Hello Team and I am a BX newby with a problem

Ian Stanbury · Post by **Ian Stanbury** » Mon Aug 23, 2010 6:56 pm

My cam belt has broken on my petrol engined Athena and I wonder if anyone can tell me, if with that engine, there is a chance that I will have damaged all the pistons or not - It came to a grinding halt on a country road whilst going along at 30mph - Any advice will be gratefully received
Thanks - Ian

scarecrow · Post by **scarecrow** » Mon Aug 23, 2010 8:45 pm

Is it the Athena currently up for auction on ebay?

EDIT:bidding closed now

electrokid · Post by **electrokid** » Mon Aug 23, 2010 11:03 pm

I don't know about the Citroën engine but the general rule is the slower the engine was turning when it let go the better chance you have of fixing it. Last winter 2 people I know had Astras throw the cambelt - one just got rid of the car - the other (the slower of the 2 drivers) had it fixed for about £450. At 30mph I'd figure it was worth having a look.

Good luck with it - let us know how it goes - I'm sure others will have better knowledge of the subject.

citsncycles · Post by **citsncycles** » Mon Aug 23, 2010 11:11 pm

I'd agree that it may be worth a look.

A mate of mine had a Pug 405 GTi which was doing at least 30 when the belt went. He borrowed my BX manual and fitted a new belt on the basis that he didn't have much to lose and when he fired it up afterwards it ran as sweet as anything!

Post by **docchevron** » Tue Aug 24, 2010 12:52 am

Very unlikely to have damaged the pistons.
Maybe bruised them, but they'll no doubt carry on, you'd have to be the unluckiest man alive to have smacked a hole through them.
The valves on t'other hand will almost certainly be bent, 4 at least I'd have thought.
I'm guessing this is a 1.6 XU5?

You might have been really unlucky and smashed the cam aswell though..

citronut · Post by **citronut** » Tue Aug 24, 2010 8:23 am

the AUTODATA cam belt book states "DAMAGE YES",

but i have fitted a new cam belt to a couple of petrol BX's over the years and they ran seemingly fine,

what can happen is you just lightly clip the valves, then after the new belt is fitted and seems to be fine it burns valves out as they could be very slightly bent, but not enough to notice at first, well at least not without a compresion test

regards malcolm

Gibbo2286 · Post by **Gibbo2286** » Tue Aug 24, 2010 9:14 am

No such luck with the diesels though eh. The last two diesels I've done had the camshafts broken into three pieces, the bearing caps shattered and four bent valves.

One of them was stationary, just ticking over when the belt broke (according to the owner) Gibbo.

Post by **Tim Leech** » Tue Aug 24, 2010 9:22 am

Sadly Docs correct, the valves will very likely be bent, it happened to me on a Xantia 1.8 8v which is basically the same engine bored out and 4 of the valves were knackered.

However as its a carb fed car its not a bad job, unless someone on here has a complete cylinder head they can sell you I would invest on getting the old one rebuilt as you may find it runs better when its all done, mine did.

Remember to get new studs/nuts and cambelt tensioner

Ian Stanbury · Post by **Ian Stanbury** » Tue Aug 24, 2010 12:14 pm

..And of course I meant valve damage and not piston damage but I will investigate and will report back..

Thanks again everyone

Vanny · Post by **Vanny** » Tue Aug 24, 2010 12:19 pm

Roverman wrote: it happened to me on a Xantia 1.8 8v which is basically the same engine

I thought the 1.8 was an XU9 series engine?

Post by **mat_fenwick** » Tue Aug 24, 2010 12:51 pm

I think it's an XU7 for what it's worth...

I'm puzzled by the bit about it being carb fed meaning it's not a bad job - I've not done the head on a Xantia but why does the injection system make it much more difficult?

Post by **Tim Leech** » Tue Aug 24, 2010 1:54 pm

mat_fenwick wrote:I think it's an XU7 for what it's worth...

I'm puzzled by the bit about it being carb fed meaning it's not a bad job - I've not done the head on a Xantia but why does the injection system make it much more difficult?

On my Xantia there is alot more pipes and wires than on the carb fed BX so in my opinion wouldmake life a bit easier.

As far as I know the 1769cc Xantia 8v petrol engine is a similar unit to the the BX 1.6/1.9 engine.

Vanny · Post by **Vanny** » Tue Aug 24, 2010 2:48 pm

1.9 is a derivative of the 1.7, but they are only loosely related to the 1.6. It would have to be a huge amount of wasted material to bore out a 1.6 to 1.9!

Post by **Tim Leech** » Tue Aug 24, 2010 3:05 pm

Are the 1.6 and 1.9 carb fed petrol engined cylinder heads the same?

Gibbo2286 · Post by **Gibbo2286** » Tue Aug 24, 2010 6:10 pm

1.6 head is:

0200 G6 for RPO 03795 to 04157 or

0200 F2 from RPO 04158
====================
1.9 head is:

0200 F2 for up to RPO 03795
-------------------------------------

If I've read the list right the 0200 F2 head does the 1.6 injection too

Gibbo.

BX Club Forum

Hello Team and I am a BX newby with a problem

Hello Team and I am a BX newby with a problem

Thank you all so much Team