Hi guys,
I own a 1996 MK 1 Fiat Punto 1.2 75 ELX MPI. About 3 months ago my head gasket went, I had it changed at a car garage and when I got it back it wasn't timed correctly. I re-timed it myself and it was then running okay and it was running okay and starting first time
Until a couple of weeks in it was needing more turning over to start. This problem grew and grew until it will not start at all.
I have changed the plugs, checked for any loose or damaged HT leads, dampness etc. My battery is good and I even cleaned the face of the crank sensor. A lot of people keep telling me it is the crank sensor, is this right ? Can anyone out there help me ?
Thank You
shouting amended
Edited by Pugugly on 28/07/2008 at 19:36
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If you unplug the crank sensor and put an ohm meter across it, if it reads open-circuit/no reading at all it needs changing.
Another common fault on these is the temperature sensor(blue one) but this is more to do with poor running than not running at all.
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>>Until a couple of weeks in it was needing more turning over to start.
>>This problem grew and grew until it will not start at all.
when it was taking more turns to start, did it start on three cylinders?
If so, the head gasket repair may not have been successful.
If the garage got the timing wrong, did they check the head, skim it, and use new bolts?
However, before you go back to the garage, you could check to see if there is a spark at each plug by holding the threaded portion of a good plug with one of the HT leads on against the cylinder head and getting the engine turned over - you want good fat sparks at the plug gap.
Briefly check all 4 plug leads this way, but don't over do it or the catalyser will suffer with unburnt fuel.
4 good sets of sparks, the problem is likely to be cylinder head, fuel delivery, or timing (is the cam belt timing still good?)
You might want to use insulated pliers to hold the plug against the head as it will all move about when the engine is being cranked...
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Hi there, thanks for the reply mate. it was always runing on 4 cylinders and had no missfiring, rough running etc, once it started it was good as gold but now just doesnt want to start at all. I done what you said to do with the plugs and had no spark on any of them, this says to me its got to be electrical problem. yes or no???
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Yes.
Try the suggestion in post #2
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No sparks so check if the keycode light goes off, if yes then its crank sensor. Check the gap between sensor and timing wheel. Dont know the size, but pretty close, I would guess 1mm max gap.
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I used to have a punto (until it was nicked) but it always used to start if it'd had been left but if you went to a shop/for petrol then tried to start it again it wouldnt for sometimes over an hour, then it got to the point where it wouldnt start at all.
I had everything changed including starter motor but it kept happening.
Turns out that was the crank sensor (pretty cheap to sort out too) someone mentioned the temp sensor that went on mine about 6 months earlier too, again was cheap to sort out.
Since i had crank sensor done never had a starting problem again.
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