BX16V.com Forum

Hi All,

what is the reccomended mileage interval between changing the cap rotor arm and plugs on the 16v??. I think the cap may be part of my idle fault but ive only done 7000 miles on it.

cheers rob

Depends on the quality of the parts I guess, I only used to use the intermotor cap and arm and mine used to eat those in 4-5k.

On the plug front as far as I can remember I used to have to change mine every 6-7k.

Jez

Age and condition is more of a factor than mileage especially where the cap and arm are concerned.
The genuine parts should last at least 2 years but the pattern caps such as intermotor I would change yearly as they are a very weak item.
The white baseplate is pretty robust and unless you have suffered overheating or damage I would say at least 5 years.
Plugs are cheap enough so if you are not doing many miles may as well change them every 2 years as well to keep things in tip top condition.

My valver does very low miles but gets oil and filter every year and a clean and inspection of plugs,cap and arm etc as a matter of course.

Cheers
Luke

I've felt for a long time (through experience) that aftermarket caps are false economy. I've seen them fail on cars after 2 days upwards!

It does't help that an OE arm, baseplate and cap are £110 from Citroen, but I've always bitten the bullet and spent the money. On the Triton Green car, the original was still fine after 75k miles / 9 years.

I suppose that it horses for courses on what you want to spend.

Mike P.

Or buy Beru ones, as they're made in the same factory as genuine.

Kitch wrote:Or buy Beru ones, as they're made in the same factory as genuine.

They might be made by the same factory, although I am not sure, but the spec is way below that of a genuine item.
I have a Beru cap here which GSF supplied after my OE item suffered a hole caused by a loose rotor arm screw the Beru cap is not a patch on the OE item.

AEP can supply OR parts for a fair bit cheaper than Citroen.

Cheers
Luke

tried to post this last week but my computer died a miserable death!!

Rob, my car has an intermotor cap on it matey, has been on for 5 years but only about 7k miles, same for the rotor arm too!

may be worth getting a new coil too matey, iirc they are about £15 from gsf/ecp, same as some of the ax';s etc!! might help to ensure you have a decent spark! and also check your earth straps on your magnecore's!

idling wise, now thinking aloud here, do you not have a little filter on your rocker breather ??? if so, i would suggest sticking the original breather pipe back on and seeing if that effects your idle at all, i know thy can be a little tempremental on the breathing side!!!

Coil may look like an AX one but that doesn't mean it is, there are wet one's and dry ones, and one lasts, the other gets eaten.... Beru coils from GSf appear Ok ign amps are best genuine Bosch, and as for caps i agree with below - orig is best and I try to reuse genuine ones with a clean if i have one handy, otheriwse at 110 quid I've not had any real bother with the Beru ones

Plugs are so cheap why put them back in after checking? short jorneys and lack of use will fill them with crud far more than high miles!!

also clean all ign components at service time - Yearly/ 6K - its easy and its cheap and if theres no crap in there it can't burn anything. I just use contact cleaner or brake cleaner and a toothbrush.

Ollie