also recentered the steering wheel and straightened the wheels before I tightened the steering wheel back on this time - had to drive with it on the piss after last time and it was slowly but surely driving me insane.

 

But yes - happy days. I do need a new wiper blade though.

Also realised the other day that the RH headlight was a bit dimmer than the LH one - popped out the bulb and...

That's.....not meant to be that melty. I figure it's had some crap on it, more resistance over time, more heat, repeat, melt. I'll give it a clean up when I get a second and see how it goes and keep a close eye - might have to replace that connector though. I probably should anyway.

Oh - I also picked up a garden swing seat in it the other day but forgot to take a picture. Boo.

[fatharris]

Good spot getting a genuine OE stalk - we were chasing a non-illuminating rear fog light on our BX and eventually tracked it to the aftermarket indicator stalk recently purchased by the previous owner, with a very recent date stamp.

Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk

[adw1977]

On 09/08/2021 at 19:59, SmokinWaffle said:

Don't judge my shoes, they're a thinking mans shoe.

I will admit to also owning a pair of black crocs.