The Aubergine

Tell us about life with your BX, or indeed life in general!
Post Reply
User avatar
Tim Leech
Over 2k
Posts: 15565
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 11:12 am
Location: Derbyshire
My Cars: Various
x 141

Re: The Aubergine

Post by Tim Leech »

Sounds like before it didn't work
Lots of Motors, mostly semi broken....
User avatar
TizzyD
BXpert
Posts: 537
Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2012 10:36 pm
Location: Bedfordshire
x 10

Re: The Aubergine

Post by TizzyD »

The oil level has never worked, the white light underneath lights up for about 5 to 10 seconds then goes out and the low pressure light (red light in top left corner) goes out when the engine is started but the needle has never flicked to max and then back down. It only flicks a few millimetres off the resting position to what would I assume be the minimum position.
'02 Clio Dynamique 1.2 16v - 92K - Sold
'09 Yamaha YBR 125 - 1100 miles
'93 Bx 17 TZD Turbo - 240K - The Aubergine

Image
Kaapelimies
BXpert
Posts: 289
Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2010 9:01 am
Location: Hollola, Finland
x 16

Re: The Aubergine

Post by Kaapelimies »

TizzyD wrote: Sat Jun 03, 2017 10:42 pmwhere is the oil level sensor ?
It's in the backside of the engine block (between engine and the firewall), just right from the flywheel. Connector with two wires, vertically positioned.
BX 4x4 estate, several BX Van's and some more normal estates in Finland.
User avatar
TizzyD
BXpert
Posts: 537
Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2012 10:36 pm
Location: Bedfordshire
x 10

Re: The Aubergine

Post by TizzyD »

Kaapelimies wrote: Sun Jun 04, 2017 9:26 pm
TizzyD wrote: Sat Jun 03, 2017 10:42 pmwhere is the oil level sensor ?
It's in the backside of the engine block (between engine and the firewall), just right from the flywheel. Connector with two wires, vertically positioned.


Ah that's brilliant, Im assuming that if the gauge is powering it maybe a faulty sender or dirty contacts. Will see of I can locate it, thanks for pointing me in the direction of it :D
'02 Clio Dynamique 1.2 16v - 92K - Sold
'09 Yamaha YBR 125 - 1100 miles
'93 Bx 17 TZD Turbo - 240K - The Aubergine

Image
User avatar
TizzyD
BXpert
Posts: 537
Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2012 10:36 pm
Location: Bedfordshire
x 10

Re: The Aubergine

Post by TizzyD »

Kaapelimies wrote: Sun Jun 04, 2017 9:26 pm It's in the backside of the engine block (between engine and the firewall), just right from the flywheel. Connector with two wires, vertically positioned.



Just had a quick look to see if I could spot it but no joy, is it easier to look up from underneath the car or to look down from the top with the battery out ?
'02 Clio Dynamique 1.2 16v - 92K - Sold
'09 Yamaha YBR 125 - 1100 miles
'93 Bx 17 TZD Turbo - 240K - The Aubergine

Image
Kaapelimies
BXpert
Posts: 289
Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2010 9:01 am
Location: Hollola, Finland
x 16

Re: The Aubergine

Post by Kaapelimies »

Under the car is easiest, yes. Also by removing the battery it is possible, but not very easy to reach for removing the sensor. TD has some hoses all around the back of the engine, and the manifolds. Borrowing Dragon Man's pic:
Image
There just left from the stamp "NS", you can see the connector pins facing upwards.
BX 4x4 estate, several BX Van's and some more normal estates in Finland.
User avatar
TizzyD
BXpert
Posts: 537
Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2012 10:36 pm
Location: Bedfordshire
x 10

Re: The Aubergine

Post by TizzyD »

Kaapelimies wrote: Fri Jun 09, 2017 10:01 pm Under the car is easiest, yes. Also by removing the battery it is possible, but not very easy to reach for removing the sensor. TD has some hoses all around the back of the engine, and the manifolds. Borrowing Dragon Man's pic:
Image
There just left from the stamp "NS", you can see the connector pins facing upwards.


Right! That's brilliant, thank you for that. I'll be under the car in the near future to add the sensors and wiring for the GTi dash, I'll have a look/feel around when I'm under. :)
'02 Clio Dynamique 1.2 16v - 92K - Sold
'09 Yamaha YBR 125 - 1100 miles
'93 Bx 17 TZD Turbo - 240K - The Aubergine

Image
User avatar
TizzyD
BXpert
Posts: 537
Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2012 10:36 pm
Location: Bedfordshire
x 10

Re: The Aubergine

Post by TizzyD »

So, a little update....

I now have my GTi dash fitted and working (well 90% working, I still need to sort out the oil temp but I'll explain later)

Firstly, I could've picked a cooler weekend to start pulling the dash out and messing about with the car but lesson learnt on that one.

Anyway, Saturday started with pulling the dash apart to get my binnacle out so I could install the GTi gauges but retain my odometer with my current mileage. I lost far too much time trying to get the speedo cable unhooked and it was an absolute pita if I'm honest and not something I hope I have to do again anytime soon! I advise taking picture of what coloured plug goes where with regards to the four switches next to binnacle as they are a bugger to plug back in.

Emptied the sump of oil and removed the current 'low oil pressure' switch from the front of the engine block. Fitted an adaptor with a 16Mx1.5 external thread with a 10Mx1 internal thread so I could plumb in my T-peice which has a 1 meter braided hose and two 10Mx1 female fittings on the end.

Image

With the T-peice in I needed somewhere to mount it in the engine bay, with a meter hose I had a few options, in the end I mounted it to the O/S front wing bolt next to the front sphere. This isn't ideal but works. I have fitted a new low oil pressure switch (brown wire plugged into the original wiring of the old low pressure switch) and a constant oil pressure 0-8 bar sender (yellow and green earth wire) to the T-peice.

Image

To get the wires for the oil pressure sender and oil temp sensor from the engine bay to the cabin I went through the rubber grommet behind the glovebox. There a little bung in that you can pull out and feed the cables through.

Image

Image

The blue wire is for the oil temp sensor but I was unable to remove the bung on the the back of my sump that I was going to use to fit my sensor and on top of that, the sensor I had was the wrong thread size anyway so even if I had got it out I couldn't've used it anyway. I'm going to have to get the right size sensor use and the sump drain hole (not what I wanted as I don't like the idea of it hanging down under the car) but I will do this when the car next needs an oil change. I've left some wire tied up out the way in the bay as a reminder and a shed load more in the passenger footwell that I can pull through and cut to the desired length when required.

Next I removed the 'Red Light of Doom' switch and swapped in the coolant temp sender. Then swapped the wires over so that the 'Orange LOD' switch brings on the 'Red LOD' on the dash and the original wire for the 'Orange LOD' is used to read the coolant temp.

While I was messing with the coolant I changed my Rad Fan Switch for one with a slightly lower temp cut in of 88/83 and 92/87, I did this as I had a suspicion that my original one had packed up and when the car was run up to temp to bleed later in the evening the fan now cuts in and out nicely as it should.

Image

By this point I now had the wires in place I needed for oil temp, oil pressure and have swapped the wires for coolant temp. I then had to change the dash binnacle gauges and wire it in.

Swapping the gauges over is pretty simple and so is understanding the wiring, however.... if you don't have the connectors needed to use the original white multi plug on the back of the binnacle like I didn't. You can use ring connectors to the actual terminal posts that you need. If like me, you dont even have ring connectors you can make some out of some spade connectors and a 3.2 drill bit. :D

Image

One thing I found was that the TZD only has 4 traces on the plastic wiring connected to a blue plug behind the speedo into that little circuit board back there. My oil pressure gauge didn't seem to want to work until I had swapped the plastic trace from the GTi one that had 5 traces on it and plugged in the GTi circuit board. Also you can see how I'm using the 'home brew' ring connectors now, Ive also colour matched all the wires and fitted push connectors in line so should I need the dash out again I can pull it all apart and put back together again nice and easily.

Image

Blue wire in this picture is for the oil temp gauge and the grey wire is connected to the wire which was originally the 'Orange LOD'.
As you can see, I've fitted a jumper wire between the Orange lamp and the Red lamp as well as changing both bulbs to LEDs like the ones I use for the green back lighting. Doing this now means that if the car gets too hot, both the Orange and Red light will come on at the temperature of the original first Orange warning light. This isn't really necessary but if for whatever reason I miss the needle going high I have two bright lights to catch my attention. It also means that should either LED randomly fail it will still power the other lamp.

Image

Here is the dash with both temp lamps on at once which you can test by grounding the connector in the engine bay. (They look almost white in the picture but are Orange and Red in real life)

Image

Gave the car a good bleed for about 30/45 min of idling and revving it and opening the bleed screws and with the rad fans now cutting in and out as they should. That funnel makes life so much easier than using a cut up bottle and less mess too but its not cheap mind, also the coolant is green as I didn't have any Citroen Antigel or whatever so just used some Prestone ready to use as it said it's good to mix with all coolants.

Image

And that's it really, one working GTi dash in my TZD (minus the oil temp at the moment and the colours look off but my phone doesn't like LEDs at night)

Image

I also changed my badly faded speedo and rev counter needles to some nice orange ones as mine had turned white. The rev counter is easy to change as it has a resting minimum point but the speedo one seemed to rest at a different location every time I tried it but I went and swapped it anyway and according to the speedo app on my phone I've got it pretty much spot on in the right location.

I have to say though, I absolutely wouldn't have been able to do this without the info on this forum and this thread in particular so thank you:
https://www.bxclub.co.uk/forum/viewtopi ... 5&start=30

I knew when fitting these gauges that they aren't terribly accurate but it's more about having an indication as to what's going on under the hood.

My observations so far are:
Oil pressure seems to sit at 2-3 idling and go up to 4-5 whilst driving
Coolant temp seems to sit at 11 to 12 o'clock which is what I would've expected and if it gets to 90 then I'll be hoping the fans have cut it!

Jobs left to do:
Fit oil temp sender
And sort out the oil level sender as still no reading when I start the car up, will do both jobs together next time I'm underneath the old gal!
Last edited by TizzyD on Wed Jun 21, 2017 10:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
'02 Clio Dynamique 1.2 16v - 92K - Sold
'09 Yamaha YBR 125 - 1100 miles
'93 Bx 17 TZD Turbo - 240K - The Aubergine

Image
User avatar
saintjamesy89
1K Away
Posts: 1994
Joined: Tue May 04, 2010 8:01 pm
Location: Somerset
My Cars: 1985 Citroen BX19 GT
198x Citroen BX16 TRS auto
1988 Volvo 740 2.0 GL Hearse
1991 Saab 900 16v convertible
2007 Lexus RX 400h SE
x 123

Re: The Aubergine

Post by saintjamesy89 »

Great update, glad the aubergine is back in action - it's a lovely looking car - one of my favourite colours for a BX. Dark colours really suit MK2's.
I'm not a Saint, or a James, but a Tom Saint-James!

Mes voitures:
1985 Citroen BX19 GT
1988 Volvo 740 2.0 GL Hearse
2006 Lexus RX 400h SE hybrid
User avatar
TizzyD
BXpert
Posts: 537
Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2012 10:36 pm
Location: Bedfordshire
x 10

Re: The Aubergine

Post by TizzyD »

Cheers Tom, It's good to have her back in action after the HGF, I'm starting to feel more confident in her abilities again too. I've yet to take her on a long run through but made it to the D-Rally the other weekend which is the first show she's been to in a year and a half! Roll on the national! :D

I have to agree with you. Citroen got the shape of the BX spot on, it's hard to make a car that suits a whole range of colours so well. From the block colours to pale metallic and then dark metallics like the Hurricane. I don't think I've seen a bad colour on a BX unless it's an after market re-spray.
'02 Clio Dynamique 1.2 16v - 92K - Sold
'09 Yamaha YBR 125 - 1100 miles
'93 Bx 17 TZD Turbo - 240K - The Aubergine

Image
User avatar
TizzyD
BXpert
Posts: 537
Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2012 10:36 pm
Location: Bedfordshire
x 10

Re: The Aubergine

Post by TizzyD »

At said D-Rally next to my mums 19TGD, nice to drive in convoy rather than ride shot gun haha.

Image
'02 Clio Dynamique 1.2 16v - 92K - Sold
'09 Yamaha YBR 125 - 1100 miles
'93 Bx 17 TZD Turbo - 240K - The Aubergine

Image
User avatar
TizzyD
BXpert
Posts: 537
Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2012 10:36 pm
Location: Bedfordshire
x 10

Re: The Aubergine

Post by TizzyD »

Well it's been 6 months since the last blog update so where to begin ?!

Firstly, I've hit 250,000 miles now, a few thousand more and I'll have done 100,000 myself in this car.

Not a lot has happened really part from that if I'm honest, personal health issues resulting some time in hospital and been signed off work means 2018 hasn't really started for me yet but it has given me several weeks of spare time to draw up plans and order parts for the car...

First round of jobs will include looking into losing LHM inside the NSF wheel arch, intermittent power steering which got better when I had a heavy load in the boot oddly enough, front calipers to be rebuilt or replaced as the car wonders off to the left if I let go of the steering so I think something is dragging. I've got new front Brembo discs and Ferodo front pads to go on when the brakes are sorted. Will get the tracking and wheels balanced as well.

Also picked up 4l of Total Gear8 75w80 (Totals replacement for BV 75w80) @ £4.40 a litre from GSF using a 60% off code, so that will get done at some point as I've no idea when the gearbox oil was last changed in mine and now on 250K she deserves a bit of love! So I'll do my car first, if I don't wreck it then I'll do the G/B oil on my mums TGD as well as thats just hit 60,000 or so and I doubt its ever been changed.

On top of all that I've got water getting into the driver foot well so I will probably be pulling A pillar trims off and sorting out the drain tubes and will fit new pipes all round for these.

Once all of the above is out the way I can do a few mods, looking at the Headlight Relay mod (will check voltage drop at the lights first to see how much I'm loosing) will do the same mod for the fogs and run them through relays and at the same time change the foglight units for spot units as I never use the fogs anyway.

Still need to plumb in an oil temp sensor for my 16v dash so might have to get my sump drilled and my Rev counter seems to have packed up as well as my ABS light has returned to constantly on mode :roll: bloody thing!

Also picked up some goodies which I will hopefully have ready for show season all being well..... :wink: :wink:

Edit: As a side note, I had some new spheres and a new Acc sphere a few months back along with some used front struts as mine had given up and now the car doesn't sink... I can leave her parked for a week and she'll have dropped about an inch if that, is this good or bad ? Could there be over pressurising in the system ?
'02 Clio Dynamique 1.2 16v - 92K - Sold
'09 Yamaha YBR 125 - 1100 miles
'93 Bx 17 TZD Turbo - 240K - The Aubergine

Image
Post Reply