BXProject

[docchevron132]

Valvers aint got the distance bar.
Having driven this car I'd say the synchros are well on their way out.
A complete kit of bearings and rings etc was £126 last time I checked, this gave EVERYTHING.
I suspect you can get just some synchro's though for a lot less.

All Valver boxes seem to be a tad wanked out now. Even mine is getting to that stage where you cant slam change it til the box is warm.

The TD's worse though, I've fucking killed that in 20K miles! And it's the second bastard it's had..

Bandit, coils usually break down over a period of time on these rather than all at once.
Things to bear in mind also is the Ign. Amp, well worth pulling the fucker off it's heat sink and applying some heat sink compound on it's back face then re-apply the module to the heatsink.
mine gave me no end of jip when I first had the car on the road.

Also bear in mind, if the Ign. Amp fails it tends to kill the coil, and vice versa.

I'd err towards the ECU temp sensor at this stage TBH, also worth checking the plug on the CAS, and making sure the CAS is secured to the bell housing tightley, they seem to have a knack of working loose and getting free floating!

Also, whats the battery like? The ECU's are uber sensitive to voltage.

Vanny, correct me if I'm wrong here, since I've not had an A/C valver I've never had a look at what makes it tick, but I understand that the A/C cuts out when 80% or more throttle is used, or >80% of total revs are attained?
If so, I assume the rev cut out aspect is controlled within the ECU itself?
But I'd guess that the throttle would have a open circuit / closed circuit switch?
So that should be easy enough to make a loom for and fit??

[Bx Bandit]

@ Phil: It;s changing down (5th to 4th & 4th to 3rd) mate although I've never actually noticed/acknowledged what might happen when changing up cuz I'm too busy being smug and laughing at the twat in the BMW X5

One of the things I did on the intial overhaul was to change the clutch cable ( and the pedal box cos it was fucked by the blind terets monkey dude) so it's def down to the box. If you can drive it like a pussy wagon then you can live with it but as a man's car it really is a pita.

Right Doc, where's this fuckin amp then? I'm thinking it may be just good practive to purchase new coil/amp/dizzy cap/rotor arm and have done with the beeyatch. The only other thing is this knock sensor actuation whatever the fuck that is.

Where is the ECU temp sensor Doc? Thermo house?

[docchevron132]

The Ign. Amp lives on a big alloy heat sink plate attached to the bulkhead at the back of the engine bay, N/S behind the battery and strut like.

The temp sensor is on the stat housing and has (I think) a blue plug, two pin.

[Vanny]

My understanding is that the ECU receives an aditional signal from the throttle sensor when it gets to 80 to 90% of max travel and thus changes the map and ignition and a few other bits to push more power out. Either way this 'boost' then outputs a signal from the ECU to the HVAC EMU and tells it to back the fuck off. The connector for these two systems is about the AFM which means wiring from the ECU (to new pins that arent there already!) round the front of the car and up to the HVAC loom connection. Could well be a normally open connection as i know not having it connected does no harm to the HVAC controls. It isnt simply a case of running cable from the TPS as the ECU needs this signal un interupted. Also, its likely/possible that the ECU needs a specific AC emprom in order to run the buggering thing, if this is the case then i need to find someone friendly with a valver with AC that i can copy the EPROM from (i have two units for copying the thing now!). It could get a little bit complicated to be honest. Probably wont happen for a while as Jaz is getting laid up this week and i have no date planned for her return to the road!

[docchevron132]

Hhmm, could you not just by-pass the whole cut out shit and have it run regardless of revs / throttle?

[Vanny]

Could well be a normally open connection

yeah, thats what i kinda said already. In jinglish

[Philhod]

I think you fuss too much. I used to get very fast up and down changes when synchro only came on 1st, by double de clutching. It's a technique that all racing drivers used to have to use and once you get good at it your synchro hubs will last forever

[Way2go]

I think you fuss too much. I used to get very fast up and down changes when synchro only came on 1st, by double de clutching. It's a technique that all racing drivers used to have to use and once you get good at it your synchro hubs will last forever

And there was me thinking it was needed because synchromesh had not yet been invented/introduced.

[Bx Bandit]

I think you fuss too much. I used to get very fast up and down changes when synchro only came on 1st, by double de clutching. It's a technique that all racing drivers used to have to use and once you get good at it your synchro hubs will last forever

simple answer: Can't be arsed to d/d!

[Philhod]

Trust me Bandit, if you practice it for a bit you'll see what I mean. It's cool making real fast SMOOTH
changes.


And err synchro was invented bout 1933. so that pre dates even me by about 11 years.

However as usual with the pre war industry ( and WW2 didn't help) this admirable invention did not appear on most boxes until the 1950's and then only on 1st and reverse. It was only when 4 speed boxes became the norm in the 60's, that it became standard.

[docchevron132]

Double declutching is ok, but if it's got synchro's they should work would be my take on it.

My legs shite enough at the best of times to be arseing about using the ckutch pedal more than I have to.

That said, once the cars actually rolling it's not like you need the clutch pedal at all, if you're really careful!

I've driven my diesel from Fishponds to home with a broken cable, and from London in rush hour with a broke cable.

Didn't do the starter much good though.

[Vanny]

I've gone from halifax to liverpool through 7 roundabouts and three set of traffic lights in a 17 seat minibus with boats on the roof with no clutch! Managed a pretty good speed overall as well. And the focus changes without the clutch, or infact much care given for the synchro's.

[docchevron132]

It's brill driving shit you dont own eh!
I once blew up three Iveco minibuses in three days, I hated those things!

[Vanny]

The other option was to spend a good 8 to 10 hours trying to get home. It only died cos of the little kid driving it, drove it down a sodding great big hill, fine, but had drivin the previous 100 miles with his fun partially on the clutch! Clutch was fucked when he got there, but it was totalled by the time he'd tried to back out of the single lane road. Doubt i would have done the same if it was my bus or if i had a full compliment of passengers!

[Way2go]

Clutch ................, but it was totalled by the time he'd tried to back out of the single lane road.

That reminds me of driving on a single track road in North Wales in a Porsche911 and coming to a wide ford at the bottom of an incline. The river was running, could have got through in the BX (had one too) but the Porsche was too low to the ground to do it! Had to reverse back up the incline as no room to turn and could only keep the engine running by slipping the clutch. I believe the 911 has a racing clutch and couldn't take that and it gave out just as I got the car turned at the first opportunity. It was 'interesting' to drive to Chester for repairs watching the rev counter to change gear at a suitable points.

[Bx Bandit]

We had 4 company pool vehicles and I hated all of them
1) Ford festa with the 1.2 shittronic
2) A Landy Disco
3) A 1.4 Astra Estate
4) A ?? Diesel Nissan Estate thing. The Astra got the most stick, closely followed by the Festa. A truly horrible bunch of cars