help, my 1.6 seems reluctant to start, both when cold and if left for half hour. If turned over with no gas it tries to fire but stutters and then wont catch at all. leave it for 1min try again, same. eventually it does catch, stutters a bit and is then fine! If i try using accelorator during starting not a dickie bird! oh, i've tried new plugs and the leads dont spark in the dark!!!! any ideas?
I am presuming its turning over ok here, if not its the starter motor. Check the plugs, do they look burnt. In which case the mixture is weak and will need looking at.
Arrggghh, now it wont start at all!!! new plugs (old ones were past it but colour was correct when i took them out yesterday after a run). I've cleaned the HT leads & distributor cap. still no joy! I was going to check the injectors for dribbling but they wont pull out. should i get a lever on them or check something else first?
Soak the injector bushes in WD40 overnight and they should pull out with a bit of effort. If you've got fuel going into the filter/metering head then its doubtful all the injectors have given up at once? I would look at the cold start valve and auxillary air valve and check you have a strong spark. Whats the timing been set to?
When I had a 1600 Mk1 a few years back it never started that well from cold, but it did start. I took this to be the cold start injector, but I never bothered to fix it. There were two problems I couldn't ignore - the fuel pump relay used to fail quite regularly, and I had the old "rust in the tank" thing. Stripped down the metering head and it was full of cr%p. Made a world of difference. Taking the injectors out as you suggest should give you an idea as to the problem.
