Front sphere replacement and saying goodbye to 'MEG' the Citroen BX GTi 16V
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- čas přidán 10. 09. 2024
- 'MEG' the 1987 BX GTi 16v leaves for pastures new.
A day I knew was coming, and a day where I became the owner of a sole BX 16V for the first time since....erm....the last decade?!
'Things feel like they're gunna break off but they don't" That's gold.
Parcel shelf - they break. They're awful...worst part of a BX.
This is making me want another BX...
I never get tired of hearing about the hydro pneumatic suspension wonders, and I never get tired of driving my Xantia. It has been parked since New Year’s Eve as I caught COVID and haven’t had anywhere to go for the past week.. feeling better, so next week maybe 😉
Be more videos on the suspension soon.
Is it green turbo diesal one not meny left one comes in r garage
Listening to the intro thinking “I’m watching this Thursday” 😉
Yeah...didn't edit that bit out...
@@UPnDOWN I’m pleased you left it in. It was the perfect intro :-)
I've always cracked them off on full pressure, then set to low, released the bleed screw and wound the sphere off the rest of the way.
- Cracking off in full pressure avoids damage to pipes/mounts and is really important for the rears.
- Setting to low suspension height takes the most of the LHM out of the struts/sphere to save spillage.
- Releasing the bleed screw is more important if reserve pressure is in the system some where, like the accumulator. If there is a system leak or someone presses the brake pedal, yo gettin wet!
Removed the rear ones on mine on full pressure too! Actually I don't know how you'd do it otherwise for the rear...
I crack them off while on high if they're rusted and dodgy-looking, but these looked like they'd play ball.
I had my 1990 XM V6 spheres replaced at a CCC show up in Peterborough back in '97 when selling English translated issues of Citropolis magazine. Sphere Parts were in the directly opposite me and when it was raining and quiet, I had them replace the spheres - I only paid for the spheres as they didn't charge labour what with it being a show.
They had my XM up on ramps but didn't depressurise the hydraulic system besides putting the suspension on its lowest setting. I don't know what spheres my XM had when I bought it, but they had massive diameter apertures in them of around 2mm or maybe more (possibly centre spheres put on all four corners, but nowhere near as wide diameter as main accumulator spheres) and therefore not much in the way of damping as well as it always sunk down not long after switching off if I left it at normal ride height or even on maximum setting.
After having the proper XM spec spheres fitted, the ride was infinitely better and it also maintained system pressure for aeons afterwards which also made it safer for the punters at the show as they didn't keep hitting their heads on the tailgate when leafing through the range of magazines in the boot as they did before. No trestle table needed as the boot served that purpose well with the suspension maintaining its highest setting with the new spheres.
The more videos I see of BXs.... The more I'm starting to really like the idea of one.
Life isn't complete without one...
I didn't really know how the suspension worked on Citroëns, now I do and you made it clear and easy for any idiot (that'll be me) to understand. 👍
Bit more to it than this, but I plan to do some videos showing how it all works (in laymans terms).
"let's see how far my finger goes in" - some dodgy phrases, but a quality educational vid.
Every days a school day .for us all
And there was me thinking changing spheres was going to be complicated! Nice to see an expert at work.
No, it's dead easy. The suspension on these cars is nothing like as complex as regular folk would have you believe.
I've seen this so many times (in fact I just had the LHM in my XM changed today) but it never gets boring.
I really like your enthusiasm about the "hydrocars"... I used to own Xantia, and my positive attitude died with so many fixes I could bear with only two garages which specialised in those peculiar cars in my district of western Poland. I simply gave up not being mechanic and not having been able to fix her myself. I spent fortune on trying to stop her leaking...and I failed. She was fun to ride and I had similar feeling selling her despite the bunch of little problems she had.
Lucky new owner. I'm sure he'll love Meg. I know I would.
Another great video and great to learn about the suspension and the spheres and how it all works mate.
The long goodbye ;)
Not to rub salt in your wounds, but that looks amazing in black! 🙊
Yeah, I know :-(
I always thought they looked like baby Quattros from the side (that's a good thing).
Thanks for the video, Rich. I always learn a lot from you.
Lucky new owner, great looking car!
Great car this. I hope she's off to a good home
So do I! I think she is.
Lovin the new engine illumination system 👍
Shame to see her go.
Love that fantastic suspension.
Your gonna hate me, but it would be good to see an XM appear on the channel at some point 😁
Stop it!
An XM is exactly what you need!
Looking forward to the XM! My XM Estate is the car all the family remember :)
Recently stumbled across your channel. Great videos. Very interesting.
Thanks and welcome
Enjoyed this, nice and informative with tight editing.
Good point about moving stuff on. So many car guys hang onto projects they never get round to. I don't tend to - but admittedly I don't have the space and if I did I'd probably collect more! That said I could easily squeeze another car on the drive but I've been there before and it just frustrates me keeping up with them all so would rather move cars I'm not really using or improving on to a new home. Only thing I wouldn't recommend is trying to keep tabs on them as several perfectly good cars I've sold have since been scrapped!
I always say, if you can't bare to think of a car being scrapped, don't sell it.
Hey, i just noticed this, but a little tip, if you ever work on an XM or any other car with Hydractive suspension, please don't try to lower it while the engine is off, if you do that, you are very likely to make the car jump hard from the pressure thats still in the hydractive spheres when you turn the engine on for the first time again.
I can't say I've ever noticed that...maybe I haven't tried it! *goes off to try*
@@UPnDOWN yea, at least with the xm and xantia thats also a quick way to test the hydractive spheres and system, put the car in the highest position, shut it off, wait like a minute or two until the valves should be closed again, lower it down to the normal driving position, and then turn the ignition/engine back on, it should jerk upwards in the front and in the back, if it does, the mechanical/electrical part is working, and the hydractive spheres at least have some pressure left.
It is pretty amazing someone managed to use the BX on the public roads with the accumulator spheres in front. Scary.
Should have failed the MOT too
Second BX I've found with this, too. Had a 16TGS Meteor in last year with exactly the same.
Yup.
The grey spheres - I know the LDS cars use grey spheres but they are different shape.
Maybe they are Volkswagen spheres 😂
Au revoir MEG
What a big difference in damping.
One argument in favor of an XM : there isn't enough good XM content on CZcams. And one more : the 13th window.
There isn't, that's for sure. And yes, the 13th window is *nearly* reason enough to buy one, but alas I am purging myself of work, not adding to it!
@@UPnDOWN Yeahhh but XM!
@@UPnDOWN we heard you liked windows, so we put a window inside your window 😂
My black poverty spec. BX1.4 was incredibly comfortable. Changed the front spheres but couldn't shift the rears. Wish I hadn't scrapped it ......so sad.
The BX 14 is brilliant! One of the best types around.
But I'm in New Zealand, and tomorrow is today. So there's always Hope. From Deano the Beano...if you know what a Beano is....
The comic? Remember it, but never really read them.
My uncle had special spheres for towwing a caravan on his bx. I guess they were "stiffer".
Might have had a bit a gas dropped out of them, but to be honest it's debatable whether it even needed them. They ride & sit the same with or without the additional weight. Maybe he just liked changing them? (It's quite satisfying)
@@UPnDOWN He is not a car tinkerer so I would not be surprised if it was something adviced by the dealer or migh have been because the Van actually was on the big side for the car but since he had every license known to man he could still tow it with that car. At the time he would probably have preferred as few extra costs as possible. I always found it a bit curious though even when I was 8.
Would love a video on the Spheres
I had a red GTi many moons ago and the front went hard. I fitted what I thought was reconditioned spheres but it didn't make much difference. I had a bit of a panic and sold it on - could it have simply been been a failed accumulator sphere? After selling the BX I bought a four year old (proper) Mini Cooper, and I've still got it 27 years later, but I would swap it back in a heartbeat for a nice valver. Trouble is the wife hates BX's so I've got my work cut out🙄.
Wouldn't have been the accumulator, no. Unless something had seized or the suspension had risen to the top, it can only have been some dodgy spheres. Recon ones are often a false economy.
Didnt jayemm have jacks no 27 tomatoe bx??? Great content 👍👍👍🔧🔧🔧
He has bought it, yes.
.... when you clicked the second light on, it was an instant thumbs-up from me! - well done another very watchable, interesting video. Does an HY or W van not float your boat to replace that shameful rusty old Ford ?
Are they not even older than my Iveco (not Ford!)? I should probably keep it simple and buy a newer, sensible van.
@@UPnDOWN I have one of those sort of badges that when you look at it from different directions you see different images, that I got as a kid at the commercial motor show in the late 70s it says ‘Iveco is’ then from the other direction ‘Ford / Fiat Trucks’, or something like that !
Don't rolls use the same sphere's from Citroen just change details embossed on them?
They used it under licence from Citroen for a few years, yes.
My C5 has grey spheres.
LDS cars do
Did Meg originate from Bury St Edmunds? Shame that these cars will start to have people who don't know what they are doing while working on them.
She did, yes! Spent her whole working life in and around there.
What is the epilogue to the Meg story?
Bought by someone who said they'd restore it, then bailed out and it's ended up about 30mins up the road from me, oddly! Current owner has been in touch about getting work done, but then has it up for sale too, which isn't usually a good sign. Shame, I love that car, but if I kept it I couldn't have had the SM or Clement.
All the vw Audi technicians that worked on the old Audi 100 avants with self levelling have retired I suppose or is that what they are perhaps?
Mmmm, not sure. I expect the new high-end stuff has some form of self-levelling.
@@UPnDOWN my father had a 86 D plate audi 100 avant with Citroen self levelling on the rear. The 100s had a Citroen LHM hydraulic system to power the steering brakes and in rare cases the rear suspension. I have two spheres in the garage from that very car that came off it when the system failed and we converted it to bogo standard. I always thought that it was a big vote of confidence that Audi adopted the system.
Thanks for another informative video, Why left hand thread on the spheres ? Or am I delusional ! Of course its French silly me. Keep them coming. Still not sure my eyesight is OK .Did you see the XM at Chevonics perfect condition.?
Erm...you're delusional! Standard thread. No didn't see the one at Chevronics - I'm avoiding looking.
Nice insight! Is there any way to lower the set driving height of these? Similar to fitting lowering springs on a conventional chassis, kind of thing.
You could by adjusting the height corrector, but then you'd have to fit stiffer spheres otherwise it'd just bottom out all the time. It'd ruin it, basically.
Someone will have to explain it more properly, but it can be done to some extent by a adjusting a bracket connecting the height controller with the suspension (one in the front and one in the rear) You need to have the car standing (not hanging!) on a lift. Obviously the adjustment has to stay within the suspension’s ability to function properly.
EDIT: Someone DID explain it properly as I was blabbering along here 😃
Thanks for your replies. It's something I've wondered about for years. Reminded by the little video clip in some of UPnDOWNSs vids of the original BX TV? advert with a 16v driving along the road in a 'lowered' state, which has always been a commonish thing for manufacturers to do (lowering the cars for the press photos/vids) 👍
The most common supplier here is called "IFHS". These *are* genuinely new, and while they don't last as long as proper Citroen parts, they also cost a third of the price, they have pretty much every references you need.
Buuuut, despite all of this, I still think something is wrong with mines, the rear is stupidly soft to the point where it regularly bottoms out on speedbumps (Despite having the correct reference for the GT, they're of the "long and thick" types)...
Front seems normal, I assume it's caused by the thicker swaybar on the GTs, but the one I previously are, which were original Citroen ones from 2003, weren't the correct ones but felt a lot more sensible before they both bursted.
Any idea what you'd fit on one of these GTs?
GT doesn't have a thicker anti-roll bar, though? It's only the ph2 16v which does. If the rear is so soft it bottoms out, it must have incorrect spheres on it I'd have thought.
@@UPnDOWN Oops well I forgot youtube doesnt like links... May that comment rest in piece, anyway well the GT uses slightly thicker bar (Like we're talking 23mm instead of 22.5). Doubt it changed anything truthfully. If you're interested I'll send you the source through twitter or something...
All that at the start and she went yesterday which didn't get a mention!
I know...and I uploaded it a day late, so it made even less sense!
I might not have known about the various spheres to fit different cars, but I did know the trick of putting the suspension to the lowest setting and changing spheres over 😁😁 does that mean I know more than you...... 😂😂😂😂
Yup, you must do!
Grey spheres belong to hydractive 3 system. They should have more long lasting membrane, not rubber
I think you're getting confused with the later 'flying saucer' spheres used on the C5 and C6 (which are also grey).
@@UPnDOWN ok I have never seen those. But another interesting thing is you may be able to upgrade XM with better valves/spheres from Xantia.
Ok, let's see the XM you bought... 🤣
Hahaha! No XM here at the moment.
I think them Cher's off c5
If I could turn back time!
Resistance is futile
They were never a pretty engine were they...like in the ALFA sense ..a legacy Citroen engine almost looks like something organic , like a plastic cut-away of the human body ..🌡🪐
The engine's really pretty, but the associated pipework etc. not so much!