My Series 2 has been sat for about 5 months, I had taken a lot of the MFi stuff off as I was going to do an EFi conversion, this is now having to wait and ive put the metering unit etc back on so I can run the car.

So far we have only managed to get the car to run on 3 cylinders, it will run for as long as you like providing you keep a bit of throttle on. It is cylinder 2 which is not firing, we have tried using a different lead on this cylinder and still the same happens.

I’m almost certain we have the plug leads in the correct order, but im not so sure about the fuel lines going to each cylinder. So I have taken a pic of the dizzy and the metering unit and numbered each lead/fuel line to what cylinder they are going to. Can someone confirm these are correct, and if so suggest what the problem may be?

A friend suggested there could be a problem with that actual cylinder / piston or whatever, but surely if the piston was stuck somehow, the crank wouldn’t turn over at all would it?? Could it be the dizzy cap maybe? I’ve checked and it seems clean inside. Just cylinder 2 doesn’t want to work at all..

 

Could be a lot of things. Check if you get a spark on that particular cylinder and if there's fuel on the sparkplug.

If so, do a compression test to see if it's something like a sticky valve or jammed piston ring.

 

If it is a sticky valve or piston ring, how serious is that??

 

Sticky valve would probably loosen up by itself.

My car had been standing around with a head gasket failure for 8 years before I bought it so the piston rings were some kind of jammed and combustion pressure lost. As a result the car had hardly any compression, I kept on trying to start it for hours and finally it run. Was a bit of a miracle.

But check the easy things like spark/fuel first.

 

yeah, i mean its only been stood around 5 months, through the warmest part of the year and was running like a dream before, engine has only done 25k. Will check spark etc and go from there.

Could do with someone telling me if those fuel lines are in the correct order tho!

 

Looks good to me.

 

correct me if iam wrong but dont the rota arm turn clockwise in which case its 1 3 4 2

 

Wait a minute, I only looked at the fuel pipes.


At the dizzy: Number one should be where your number three is. And no, it's not supposed to run clockwise.

 

no it does run anti-clockwise i checked that.. ok ill try the leads that way round cheers.

 

There should be a sign on the dizzy, where number one is!

 

No wait!!!, I think you were right, just looked in a book and I guess it was printed wrong! Looked at my car and its like yours above! But look out for the mark on the dizzy

 

ok did you mean swap number 1 and 3 leads or swap number 1 and 3 fuel lines over? I have swapped the leads 1&3 and it doesnt start at all. As it was before they appear to be in the correct firing order 1-3-4-2 if going anti clockwise and will run on 3 cylinders.

 

i ment swap 2 & 3

 

ok just read that, seems the leads are in the right order then. hmmm

 

I'm really sorry for all the confusion, mate. Apparently there is a mistake in the book I have here. It's always 1-3-4-2 but the book stated that it would start at another plug of the dizzy so that 1 is where your 3 is. But that is WRONG WRONG WRONG, gonna throw this book away...

 

As for the fuel hoses, I'll check that tomorrow on my car.

 

got it sorted mate! my w*nker mate had cylinders 2+3 the wrong way round! Theyve got little markers on them which i was trusting were right but they werent. He's getting a slap when i see him. It now runs on all 4, but is a bit hesitant under 2500rpm.. wont tickover and cuts out, so possibly a boost hose or vaccum pipe not quite on right. will have to have a closer inspection in daylight tomorrow. nice to hear it running again anyway! thanks for you help

 

What was wrong way round? The fuel lines?

 

nope leads 3 and 2 were wrong way round on the dizzy

 

For the tickover problems: If you've got a strobe lamp you can check ignition timing. Could be wrong if you had the whole dizzy removed.

 

just had the cap off mate, so that shouldnt affect it should it?

 

was i right ??

 

No, it's most probably ok then.

 

No it definitely goes anti-clockwise