Ah right Ok. I'll try to avoid using it then, I'm just sort of scrounging for anything that could possibly help haha

Pour a teaspoon of petrol down the intake and then crank it over. If it fires and dies, you know its not getting the fuel through.

Get the AA out to it. They'll find out whats wrong.

this is where he opens the bonnet and finds the engine has been stolen

this is where he opens the bonnet and finds the engine has been stolen

Hahhaa I wish! At least then I'd know what the problem is! Engine is definitely still there

Can you list off everything youve replaced and checked so we can see where you are

Checked:

Coil

Fuel rail

TPS

Lambda

Dizzy

Spark

Fuel

Timing

Replaced:

Dizzy

Coil

HT leads

Blue Temp sender

I think that's everything so far

Are you able to put up a couple pictures of the engine bay and maybe a video of you cranking it over? It might give us a clue.

Yeah mate can do, I'm hoping I'll a have time to do that today

Is there a loom problem? There is a blue wire from the clocks that goes to the alt and starter. If theres a problem it wont fire

I'm not sure mate, I wouldn't have thought so because it does spark just not run. Where is the wore? Is it under the dash?

It traces from the clock plug down to the fuse box then into the bay

Its a longshot at best

Fair enough, what would be the best way to get to that? Take the clocks out?

yeah, i believe it ends up at the blue wire on the alt so with, i think when i was doing the same i had the dash out and used a multi meter on the clock plug and on the other end of the loom as it goes to the bulk head to find the twoends of that wire, then from the bulk head into the bay

as i say its along shot and alot of work to find out its not the problem

does the starter have both cables on the top bolt

Wow that is a lot of work, hopefully it won't come to that! Not sure about the cables on the starter mate, I'll have to check that one and get back to you

In one of your posts, you say that you put your hand over the air intake (I presume that to be the throttle body) and there didn't seem to be much 'suck'

If the throttle plate was wide open and the engine was cranking at a fair speed, it should have drawn your hand in up to your elbow (a slight exaggeration!!)

If the definitely isn't much vacuum there, perhaps you should be checking compression pressures.

Note: Putting your hand over the air intake at the air filter will cause it to draw in air from all over the place, so there probably wouldn't notice much 'suck' if that is what you did.

Regards

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you did say that you have a spark ?

So, assuming the spark is firing at the correct point and its not even trying to start, then it has to be fuel. You cant have a spark and fuel without a bang.

Have you tried my earlier suggestion of a splash of petrol down the inlet, throttle body/ carb or whatever you have and cranking it over ? Or better still, have someone cranking it over while you chuck a small splash of petrol down the inlet. Or spray it in with a squeezy trigger bottle. Obviously without the air filter box on.

Do this and let us know what happens ?

Yeah I have spark, I'm going to try fuel down the inlet when I get the chance.

Today I saw someone complaining about a very similar problem and someone suggested a knackered ECU, could this be the problem or is that unlikely?

Was that on the mk1-3 Facebook page? It was me that suggested that, only because that guy had bridged the relay pins in order to operate the fuel pump manually. This 'can' burn out a small component in the ECU which leads to the car not wanting to start despite everything seeming 'normal'.

But providing you haven't done that yourself then the ECU 'should' be OK.

I've had a gt refuse to start due to ecu faliure

Yeah it was on the facebook group. I haven't messed with the relay pins at all but I can't speak for the last owner. I'm guessing that ECU burning out wouldn't cause the car to gradually get harder to start?

Kiran, when your GT was refusing to start because of the ECU were the same things happening that are happening to mine or was it different?

Would crank nut not fire. Swapped ecu with my other car whih then wouldnt fire and the first car would using the good ecu

Right, I put some petrol down the TB and it was ignited and popped. It sounded like timing out to me? It would add up that the timing was wrong on the crank as I had only checked it roughly by eye after setting it with a light so it could have jumped a tooth or two.

I can't check it again now because I don't have the timing light and my jack is broken so I can't lower the engine down to line the crank pulley bolt up with the hole in the inner wing to be able to turn it. Is there another trick way that I don't know about or will I have to wait until I can borrow another jack?

put it on full lock to the right and put a socket on it from under the wheel arch, gently slide the cam belt off and adjust the crank and cam till they match.

when timed and with the cam belt on you should be able to do a full rotation of the cam using a socket and rachet, it gets stiffer at one point but the flows again.

if the timing was 2 teeth out its possible there has been valve contact

Ok, I'll see of any of my ratchets will fit in the space.

I am a bit worried about bent valves but I'll just have to time it up and hope for the best as I don't have a compression tester. Hopefully it will have only jumped 1 tooth out and the valves will all be fine

Checked the timing today and it was out by about a tooth so I've corrected that. Also at TDC the rotor arm was pointing at the lead for cylinder 3 but I think it's meant to be pointing at cylinder 1 so I've corrected that by shifting the all the leads around but keeping 1-3-4-2 firing order. I've also put some fresh fuel in it. Now just waiting for my battery to charge up a bit and hopefully it will run!