Fog, sparks and the ignition coil with the BX

We drive for sustainability reasons - a long story short: classic driving is more sustainable than a Tesla driving - also just classic every day. One of those daily classics is now number five in a consecutive series Citroën BXs. His almost perfect external condition appeared to disguise underlying suffering after purchase, but in the meantime that path has almost gone. The little 'Hydraulique' did his job well.

Do not start

After being neatly put away in the evening, he didn't want to start the next day. That was while the mist still lay over the land like a damp blanket. So the solution to the problem seemed obvious: moisture. The distributor, the ignition coil and the spark plug cables were given a shower with a moisture expeller. Wait a moment ... Start ... Nothing. At least: don't walk. The starter motor whirled around cheerfully. Spray cans are also tools. And brake cleaner is a kind of 'start pilot 1.0'. A jet brake cleaner in the air filter. Starting ... Nothing again. Another car was caught, my love went to work and the home front waited until the fog was gone.

No sparks

Just plugging in a free-range spark plug and putting that thing up against the ground made things clear: no spark. In a car like a BX 1400 with carburettor, the electrical diagram is still at Ed & Willem Bever level. The ignition path is: battery, ignition switch, ignition coil, the ignition module, the distributor cap, rotor. And everyone knows that ignition coils never fail. For the record, the multimeter checked whether there was voltage on the ignition coil when the ignition was on: "Check!"

With his belly on the floor

The disadvantage was then that the immobile BX by its nature lay flat on its stomach on the ground, did not start and was therefore not transportable. He put that on his stomach in his standard parking space outside. On the public road. The nose of the BX was tight against the green strip between the parking lot and the sidewalk. And then I received a déjà vu from forty years ago. Then at a temperature around the freezing point I was also tinkering with my knees on the grass. It was time for coffee, reflection and a phone call.

Thousands of digital friends and followers are of course top

But I've always appreciated dealing with real people. I called the garage Berben in Ulft which from the first BX in the family always exemplary the necessary maintenance and repairs on the Citroëns from Sylvia. Because the BX was not easy to get to Ulft in its current situation, the case was dealt with as an alternative: “I have a good used distributor, an ignition module and even a ignition coil. This means that 95% of the starting problems can be solved. Usually it is the ignition module that is broken ”.

The fog had cleared

I got on a classic motorcycle and picked up the stuff in Ulft. A long story short: Replacing the ignition module did nothing. Replacing the distributor cap and rotor? The capacitor then? Also nothing.

The plug connection between the mounted ignition coil and the ignition coil taken from Ulft was different. At the local electrical store AMP plugs with weird sizes scored. Four steps made to bring the plug and the ignition coil together. If it cannot be done as it should, then it must be done as it can. Start. Walk.

In the end it was the ignition coil. While ignition coils never actually break because ignition modules always do that.