morning all,

I bought a 1.3l [glx plus?] Skoda for use as my daily commuter. Paid a measly £280 with a full MOT and new brakes [lines, discs, pads] and it didn't miss a beat in the first 2000miles i had it so have been well pleased.

However in the last couple of weeks its been a lottery whether it will start or not. Seems not to like the rain as it won't start when its damp. I took off the dizzy cap and cleaned the contacts and rotor arm, squirted everything with wd40 and it worked fine for a week.

Haven't been able to start it in the last couple of days though. The weedy battery means i have 3 tries max. to start it before the battery dies and needs charging.

At the weekend I plan on fitting a new dizzy cap and rotor arm. I'll test the HT leads and have a look at the plugs, and if these are suspect they will be changed as well. I also hope I can fit the heavy duty bosch 60ah battery i have spare in place of the piece of rubbish thats in now.

Some questions:

1] What else so I need to look at/check?

2] I took the dizzy cap off again last night and as it was raining I took it inside to clean up. Being particularly stupid I failed to take note of where the HT leads went!

My dizzy is on the LH side of the engine as you look at it, by the oil filler. I know the firing sequence is 1-3-4-2 but no idea which is '1' and which direction the others will go in.

So, looking at the dizzy cap with connections at 3 /6 /9 /12 o clock, which is '1' and which direction does the rotor turn?

Muchos appreciated.

Phil.

Other than taking off all the HT leads at once, everything you've done or got planned is entirely sensible as a procedure for curing a bad wet starter.

That said, for the price of a set of plugs, and given that you don't seem to know when they were last changed, I'd swap them now anyway.

yeah it wasn't the brightest thing i've ever done.

i know i can find out which is the lead for chamber 1 if i get the engine to TDC but have got no idea how to do that!

if anyone is reading this who has a felicia, i would appreciate it enormously if you could have a look where the HT leads go! all i need is the position on the dizzy for the first spark plug.

cheers,

phil.

The one furthest from you is number one, so 12 o clock should be number one and I believe the arm turns clockwise.

i would suggest getting a new battery as this isn't helping starting matters if you are getting 3 turns max

41

32 <-distributor cap

1324 <- Engine

so for you So, looking at the dizzy cap with connections at 3 /6 /9 /12 o clock, it would translate to 3 is 1, 6 is 2, 9 is 3, and 12 is 4, and the direction of the rotor is clockwise

hpe that help to put back the HT wires

also, if you can get some vaselin it would help to put it on both ends of all HT wires as this will make them Water/Moisture Resistant i would also recommend running a ground wire from the batery to the coil module to secure a good spark and to cover all coil wires so theyre not exposed (sometime spark jumps to the coil terminals)

i have the same problem as you (well had) and did what i recommend, worked like a charm

Well put. I'd recommend WD-40 (Water Dispersant, formula number 40) rather than Vaseline (or any petroleum jelly) but that's the only place we differ.

To set the engine at TDC you need to look down the side of the engine (where the dizzy is) and watch for a mark on the camshaft pulley and line it up with the second mark on the block (thats the second mark away from you looking straight on at the engine).

The mark on the pulley is very small and can be hard to spot... run a cloth round it the first rotation to clean any much off and make it easier to spot.

Easiest ways to turn engine are:

Take spark plugs out... then either:

Jack passenger side wheel up, engage fifth gear and turn the wheel to turn the engine... or:

Engage fifth gear, release handbrake and rock car to turn engine over...

I usually do the latter!

Hope this helps

Phil

To set the engine at TDC you need to look down the side of the engine (where the dizzy is) and watch for a mark on the camshaft pulley and line it up with the second mark on the block (thats the second mark away from you looking straight on at the engine).

The mark on the pulley is very small and can be hard to spot... run a cloth round it the first rotation to clean any much off and make it easier to spot.

Then put dots of white paint on both TDC marks, or on the correct timing mark for cars with adjustable timing.

Well put. I'd recommend WD-40 (Water Dispersant, formula number 40) rather than Vaseline (or any petroleum jelly) but that's the only place we differ.

thats what i used to use, but found miself re applying to many times, and it only displaces water, the good thing about vaselin is that it doent need to be re applyed (good cus im getting a ****load of rain now in the caribbean where i am) and it prevents the spark from flying to the contact points on the coil