wont start :(

[nictron]

ok, heres the story.. a few months ago i bought me a little old 1990 1.6 driver. the plan is to get it on the road for as little as poss as it only cost me £75 and have bought a few bits and bobs since. it has been parked round the back of a local garage where iv been working on it (when i say working i mean learning ). anyway, all was going well got the thing running nicely for a while but due to lack of money it was then left for a few weeks without being started. i went back to it this weekend and to my confusion it wouldnt start  i knew that the HT leads were about 17 years old lol so i thought that due to the damp this would have been the problem. so went and bought some shiney new leads along with a new dizzy cap and rotor arm. fitted them all... and.. it didnt start .
now i know that its getting fuel to the carb, and it is getting a spark (although perhaps a little weak), the starter motor turns the engine fine but all i get is some sort of popping and no firing. iv checked that the coil is ok using the ohmmeter accross the terminals with the readings showing that its ok. so.. now im stuck?? any help would be much appreciated

thanks for reading

[Conker]

The dudes on here will sort you out, but in the meantime, my [basic] advice would be to double check you've fitted the leads back on in the right order on the dizzy and check that they are all completely "clicked" down.

Have you tried bumping it? Mine wouldn't start a while back (after some fuel system work), but a quick bump sorted it out, and not been a problem since. (Presumably the system just needed re-pressurising)

[nictron]

Ah will give it bump tomoro see if that helps cheers. i was wondering if i had the leads on correctly. i think i have. i know they go 1342 but wasnt sure which was no. 1 on the cap. ??

[nealey]

My mate done this on his polo, fitted new leads and had 2 &3 on the wrong way round, did nothing but turn over and pop, swopped the leads and it fired up straight away

[Conker]

i know they go 1342 but wasnt sure which was no. 1 on the cap. ??

I only know my 16v Im afraid.  On that No.1 is at 10 o'clock when looking straight at the dizzy

[rubjonny]

normally #1 is closest to the head, but dizzy may have been moved.  what you need to do is turn engine over to top dead centre on cyl # 1 then check where de rotor arm is pointing, thats where #1 needs to go. Or you could go with trial & error, you have a 1 in 4 chance of getting it right 1st time 

It is 1342 as you say, clockwise on an 8v

[nictron]

turned out i was just being stupid. tried a bit of trail and error and worked a treat got her up n running once again:P now to sort out the high idling problems

thanks for the help

[rubjonny]

woot 

[nictron]

hmm was wandering, is it common for the wax stat/expansion element for fail on the lovely old peirburg 2e2? cause mine is idling stupidly high and wont come down. the only thing i can see stopping the throttle dropping back is that the plunger in the wax stat isn not pushing that other little plunger thing far enough. how far does the wax stat usually expand by?? only seems to exand by about 5mm ish...??

[Jay]

turned out i was just being stupid. tried a bit of trail and error and worked a treat got her up n running once again:P now to sort out the high idling problems

thanks for the help

Gratz!  Hope you get the high idling sorted soon.