Unless your Panda is 4x4, or has been modified by a previous owner, a 1986 car will have a set of points (and condenser) inside your distributor, rather than the electronics.
These are awkward to replace, and expensive for what they are.
If you do the trick with the scribed line across where the body of the distributor and the cylinder head meet, you can take the distributor off it you need to - which can hekp to see what you're doing - and put it back in much the same position.
ISTR the vacuum advance unit needs to come off as well when you do the points (take great care as they break where they clip onto the base).
All in all a fiddly, messy job - which is why it gets ignored until you can't adjust the gap anymore (small hex key down a hole in the body - you can adjust dwell while it's running if you have access to a meter
As you've probably discovered by now the distributor dismantles from the top down to get at the points (assuming they need changing).
Lack of spark with a set of points shouldn't be too difficult to get to the bottom of, as long as it will stay faulty:
measure +12 on supply to the coil + with ignition "on"
(ignition switch or wiring)
check for switching on the other coil lead when cranking the engine.
(bad points or condenser or earthing in the distributor)
(you will need to check with respect to +12 if the coil is shot to see the switching as the points provide a switched earth, if the coil primary is OK you will see switching with respect to either +12 or earth)
check for spark from the coil HT lead.
(bad coil or lead)
check for sparks on each plug lead.
(bad distributor cap, or rotor arm, or leads, or plugs)
you could do the low voltage checks with a 6 watt bulb.
you could check the HT with a spare spark plug, but take care with the HT, it hurts.
those checks should localise the problem.
(From the Archives)
Jim
