Starting Problems

[daffy.dub]

Hi all, I've been working to get my 1992 GT2 back on the road after a 6 year lay-up. I parked it in a secure garage 6 years ago with a suspected clutch failure only to find out that the cable had actually pulled through the bulkhead, doh!. Anyway, I've now sorted that and at the time it was running perfectly. However 6 years on it just won't fire up. I've changed the cambelt, fanbelt, leads, spark plugs, battery, distributor cap and put in fuel. But although it turns over quickly it just won't start, I'm at a complete loss as to why! Any suggestions? I didn't clean out the tank, but plenty of fuel is getting to the carb.

[Nate]

give it a sniff of easy start

[tinkerbel]

Have you checked for any plug spark,

[Nate]

did you try to start it before you changed all those parts?

[daffy.dub]

Getting a spark yes and I tried starting it before during and after changing the leads, plugs and distributor cap. The old battery was too old to even try and I only tried starting it after replacing the cam belt and fan belt. The only other thing my mate did was putting some stuff in the fuel to clean everything out, but he said it wouldn't have any affect on it not starting and he's a mechanic by trade. I was wondering whether the fuel was contaminated by what little I'd left in the tank 6 years ago, but it feels electrical, just don't know what to do next.

[daffy.dub]

Just had a thought, the coil! Is there a way of testing if it's the coil without replacing it?

[Tim_R]

You can test resistances on a coil if you have a multimeter. Haynes gives the specs for the primary and secondary windings.

Just a thought, you say you are getting a spark, is it a strong blue colour or a weak yellow one?

[daffy.dub]

It's a weak yellow one.

[PeteGLi]

Are you sure that you have the cambelt timing correct? No 1 piston at TDC on the ignition stroke and not the exhaust stroke. If you have this the wrong way round that would give you the turning over but not starting problem.

[daffy.dub]

Pretty sure the timing is spot on, nothing was moved before the cambelt swap and my m8 swears he did that bit correct. I'm going to try the coil route and see if that's the problem. But I will double check the timing, because it does sound like the distributor is turned 180 degrees kind of effect (we didn't touch the actual distributor), thanx for the tip.

[daffy.dub]

Does anyone know if I can try the coil from my mk2 1.3 Polo on the Scirocco without it being damaged?

[Tim_R]

You should be able to use it to test with at least, I've done this on my cars before with no ill effects. If you are getting a weak spark then I would be looking at the coil, ignition amplifier and the battery. My 16v will crank when the battery is low but gives a weak spark and won't fire because of the voltage drop.

Would be worth checking the cambelt timing to make sure the intermediate shaft is timed up correctly with the crank and cam just for peace of mind. But if you aren't getting any pops and bangs on the engine cranking over then it's pointing to the spark not being strong enough.

[daffy.dub]

Thanx everybody for the tips, will try the coil tonight. Fingers crossed might get my Rocco back on the road before too long!

[daffy.dub]

Not the coil. F@*$!

[ianaudia4]

Ignition amplifier?