BX16V.com Forum

Hi all - this is my first posting (probably of many going by my experiences so far). Is there another radiator which can be fitted to my BX? I live in Queensland Aust and the temperature gauge goes sky high at any opportunity. I had it reverse flushed which helped but they also (unasked) pressure tested it and cracked it. I now have to replace it and I thought an upgrade would be good but not if it is a major hassle. I hoped that there would be one from another brand of car because over here they tend to 'see you coming' if you are after Citroen parts. For instance an injection temp sensor cost $18 for a bosch part from an auto electrician as opposed to a ridiculous amount for the same item as a Citroen part.
Thanks
Quinny

I've got a Peugeot 309 D Turbo radiator in mine. To be honest, the range of possible options for a rad is huge, anything of a similar size would do, the trick is to make sure the bottom hose connects up OK, the top hose is reasonably easy to adapt/bodge/replace for an alternative.

Additionally, in the UK it is still possible to buy a 16v radiator new!

hello there and welcome, you may want to consider a fairly simple mod for the cooling system instead of bigger rad. ive fitted twin cooling fans to my 16v as an upgrade to the single 1, also the rad temp switch can be swapped for a bx diesel one which brings the fans on at a slightly lower temp i think 80 something degrees instead of 90 something which keeps her much closer to the green end of the scale than the red if you know what i mean. also when was the water pump last changed? maybe some blades have broken off the pump? is it poss on these cars? had a polo in work the other day which was overheating, though the pump seemed to be working ok when i took it out it only had 2 blades left on it out of 6 i think.

cheers rossco

i have the same problem , mine is now from opel corsa and leaking
the dimensions of maximum pisible radiator are 600X400mm (with mouting and other sh**) (size of "televisor" , like we call it) so what wuold be the alternatives ? (by the way i have twin fan as stock in my car )

Viktor wrote:(by the way i have twin fan as stock in my car )

you must have air-con then?

rossco

i had ... and now i dont (A/C compresor is dead so ...

so where should i search for alternative radiator ?

I once chopped off 3-4inches from the inlet manifold and welded it back.
With the space avilable I fitted a radiator from the 8V engine and never had overheating problems but power was not the same .
But my current valver it's all original but overheats on long idle.

Vicktor, it is possible to modify the car and make the hole wider so that a bigger radiator will fit in. In the past i have had a Xantia and later an XM turbo diesel radiator with intercooler in the front of the BX. I think that the total width of the Xantia intercooler was over 1000mm.

"from the 8V engine and never had overheating problems but power was not the same" what do you mean ?

i understand that it's posible but do i realy need sucha big radiator ? it waould be perfect if it would fit to stock place + there is some free place because i removed AC radiator ...

best variant would be radiator from some old and "popular" car (like audi ,vw, opel ,lada and other) because budget is very small right now ... but i'm thinking about fiting the bx 19d radiator ... what about it ?

BX 19d radiator has significantly LESS cooling performance than a normal BX16v. I think the 19d flow rate is lower as well so on a 16v would put strain on the water pump.

I stay in a tropical climate where daily temps are 32-34 and A/cond is a must on all cars here. so the valver runs real hot most of the time.
The ori puny radiator barely cools the engine properly.

By chopping off 3-4 in of the inlet manifold and rewelding ,the power curve
altered a bit but top end was still there in fact a bit more furious
but just the midrange suffered a bit.

What about the BX 1.8 Turbo Diesel radiator?

Only petrol versions were sold here in the 80's some 16TRS and 19GT's were sold and 90's only 19GTi's manuals .
My valver is an personal import from HongKong butthere were a few GTi's converted to 16valvers.

soupapes, its interesting the way engine capacities are classified. In the UK the 1769cc diesel engine is categorised as a 1.7litre diesel, the clever petrol at citroen used a German standard so that it cam under the 1.8Litre UK tax band. Strangely the PUG 405 IS classed as a 1.8litre diesel even though it cam out only shortly after the BX!

Surjit, what other 1980 to 1995 Citroens/Peugeots are available to you for spares? I expect Citroen are not a common site?