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Citroën BX – The Final Breakdown?

2 min read

It’s the first of June 2019, and after months of work on the car and daily commuting to work, it’s time to start my show season. A quick drive to the Midlands for the Citroën Centenary event in the Citroën BX should be easy enough unless I have a breakdown!

One Last Breakdown?

Not the best place to breakdown in a Citroen BX
Not the best place to breakdown in a Citroën BX

Just 5 miles into the journey, things took a turn for the worse. The car started going lumpy on acceleration, then cut out over a mini-roundabout. Fortunately, I managed to limp off the junction and found a passer-by to drag me out of the way. Straight into the car park of a Cemetery, an omen, maybe?

As the car had done nearly 600 miles since its last rebuild without fault, this was pretty soul-destroying. And where to start. With few tools in the vehicle, fault finding would be a little bit of a struggle.

Finding the bad Citroën wires

Determined to find the fault, the tear down begins
Determined to find the fault, I started to tear down the car

Que some frantic pulling apart of the vehicle to try and find the route cause. A bit of wire and a bulb, in typical Haynes manner, proved out some of the obvious things. The ignition barrel was working. The fuel pump and supply to the Bosch engine ECU were OK. But where in this infernal Citroën BX wiring was the fault?

Two hours after another Citroën breakdown, I tracked a lousy connection to the tacho sensor, cleaned it up, and started the car. Far too late to get to the show, another two hours away, I drove the path of shame back home! What next? Replace the failed wire, or do something longer-lasting and rewire the car? A tough decision to make.

M

Next – Replacing the wiring

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