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The Doctor's travels through time. Fin.


DoctorRetro

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2 hours ago, mat_the_cat said:

I hate to be the bearer of (slightly) bad news. But it shouldn't *need* a clip to retain the return hose, although it's not unheard of for people to fit them. A small amount of LHM is designed to leak past the seals, for lubrication, hence the return circuit. But what happens when things wear is that more and more leaks past, until the return circuit can no longer cope, and pipes blow off.

You'll probably be just fine with a clip for a good while, but I'd keep an eye out for a spare strut. I suspect the days when I was lucky to get £10 for one on eBay are long gone though! (Something else I should have hung onto!)

The pipe felt VERY loose, and a bit perished, so that can't help. 

Also, and I don't know if I should admit it, but I was moving forward ever so slowly into the parking space as I let the suspension down, not sure if you aren't meant to do that.... 

I'll keep an eye on things anyway. 

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Wouldn't do any harm, it's just a pipe that's popped off, it happens.  My estate popped a pipe in the same area (might have been the same one) and it still got me the handful of miles I needed to go without running out of brakes, pas, or lhm.

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Just been out for a quick shopping trip, and after sitting idling for a few minutes, dropped it into drive and it stalled. Took quite a few cranks to restart it. It takes quite a few cranks to start anyway, but it's got me wondering what could be wrong. Could leaky injectors cause an issue? 

I'm glad it's not my main car, I think the anxiety would kill me. ?

 

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A favourite for poor starting is fuel draining back to the tank due to a tiny air leak. 

Try manually priming the fuel system (not sure if this will have a rubber squeezy bulb in the fuel line or a button on top of the fuel filter from memory) before you try to start it.  If it fires up much quicker than normal that's a pretty good suggestion that there's a fuel drain back issue.

Most (but not all) diesel BXs have a fuel preheater down the back of the engine which is notorious for causing air leaks, though by this age I'd be more surprised to find one still connected than already bypassed.  Sadly it's nigh on impossible to see from above thanks to the wonderful access to the back of the engine due to PSA having oh so helpfully tilted it back so far.  Something I swear at them about on my Xantia as well as the TCT engine in that is identically positioned.

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Having owned the BX for just two weeks, I can safely say I most likely won't be keeping it long term, but then the automatic gearbox was always going to be an annoyance. It's cool, goes and handles well and the suspension is fun. But god it's uninspiring and porridge-like to drive. And this coming from someone who has a Rover as a daily. 

However, I have managed to get myself to two insurance policies within budget, so I'll probably keep it for a bit until a desirable (in my eyes) swap comes up. 

It wont be a soon thing, as I'm going to be very picky. I'd like something simple and antiquated, like a Lada, something BL (Allegro / Maestro) or perhaps something simple and Italian (old Panda / Uno). 

 

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On 6/9/2020 at 11:02 AM, gm said:

 

what is hanging off the back of the red fiesta in the previous post ? 

 

I think its a mount for a CB aerial or something. He's an aerial engineer and it's also his hobby. He's had that Fiesta since pretty much new (2008) and it's on rather high mileage for a petrol car, 210k or something. 

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20 minutes ago, schonker said:

Doc,can I ask.What is the longest that time that you have owned a car?

Current fleet looks great BTW and always look forward to your updates

Do company cars count? No? 

Well, its gotten worse lately. I don't think I've owned anything for longer than 4 months in the past 10 years. I put it down to a short attention span (I have ADHD), the fact I'm very picky, and also that I don't actually know what I want. 

I also have this thing where I start imagining things that are wrong with the car and believe that I have to get rid ASAP. I guess it's a facet of my anxiety.

There's definitely worse ways for mental health issues to manifest themselves I guess. I don't smoke, drink to excess, gamble (except roffles, but they don't count), and I'm a peaceful non violent person. I always try to reassure myself that I could be way worse, and that I shouldn't beat myself up about it. 

 

Anyway, back to cars. I've been driving the BX a bit more over the past couple of days, and I am warming to it a bit. It's just that bloody gearbox! 

 

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I'm going to type out my thought process to see if it makes it clearer. Not asking for advice, but if anyone wants to say what they'd do, feel free to. I'll only ignore it anyway ?

 

1. Sell it. 

Pros:

I'll have money I didn't have before and can therefore buy something I actually want. 

Cons:

I'm unlikely to actually spend that money all on a car, there are other things I need to spend money on. A divorce for one. So inevitably I'll end up with something crap if at all.

 

2. Swap it:

Pros: I get to keep having a second car, of a similar value.

Cons: That means finding something I actually want and that puts pressure on. 

 

3. Keep it. 

Pros: I have a nice, working second car that looks cool and is mostly nice to drive. 

Cons: I dislike automatics and knowing my luck, things will start going wrong and I'll have to throw money at it. (Unlikely, but try telling my head that!) 

 

 

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9 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

My only thought would be is the BX as it stands worth more or less than the money you could actually get for it, in the eyes of a divorce court?

Divorce will be a quickie, no money or house issues to thrash through. I don't own anything of significant value, and whatever I do is probably offset 100 times over by debts ?

It's just a one off payment of 550 quid fees, that I've been putting off as it's a largish amount to pay out, and I've always had other things that need doing / paying for. 

 

 

 

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An N/A XUD with a slushbag in any car is horrid. Normally, because I'm not a fan of the 200/25/400/45 I would have kept the Citroen anyway, but agree that if you're not happy get rid of.

Have you thought of swapping both for another, Manuel BX? Or even an early Xantia?

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