Technical Punto '00 8v Starting issues after timing belt change

[D4nny8oy]

every time I completed 1 rotation of the system I noticed that the belt "shifted" and the line was further and further advanced on every rotation. It wasnt skipping teeth or loosening and I dont have enough experience to tell if thats not right or if thats natural.

That's normal- belts are engineered in that way to even-out the wear and load on the belt teeth over time.

At the end of the day, if the engine timing reference marks line-up with the pulleys perfectly everytime, the belt's right.

Silly question but, are the HT leads fitted correctly?

 

[DaveMcT]

If you take off the plug caps and remove the inlet air pipe and have someone spin the starter you should be able to feel the engine sucking air though the throttle body (or blowing if its 180 degrees out!).

It's probably worth unplugging the fuel pipe and sending it into a can. Otherwise the engine and exhaust will be full of fuel and will go off with a bang when you do get running. This idea will also allow you to purge the system.

Probably you know this - ignition is wasted spark so one pair of leads goes to 1 and 4 the other to 2 and 3. There's really only 2 ways to get it wrong.

Come to think of it... Where's all the fuel from struggling to get it started? Maybe its sitting around so the engine is too rich to run. Well worth checking the plugs (and exhaust) are not wet with petrol.