Citroen BX ebay WIN - Pics, now with added shite!

[dollywobbler]

Yup, I've done it again. After the Minor Disaster, we needed another car, seeing as the Bond is about as trustworthy as your average MP.

 

So, within seconds of arriving back home from the 2CVGB National, I headed to Ebay and popped a bid on a BX I'd seen on t'interweb last week. Unusual for me, as I don't often buy blind, but I had a good feeling about it.

 

I won it for £266! Dead chuffed as it's got MoT until May next year and has been serviced annually by a good local garage. In fact, it turns out that it has lived for most of its life in my village! It passed on to the chap's grandson, who lives all of about 5 miles away, and now it's back home! Sort of.

 

There's not much history with it, but I can probably get reams of stuff from the local garage if I ask nicely. It does have some history from when it was a Cowie Interleasing fleet car! Has a tow bar, for extra usefulness, and has recently had much new stuff fitted.

 

This is my second TGD - the first I owned 11 years ago. It had done more miles, and cost me a meaty £1600. I prefer this one!

 

For extra shite points, the heater control has broken and has been replaced by a simple cable that sticks out of the dash. More photos when light returns...

 

[wuvvum]

I do like a nice BX. Is that a 17 or a 19? I had a 19TXD estate on a J plate which I used as a tow car for a while - had done 270,000 miles and the driver's side A-post was rotten but it cost me £85 so I didn't really care. Managed to drag a tonne and three quarters of Renault-Novaquatre-on-trailer back from Southampton without breaking too much of a sweat - not bad for 72bhp... In fact it felt quicker up to about 50 than the 406 does with a turbo'd version of the same engine. I'd have another if one came up cheap.

[dollywobbler]

19TGD. Thought it was only 65bhp but it still feels very sprightly. I drove another fairly recently described as one of the best in the country but it felt stiff and sluggish by comparison with this one. It was a lot more money too...

 

A posts seem fine and sills are in 'get something on them now before it's too late' condition. He took photos of the rust and mentioned it on Ebay without qualifying that it's not bubbling very much and the affected areas remain very solid.

 

Next plan is to get it into daily use (awaiting insurance and tax) and then take it on the BXagon Challenge! www.bxagon.com

 

Should be fun.

[nigel bickle]

Good car-nice buy.My current 'daily' is a BX-bought for £100- then went straight through the test without any advisories.5,000 or so ,so far-no probs to date.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I think the BX estate is a really great looking machine, the proportions are bob-on and the angle of the rear hatch looks just right IMO. I'd love a really early beige 1400cc one with sun-torched seats, ideally from a french OAP character.

[r.welfare]

That looks excellent for the money, what a useful device.PSA XUD power ratings are confusing; I thought it was 71bhp from the non-turbot and 92bhp from the turbot flavours, but my 405 handbook indicates 68bhp and 90bhp; I've not driven a non-turbo one but in something light like the BX I'm sure it's more than acceptable.Whatever, a good change of the coolant and it should be good for many more miles.

[garethj]

Whatever, a good change of the coolant and it should be good for many more miles.

Make sure you follow the right procedure for bleeding the air out after a coolant change, it's a real pain from what I remember.And try and get the joke in about "what's the bleeding time?"

[r.welfare]

Good point Gareth! Might be easier on a BX than on a 405, where it's a real bitch - no expansion tank, and the radiator is at a lower point than the heater pipes.Best way to do it is to get a water bottle (1.5L job is good), cut the bottom off, and ram it (making sure it's a good fit) into the radiator filling hole, using that as a header tank while you go through the whole bleedin' exercise.

[mnde]

I've read that blu tack is a useful sealant when using a plastic water bottle as a quasi- header tank.Nice purchase :DMark.

[Father Ted]

PSA XUD power ratings are confusing;

Square port or round port donkey - it makes a big difference. Having owned a square port 1700 diesel I can vouch that three toed sloths riding 50cc pizza delivery bikes were faster

[dollywobbler]

Well, it's been parked up since last night and it's still not sitting on its arse, so I think the hydraulics are ok.

 

Has had a recent head gasket and radiator too, so no coolant worries for a while. I hope...

 

Now insured, just need tax and I'm away!

 

[Mr Lobster]

Looks a proper bargain at that money to me. Be a nice useful thing that I would think. It's the sort of car that the vast majority of people completely disregard as too old / French / Citroen / whatever but should provide an awful lot more service if it's shown a bit of care.BX circuit of France looks good - much better than some half arsed charidee rally to Luxembourg or wherever.

[Timewaster]

Good point Gareth! Might be easier on a BX than on a 405, where it's a real bitch - no expansion tank, and the radiator is at a lower point than the heater pipes.

 

Best way to do it is to get a water bottle (1.5L job is good), cut the bottom off, and ram it (making sure it's a good fit) into the radiator filling hole, using that as a header tank while you go through the whole bleedin' exercise.

Or do like I did with the Mi16, spend 3 hours f***ing around trying to pour water down the hoses, under the thermostat, squeezing pipes here and there, repeat over and over...

 

Then realise the time and how late I was for something or other, use profanities in a loud voice and generally give up hope of ever getting anything out of the heater and drive off - angrily.

 

Less then 500 yards down the road - *Warm!*

[Mr H Sceptre]

Top purchase that. Its making me quite nostalgic for my BX

[Cavcraft]

Yup, I've done it again. After the Minor Disaster, we needed another car, seeing as the Bond is about as trustworthy as your average MP.

 

So, within seconds of arriving back home from the 2CVGB National, I headed to Ebay and popped a bid on a BX I'd seen on t'interweb last week. Unusual for me, as I don't often buy blind, but I had a good feeling about it.

 

I won it for £266! Dead chuffed as it's got MoT until May next year and has been serviced annually by a good local garage. In fact, it turns out that it has lived for most of its life in my village! It passed on to the chap's grandson, who lives all of about 5 miles away, and now it's back home! Sort of.

 

There's not much history with it, but I can probably get reams of stuff from the local garage if I ask nicely. It does have some history from when it was a Cowie Interleasing fleet car! Has a tow bar, for extra usefulness, and has recently had much new stuff fitted.

 

This is my second TGD - the first I owned 11 years ago. It had done more miles, and cost me a meaty £1600. I prefer this one!

 

For extra shite points, the heater control has broken and has been replaced by a simple cable that sticks out of the dash. More photos when light returns...

 

Winner! Being the TGD does it have the uber shite, uber scratchy grey cloth trim? The most comfortable seats I've ever sat on.

Fill it full of vege oil, thrash the absolute tits off it and give it a week or so. You'll be amazed, it's like adding a turbo.

[Milford Cubicle]

Fill it full of vege oil, thrash the absolute tits off it and give it a week or so. You'll be amazed, it's like adding a turbo.

Or you end up with a shattered Lucas injection pump.A great buy! I'd love one of these.

[pogweasel]

One day I am going to have to try one of these to see what all the fuss is about.

[dollywobbler]

Yup Cavette - horrible grey trim with the added bonus of a repair to the driver's seat bolster made out of gaffer tape - shite points ahoy! My second TGD, so at least I'm used to it.Surely whopping a great load of veg oil in it will just clog up the fuel filter though? Certainly replaced a few on my old Merc...Might put the odd litre of veg in just to sweeten the exhaust smell! Don't want to destroy the reliability just before a 4000 kilometre road trip though...

[Milford Cubicle]

Best check the injection pump make first.It shouldn't clog the fuel filter unless the waste oil is badly filtered in the first place.New oil shouldn't be a problem at all.

[j-j]

Excellent buy. Beware Bosch diesel pump ≠ OK for SVO long term! The Bosch pump will last LONGER on SVO but it too will eat its own head after a term due to the properties of veg oil.do a mix with diesel. BX is a great car - plastic bonnet and tail gate etc for its size it's supremely light.Also! if the suspension stays up at the back for ages it might not be a 'good' thing - check those trailing arm bearings! Mk2 BXs tend to lower at the back fairly quickly - the Mk1 BX can stays up for yonks due to a different type of brake control valve. Anyhoo - brilliant ride all the same.

[dollywobbler]

Ah, I'll give it a bit of exercise on the rear then...The owner did say it creaks a bit from the rear, but it doesn't seem to display too much in the way of camber.Just spoke to my local garage. They can print me out the service history going back to 1997! Result.

[dollywobbler]

Well, if you knock the lever down, it drops pretty sharpish, though it does creak a bit at the rear going into high mode.

 

Obligatory 'slammed' shot

 

Not bad after her first clean in quite a while. Still need to vacuum out the interior though, but there's no rush as she's not on the MID yet and the postal strike is probably holding up my insurance certificate, so no way of getting her taxed yet. The previous owner has kindly placed a photocopy of the tax disc in the window (before sending back the original for a tax refund) but I don't think that'll cut the mustard.

[Cavcraft]

Yup Cavette - horrible grey trim with the added bonus of a repair to the driver's seat bolster made out of gaffer tape - shite points ahoy! My second TGD, so at least I'm used to it.Surely whopping a great load of veg oil in it will just clog up the fuel filter though? Certainly replaced a few on my old Merc...Might put the odd litre of veg in just to sweeten the exhaust smell! Don't want to destroy the reliability just before a 4000 kilometre road trip though...

I ran my old one (Bosch pump of course, which I should have mentioned before) on new vege oil for months on end and honestly it ran better, faster and cleaner than it did on DERV. Mind you it's almost pointless now as veg oil is more expensive than diesel I think.Have you tried the old 'Citaerobics' trick to test for (LHM) leaks?

[Milford Cubicle]

New vegetable oil is back at 70-80p in some places. Not a huge saving, but better than before.

[Cavcraft]

Not bad at all that.It's also very handy come MOT time as a bit of that, a dash of LHM and a very small amount of petrol added to a tank of DERV plus pre-MOT thrashing=massive win in the emissions stakes.

[Father Ted]

Ian, I did 25K miles in a Lucas pumpd ZX with no issues using a variety of blends of veg oil, same with an AX - in fact every diesel I have run on varying degrees of old engine oil, hydraulic oil, veg oil and creosote. Dont run on old Hydrocarringe though - that DOES knacker things....

[Guest]

I had one of these too, a great shed. the 1.9d

I bought it from a lad in my street who has abandoned it, he bought it and fixed loads of stuff then a hydaulic hose went so he gave up. The local scum kids then had a bit of a go but nothing much.

 

It ran but wouldn't lift. I gave him 50 pence for it and drove it scraping the ground onto my drive. Fixed the hose which was a bastard of a job, then drove around in the old heap for the next 3 years without any issues. Even managed to find a GTi scrapper I could nick the mint interior from (cost me a curry) so it ended up a nice car.

Because the person I'd bought it from had fixed so much (including rear suspension!) I though it worth saving as it was most certainly on the way to the scrappers if I hadn't.

 

Sluggish away from the lights but quite sprightly once moving, would climb steep lake district hills in 3rd!

Used it to bring a ton of soil back from the merchants, left it in all kinds of dodgy places, didn't care about it, refused to give way to pushy 4x4 drivers - they always backed down! threw veg oil, used engine oil, and any other crap I has in the tank..... all in all the best old heap I've ever had. After 3 years I sold it on with an MOT for £150!

 

Yours will be great, completely useful no worries motoring.

[dollywobbler]

No worries? Sadly not! She's peeing LHM out all over the place. Booooo!Sprays it when the suspension is dropped, so must be a high-pressure line?

[Cavcraft]

Could be a return pipe, where's it leaking from exactly do you know?

 

Whilst you're pondering that how about making it amphibious...?

 

http://www.bxclub.cz/showpic.php?cc=187 ... ize=&sort=

 

[dollywobbler]

Thanks Billy - seen similar done with 2CVs!

 

After research on the excellent www.bxclub.co.uk forum, I reckon it might be the small octopus (the expensive one...). Off to a local Cit place to investigate...