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Starting work on my BX

Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 10:04 am
by nigel
Hi all,

As some know Ive recently aquired a 1989 BX16V.

Ive just ordered a Valeo Clutch kit + various seals from a local French car Citroen specialist who is a guru and knows his stuff. Hes very genrous with his time and advice and was happy to explain some minor height corrector issues I had. Anyway talk turned to motor oil and he recommended Elf Competiton 10W40. http://www.elfoil.com.au/products/produ ... _SM_10W-40

He scoffed at me when I told him that Ive used Castrol oils on all my other cars. Said that the 16V has a high performance engine and that the elf stuff was up to the task. Took that to also mean that the Castrol stuff wont cut it. So Im looking at 2.5 times more money for oil (Castrol lube guide recommends GTX 3) which Im happy to accept if its better for my engine.

Anyway Im just so excited to have this car. Its a real performance car. So hopefully get the clutch in soon, sought out some minor electrics issues and get this baby motoring.

Gave it a wash and a very basic polish as I couldnt bare to look at its sad whethered paintwork.

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Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 2:20 pm
by Adrian E
Haven't looked in detail at the oil specs, but whatever you do don't get sucked into using a fully synthetic oil in an engine as old as this - all you'll do is increase your oil consumption and potentially knacker the bearings.

A good quality semi-synthetic is by far and away the best choice for these engines, especially as they require pretty frequent changes.

Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 6:08 pm
by Kitch
Adrian E wrote:Haven't looked in detail at the oil specs, but whatever you do don't get sucked into using a fully synthetic oil in an engine as old as this - all you'll do is increase your oil consumption and potentially knacker the bearings.

A good quality semi-synthetic is by far and away the best choice for these engines, especially as they require pretty frequent changes.
What's being fully synthetic got to do with engine wear? :? If anything, fully-syn retains it's viscosity (sp) over harder conditions than semi....of course it will, it's designed to. If fully was around when these cars were designed, they'd have it from new. Thats my opinion anyway.

Mine's running (and has been for around 3 years) on fully synthetic.

Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 7:05 pm
by Adrian E
Kitch

....but I bet yours is at least running the correct grade? It's extremely difficult to get the correct grade in a fully synth, so MOST people that run fully synth opt for what they can get, which is usually a 0wsomething rated oil, which is too thin for the tolerances on the engine hence the risk of doing bearing damage, or they opt for a 15w60 which then gives you too much oil pressure when cold and it pee's out all over the place and can potentially cause problems if given too many beans from cold.

The 16V had 6,000 mile service intervals from new - if the oil is changed annually/every 6k then you won't notice a difference as the oil takes longer than that to degrade - you are quite correct that if the oil was in there for 20k/2 years like on a modern car then you need it to retain its properties for longer.

I'm sure you're right about if fully synth was available then it would be spec'd, but they would have needed to use different manufacturing tolerances in the engine to allow its use.

I used to hunt high and low for the correct grade of Castrol RS (they did 2 types) but I got sick of spending over £70 on an oil change every 6 months - personally I don't think it's necessary or value for money. The car ran better when I went back to semi-synth as well.

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 1:58 am
by docchevron1472
I use Total Quartz 7000 10/40 semi in mine, always have bar the initial oil I put in post rebuild which was a straight mineral..
That said I dump it every 3K miles / 3 months regardless..

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 8:51 am
by ed_straker
I used some whatsitsname 10W40 semi-synthetic. I guess everything from today is much better than what they used back in the 80s.

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 11:57 am
by Simran
Nigel, your car looks so good cleaned up, a clean set of standard alloys always does wonders for these, the shiny lip makes the car look brand new!

I agree with what Kitch mentioned in another post, moving the fans and the rad out the way makes getting at the pipes so much easier. You dont have to remove the radiator though so it can stay connected, if you take the fans out, the rad will lean back enough to give you decent working space....unless you have air con, that is :lol:

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 7:34 pm
by Kitch
Motul 10w40 in mine, yeah. Although 5w40 really wouldn't make a massive difference as the grade only really differs below normal operation temperature. I used 5w40 with no noticable difference to oil pressure or running. Agree that going 0w40 will not protect the engine when it's cold too. I used to use 10W60 Castrol RS and the car ran beautifully, but I do wonder if it contributed to my oil surge meltdown all those years ago.

Being that the service interval is 6000miles, it can be costly to keep it up. Being that my car has done 6000miles in the last 4 years and generally just sits around in the garage, I'm happy to leave the fully-synthentic in there for a year (or a year and a half so far!) whereas I'd change it every 6months if it were only mineral. Semi-synthetic's just cheap stuff really too, so I just used to change that when it looked murky!

Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 10:49 am
by nigel
Ok guys I do a bit of work on the BX when I can. I have a new clutch kit ready to go in. Ive done a lot of preliminary work researching the workshop manual and chatting to the local Citroen guru near where I live.

Im ready to now pull out the drive shafts and release the gear box from the engine. Yes I know I need to support the engine and gearbox. My only concern is the hydraulics. Ive been advised that I do not need to depressurise the Hydraulic system or disconnect any pipe/hoses. Just ensure that the accumalator and regulator are supportted and safely out of the way.

I really want this clutch replaced this weekend. Any advice appreciatted.

Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 12:57 pm
by Simran
Its so easy to release the pressure so i would do it anyway to be honest. Quarter to half turn of the bleed screw on the front of the regulator block thing and you should hear it hiss as iit bleeds the oil away back to the tank.

Reason being that if you disturb and crack or split the pipe between the pump and the block, you will get a nice coating of oil over everything under the bonnet and yourself. Ive had pipe from the accumulator to the valve block go on me twice and it takes ages to clean everything off and you dont want to be getting any oil on your new clutch after all the hard work. If you release the pressure and you get a leak, at least it will just be a little dribble.

Another tip is to stick the handbrake on and put a jack under your wishbone and something like an extension bar or block of wood between the strut top under the arch and the top of the hub if the bottom balljoints are spinning when you try to undo them to get the driveshafts out. It loads up the joint and makes it grip. Once the nut is off, take the block of wood out and put the jack under the brake disc and jack the strut up even further to help you lift it over the ball joint. Its hard to do it by hand because the anti roll bar makes it hard to wobble the wishbone about.

Good luck!

Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 8:18 am
by nigel
Ok guys Im stuck.

Right hand lower control arm came off easy with the help of a puller. LHD lower control arm wont budge.

Mechanic neighbour across the road had tried to lever it as it got hit with a hammer, still wwont budge. Have put Penetrene on it and will leave over night. Hopefully that will do the trick.

Considering heating it so as to expand the hole and hopefully it will pop out. Not keen at this stage as it will stuff up the rubber boots. Its got me stuffed and my Mechanic friend as well.

Any ideas folks? This is a show stopper and Im keen to get this clutch in.

Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 9:50 am
by jayw
I assume you mean the arm will not seperate from the balljoint?

If that's the case, (and i do have to assume here the system's depressurised and the strut is phisically trying to retract it's weight up into the car), your best bet is to turn the steering giving you striking access to the wishbone, put a trolley jack under the the hub and jack the strut up (putting more splitting pressure against the joint). You should then find a couple of solid strikes (ideally with a copper hammer) on the exposed wishbone should see it "ping" down.

Never failed me.

Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2010 4:33 pm
by Simran
^ second what jay said, the support underneath makes the difference, if you just hit it without, it just bounces about.

Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 9:48 am
by nigel
Thanks for all the good advice guys. Got the lower control arm off by hitting it from the front end instead of the back.

Its all slow progress as I fit in an hour or so when I can.

Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 6:49 pm
by bxmark
The valver looks well , I'm new to the forum but have had four valvers in the nineties , am on the look out for a nice one which is going to prove very hard , hope all the work goes well , I have fortunatly got a pal who used to work at a Citroen dealer and then a Citroen specialist so he knows the bx inside out , Mark