![[busted engine]](cit2peng.gif)
As the Metro had been written off, my significant other still has to get to work, and about. I asked Alistair, who came up with this cat. He's done a lot of work on it, charged all the spheres, changed the exhaust, done the radius arms, changed the oil, got it MOT'ed and sold it to us.
It wasn't very economical, doing about 22 mpg, the central locking doesn't function from the drivers door, the sunroof jams, the rear seat doesn't fold down, there's dints and paint scratched were some kids threw bricks at it, the radio has two volume levels, off and extremely loud, and changes stations when going over a bump, and the glove box door is hanging off.
October 1st 1998, Thursday. Oil and filter change, 127611 miles.
October 3rd 1998. Krypton tune. Peter described it as being a clog out, emissions came right down and he reckoned for the mileage, it was in reasonable condition. The previous night I cleared out the windscreen washer pipe.
October 4th 1998. I decided to replace the radio and take a look at a few other things. I ran the wiring for the booster, tweeters and bass tube. Pity the bass tube and tweeters were faulty. Took the drivers door cover off to check the central locking. Bit of a tricky job that, removing the door handle, all the screws around the speaker, the wing mirror adjuster. Then there are a number of pop clips, and some metal clips that hold the rubber window seal, most of those fell off into the door. The solenoid works OK, but the supply was dud, so it looks like the fault is not in the door electrics, which is lucky as it's a sealed unit. Looks like the catch to the rear seat is broken. I fixed the glove box door with a couple of "ten bob" hinges from B and Q and self tapping screws. It was very cold.
October 6th 1998. Filled with 23.78 litres, at 127795 it was done 150.3 miles, it's looking like 28.73 miles per gallon. It's better!
October 11th 1998. Finally fitted the bass unit and tweeters. The radio now sounds quite respectable.
October 19th 1998. Some unmentionable git has broken off the petrol cap and siphoned off the fuel. Alistair supplied another, for which we now have to have two keys for the car after the loss of the original cap.
November 6th 1998 128458 miles. Meggen called me at work to say the car was making a terrible squeaking and stalled. When I got to it, there was no oil. A bit of oil and some petrol and it started, but now it was knocking, a sure sign the big end was going...
November 9th 1998 128508 miles big end went. There are two holes in the engine. Al towed the vehicle to my parents, where it currently rests, while I locate a diesel engine. The verdict is that petrol was getting into the oil, which was evaporating.
It has temporarily been replaced with another Citroen BX, and when a diesel engine from a rear ended smash or MOT failure is found, this car will hit the road again and the story resume...
Feel free to drop an 'I told you so' to email nic