Would have put this in the Punto section but it relates to any of the 1.2 16v cars.

It's an MK1 Punto sporting and the trouble I'm having is getting it to start. It does start and (at the moment) always starts so not much of an issue at the moment, just worried if it starts to get worse.

Basically, from cold, starting the car causes it to fire on 3 cylinders for a few seconds (longest so far being around 10 seconds). The idle then settles and the 4th kicks in. After that, the car runs perfectly on all 4 cylinders. Switching off and engine and restarting once warm is fine. Just those first few seconds from cold it will fire on 3 cylinders and then sort itself out.

My initial suspect is head gasket (it is a fire afterall...) but if the gasket was blown, it would cause rough running constantly. There is also no other HG symptoms like oil in water and vise versa.

From a previous thread, I'm confident that my Lambda may be faulty. Could a faulty lambda cause starting problems (such as firing on 3 cylinders) or would it only cause poor running?

Any ideas?

personaly i would rule out the lambda, i would change the plugs and leads if the problem is still there the next step would be to test the coil pack(s).

also could be a suspect injector aswell

I'd do a compression test first. Classic early sign of HG failure.

^^^ This is my main theory. Just really hoping it was going to be a last resort but for the sake of £25 for a head gasket set, I think I would rather take the head off and check/replace it anyway rather than throwing money at other stuff which seems fine.

So, headgasket. Whats the minimum I need to do it? Just replaced the cam belt, tentioner and water pump (around 200 miles ago) so I have in intention of replacing them again.

If the head is coming off, I'll need the locking tools so I can retime the engine after replacing the gasket. Is there anything else I will need that is essential? Any special tools for removing the actual head? Probs should get a haynes really

long ribes, an 2 bits of angle iron with cut out to stop buckets all falling out of can carrier, a dial gauge

I would do a compression test first -- would be horrible to pull the head and find nothing wrong!