someone help .. please !!!

[michaelawson]

i brought an e reg white hatch 1.2 nova ..

started on a head gasket change, and a manifold swap,

by the time i was finishing up .. my dog had decided to play with my ht leads..

anyway .. with a flat battery i had to jump the car, im asuming you can tell in which way the ht leads fit onto the dizzy cap when cranking and watching the rotation of the arm,

so i was onto it this morning determined to finish it and get the car running ..

instead, when turning it over i blew all 4 plugs

i put new plugs in and the car did exactly the same ! but i am sure the ht leads are all in the correct places ??! can anybody help !!?

cheers:confused:

[brucer]

your correct in setting the leads in order of firing 1.3.4.2 but have you made sure where number one is on the dizzy? number one should be the top right if looking straight at the dizzy, also if you take a plug out an get number one cylinder to TDC, which will help determine number one on the dizzy.

[MK999]

how did you 'blow' the plugs? they're not exactly delicate electronics, i've never heard of one 'blowing'

[michaelawson]

brand new plugs were put in, after cranking, i took one of the plugs out, the screw in part was black, and the white bit near the top was cracked

i can confirm that the leads are all in the correct order,
there is air intake and plenty of fuel in the tank, ..

maybe a few cans of easy start ? :P

[brucer]

is fuel going into the cylinders? and presume there is a spark? valve timing/ignition timing correct?

[michaelawson]

timing is correct, there 'was' a spark, . . but i wil have to check out the cylinders, ..

i reckon i have a blockage in a fuel pipe somewhere .

is it worth tippin a cap of brake fluid into the cylinders and see what shoots out the exhaust ?

[brucer]

is it a carb or spi model?

[michaelawson]

its a carb mate

[brucer]

tip a bit in the carb

[michaelawson]

you reckon ?

[brucer]

yes, small amount though. will help rule out if you have a blockage in your fuel line.

[michaelawson]

ohh fair enough, i will give it a go tomorrow .. fcukin snow !

[brucer]

snow!! there isnt a glimmer of it here.lol

[Balley]

I had this problem on my corsa, the valve timing was out, turns out the hydraulic lifters hadn't jacked there selfs out (take the plugs out and wine it over for a minute :D) thats what I did and it then struck up!

[michaelawson]

leominster .... that near worcester aint it ?
we have had it all day near banbury !

[michaelawson]

balley77
ill give it ago tomorrow and get back to you mate :P
taa

[brucer]

25miles west of worcester yeh.

[michaelawson]

lucky you .. although i did have the satisfaction of crackin someones windscreen with the kettle this morning :P

[brucer]

thats unlucky!!

[michaelawson]

it was a corsa
thats surely acceptable :P

[Sloth]

dude wtf? brake fluid in the engine? jesus. try fuel. oh and buy a haynes.

[michaelawson]

dude ! i would be more worried if i had brake fluid on my bodywork ! ( well .. on the paint)

[Sloth]

any hydraulic locked engine gen?

[michaelawson]

no signs of any water, inside the cylinder head, looks pretty clean, ..

i still reckon it may be a blocked fuel line, .

[dougie_boi]

fuel lines the right way round?

[michaelawson]

would be worth checking, i had a leak about a month ago :S

[mowgli]

re the window cracking...... use warm tap water & the wipers.... i've been doing that for 20 odd years & never cracked a screen, even in the summer

[Jack]

no signs of any water, inside the cylinder head, looks pretty clean, ..

i still reckon it may be a blocked fuel line, .
No, but there wil be brake fluid in there which by design won't compress or ignite! Hence hydrauliced engine. How will putting brake fluid into the carb check for a blocked fuel line anyway? The fuel lines are before the carb, no?

Spark plug insulator (thats the white bit) cracking is caused by a number of things, including incorrect torque (too loose/too tight); det (check pistons and valves for signs of damage also); water ingress (see above about Hyrauliced engine - the brake fluid shiznit will do the same thing); wrong plugs - are you sure you have the correct ones?


although i did have the satisfaction of crackin someones windscreen with the kettle this morning :P
Please tell me you didn't use hot water from a kettle to defrost a windscreen? lol

[Nobby]

how did we get from blown plugs to putting brake fluid in the carb!!!??

Back to basics im afraid

1. Check timing
2. Check for fuel
3. Check leads are on in correct way 1342 and dizzy cap is on correctly
4. Check spark

then crank the engine over a few times to get the oil pressure up as the ones we have done wont go sometimes without a tow start.

If you have all the above correct she should obviously go if take it to a proper garage or set fire to it :D

[marc69]

as said previously check leads are correct, on 1.0 models the haynes manual actually has them back to front. I once saw 2 "experienced" mechanics argue with me that they had leads the correct way, that was what the manual said. Well they got it to back fire throgh theexhaust and carb simultaneously! Anyway after they fought for 2 hours, they went for a cup of tea, i whipped the leads around, put a strobe light on it and wnet for a spin.

So chech taht the order is correct and if you can get the timing approxiamte from when the piston is up you should be able to get it running roughly. remember people make the mistake of thinking the outlet or inlet vavle is the one taht is open when it can be the opposite so take your time and double check! Once it is running rough, just get the strobe light etc,

There should be no problem with your carb if you assembled exactly the way you dissasembled it, are the plugs damp after trying to turn the engine over?
If the manifold or carb were leaking, it would run when being revved but not idle.

I am convinced this is a spark problem ie timing/ order.

good luck