running out ideas,effort and hope

[dat83]

I'm at the end of my tether now unfortunatly. I fell in love with this car and bought it despite my mind saying otherwise.
After buying a new ignition amplifier I've got a great spark, fuel to the plugs, sorted out the ht leads,got the firing order sorted, timing lined up with the mark...all appears to be spot on! it still wont go though. It sounds like its trying to fire a touch to early but no matter how u set it up, early or late or spot on, it just wont go.
Thinking of getting a mobile mechanic round to try and have a go, rather have one who knows a bit about these older models though. Anyone know any around the Cambridge area? or a garage recommended if i get it trailered?
I appreciate all the help I've gotten so far, if theres anybody thats got any ideas about this prob i'd be very gratful. Sorry to keep asking for help, just getting close to giving up and breaking it, would be such a shame though. thanks alot

 

[Stratman]

Go back to basics.

For the engine to run it needs fuel mixed with air in the correct proportion, a correctly timed spark to set fire to the mixture, an effectively gas-tight space in which to burn, and a means of getting rid of the waste products.

SUCK.....SQUEEZE......BANG......BLOW


You say you have a healthy spark. Are you sure it's correctly timed? Could the distributor and/or it's cap be 180 degrees out? Find the timing mark on the crank pulley, flywheel or wherever it is on your engine and treble check it again. If necessary pull the cam cover and look for no.1 piston to be rising (look through the spark plug hole) with the valves closed. Remember that each piston reaches TDC twice per cycle. It's got to fire on the correct one.

Is the fuel contaminated? Is the filter clean and allowing a decent flow rate? Is the air filter blocked? Try starting it without one.

Keep checking and rechecking the basics and it will start.

Good luck.

 

[Rory]

Is the fuel contaminated? Is the filter clean and allowing a decent flow rate? Is the air filter blocked? Try starting it without one.

Keep checking and rechecking the basics and it will start.

Sorry if I'm repeating stuff you've been through before, but how old is the fuel in the car? I've heard many stories of cars not being run for a while, replace the fuel and away they go.

 

[lynall]

Im with stratman on this sounds like spark timing, stuck a new coil pack on a vw bora no go, the engine wanted to go but just wouldnt, as the plugs fired in twos i just swapped the four leads around on the coil and away it went perfectly.

Dont know anything about your engine, but if you are using flywheel marks, are you using the correct ones, ie tdc btdc and atdc all look very similiar.

Have you clipped on a strobe lamp? must be as cheap as chips now noboby uses tham, ive got one in my toolbox had it for ever and its been used once by another mechanic




Lynall



Lynall

 

[grober]

Following on from my post on the distributor http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/engine/73036-got-spark.html - I should have perhaps mentioned that besides finding the position of number one cylinder on the distributor did you make sure you checked the correct direction of rotation of the rotor arm for the next cylinder to fire? All this assumes the distributor has not been out of engine of course. Sorry if I'm stating the obvious.

 

[jonnyboy]

i presume the engine has compression?

 

[dat83]

thanks guys for all your ideas! im going to go through the timing set up again tomorrow and see what happens, failing that, i dont know if the distributors been out, like i said, the guy was a f*^king idiot i bought it off. so he might have spun it round, turned it over and then put it back for what i know!thought his **** up was my gain, but maybe he cocked up beyond gain!? although the tbc and the mark under the distributor cap did line up! (i think,but ill check again tomorrrow!) Jonnyboy, your listing is my worst fear, that i havent said aloud yet, no compression, then im in real ****. and the lad i bought it off might get a shoeing too!
ill drain the fuel tomorrow, just to be sure though, if its something that simple, id be over joyed!
Again to all, thanks so much for the help!! theres more then a few beers i owe out to you guys! i really do appreciate the continuos help and support! cheers, david

 

[jonnyboy]

thanks guys for all your ideas! im going to go through the timing set up again tomorrow and see what happens, failing that, i dont know if the distributors been out, like i said, the guy was a f*^king idiot i bought it off. so he might have spun it round, turned it over and then put it back for what i know!thought his **** up was my gain, but maybe he cocked up beyond gain!? although the tbc and the mark under the distributor cap did line up! (i think,but ill check again tomorrrow!) Jonnyboy, your listing is my worst fear, that i havent said aloud yet, no compression, then im in real ****. and the lad i bought it off might get a shoeing too!
ill drain the fuel tomorrow, just to be sure though, if its something that simple, id be over joyed!
Again to all, thanks so much for the help!! theres more then a few beers i owe out to you guys! i really do appreciate the continuos help and support! cheers, david

stop panicking fella !

go thru your list one by one - you have a spark, and fuel (but enough fuel? how do you know, are the plugs wet?). is the spark at the right time in the cycle? is the fueling correct? have you compression?

whats the back-story to the car? has it been off road for years? if so has it been run? i think it would be unusual to have no compression on all cylinders at once unless all the rings had seized into the pistons, very unlikely i think.

has the cam timing been checked? has he tried to do a timing chain and bent all the valves?


if al else fails i have two 250ce engines here, unsure of condition...

 

[dat83]

Thanks alot guys, couldn't have got this far without all your help! turns out the distributor WAS 180deg out. i dont think theres a single thing the previous owner hasn't moved,turned or switched!Anyway, ive got her going now,she just doesn't tick over,seems like fuel starvation so i took the return fuel pipe off and clamped it to get more pressure and this did the trick!so im thinking its the fuel pressure thats the problem, is this a new ecu job?theres a round metal part in the return fuel line that im unsure what it is,could this be a pressure valve?looks like an adjuster on the top?thanks again for all you help!

 

[grober]

I would follow Stratman's advice and pull the cam cover. Have a look at the valves on no 1 cylinder. There are two occasions when the piston is coming up to TDC- one on the compression stroke with both valves shut and the other on the exhaust stroke when the exhaust valve will be open- make sure its the compression stroke when the rotor arm is opposite no one cylinder lead on the distributor cap. You could try a bit of Bradex Easy Start ( Halfords) down the inlet just to get her moving.

Oops just read your post while I was typing this one one --result!

 

[dat83]

haha thanks alot!! im slowly whittling out the problems!!!
victory is almost in sight...!

 

[dat83]

ahh, its a fuel injection pressure regulator, lets fuel through the thread. ill hunt a new one!