My £100 BX 14 TGE

[R9UKE]

Just acquired, will sit lovely with the Xantia V6 and CX Athena!









Here's the story. It belonged to a family of one of my close friends, his aunt bought it new in 1990 and drove it right up until her death in 2008. Since then it's been lingering around, being used very infrequently but always kept MOTd. I had always expressed interest in it and wanted to be the next owner if ever it were to leave the family. I got a call a few weeks ago saying it was almost out of tax and it was time to finally let go, I was up the next morning to collect it!

Positive points - only 51k miles, genuine Citroen headlamp protectors, the interior is like new and it was still taxed and MOTd! - tax is now up.

Negative points - the main reason he decided £100 and a good home was enough is that the ride "suddenly went bouncy", and sure enough, it's bouncy! The pressure regulator clicks VERY quickly when first started up for about the frst 30 secs or so, then settles back to the normal frequency. Rises and lowers as it should.... it's time to do my research on this fountain of knowledge to get it back to it's floaty self! Also the blower fan isn't working.... that's all the negatives!

[citsncycles]

If it's gone bouncy almost certainly it needs the spheres either recharging or replacing. fire it up, let it get to height then push down on each corner to see if it moves.

These TU engined BXs are great cars - I still miss mine!

[Tim Leech]

£100????? Bargain of the century!

Fan blower can be fixed with a paper clip (yes really) and a new set of spheres will transform they way it rides.

[Thread Bear]

Looks a little cracker for Chrimbo.

[Stinkwheel]

Ah ha, you found your way here then, saw this when you posted up on Autoshite, great car, ive a 14 TE and it really is a surprising car for its small engine.

As has been said, change all the spheres (including the accumulator one)

[jamescarruthers]

Well done mate. That's an incredible little engine under the bonnet.

A full set of spheres and an accumulator will have you sorted I'd guess too.

I was recommended by Pleiades to put BX16 spheres on the front of mine as the standard BX14s spheres are a bit hard in comparison (to make up for the lighter weight of the engine I'd guess). Also, they are hard to get hold of.

What a price: you've got a lot of car there for very little.

As Stinkwheel and I have discovered, the vacuum advance units can fail. You'll just loose the engine's full perkyness low down the rev range. Bosch parts are available cheaply and Ducellier items can be refurbished for £30 at ignitioncarparts (Google 'em although vac advance refurb isn't on their website, they can do it!).

And, check for leaks on the pipes to/from the carb, I had plenty. And yes... you are supposed to have one side of a T-piece blanked!

[Tinkley]

The other things to check are the rear arm bearings, which will certainly be dry, if they have not been changed and better grease put in. Check the state of the main cooling hoses, and front suspension return pipes. None of these are that hard to do yourself. Carb is fairly simple to clean etc. Check or change coolant, if it has not been done and if changing (recommended) use 50/50 distilled water and antifreeze.
If the coolant is drained and very dirty consider removing the radiator and thoroughly flushing. These are pretty normal things to do tbh pretty much with any car but worth it for the peace of mind and reliability.

Absolute bargain of a car in good nick, good luck with her.

[R9UKE]

Thanks very much chaps, plenty of great advice to put into practise there