its a 1.7 340

it turns over but doesnt fire up...
theres fuel getting to the carb,
theres a slight spark (very weak on all 4 plugs)
distributer cap in ok condition,
cleaned the crank shaft sensor

still not working...
was fine yesterday...

any ideas?

Thanks

Know its a bit obvious man, but battery?
Is the starter spinning normal speed by ear?

The cold has been killing them.

yeah the batterys dead now because of the amount of times ive cranked it...

ive put jump leads on and charged battery but still not doing anything...

Sounds like coil to me. Cranking with no firing at all and weak spark is coil 9 times out of 10.

Sometimes just needs taking the coil out from the renix unit and cleaning. Also the 1.7s can leak oil into the disty which causes weak spark just from a clear film that is evaporated off (I think). You need to clean it with solvent or just a good wipe.

Cheers for the replys, ill try new coil tomorrow

ok new one for you guys...

cars getting good spark, ive replaced the distributer cap...so spark is good now...

ive got 2 carbs...so i put the replacement carb on...nothing happened and the fuel bouls were dry!!
i stripped the other carb and blew through all the holes, cleaned all the jets e.t.c and then put the fresh carb back on,

i can now see the fuel dripping down the chamber when im cranking the car over...

when i use full throttle and half choke the car splutters into life and dies as soon as i leave the ignition!!

so where as before all it done was crank...its now starting to splutter...

and also im getting alot of spitting through the carb...even had a little fire!!

can anyone shed some light onto my problem??

really starting to wish i left the 300 alone

Could the timing belt have slipped? Is it sounding good on compression? Otherwise it could be ignition timing (unreliable TDC sensor mainly).

Where's the tdc sensor located mate?

Can you see a spark when holding it against the block? If you can, then the crank sensor is ok.

The fact the fuel bowl was dry is insteresting, do you get fuel squirting through when you take the feed pipe off the carb and crank?

Yeah get good clear spark when holding against the block, and I've now rebuilt the carb so The bows now filling fine...so I'm well confused what's going on!!

Pour petrol down the carb throat, if it still does start its still a spark problem IMO, could still be be compression I suppose.

Check for massive leak at the carb flange. Check the Timing belt has not slipped. Take off ve rocker.cam cover and make sure theres nothing catastrophic in there. Check ht leads are good. Check each plug for strong spark. Check fuel cut off solenoid operation. Hmmm. Check for carb manifold flange leak as priority ik think .

If fuel is pouring down the barrell of the carbs its seriously flooding the carb out. There's almost certainly a bit of dirt jammed in the needle valve blocking it from shutting properly and causing the carb to flood. Why don't you put the other carb on if you found the problem was a non-existant spark? Otherwise you'll have to strip that carb down and clean it out properly and check all its adjustments. Its not a diffcult job but its tedious and takes time.

Are the plugs getting wet with crankin the engine over? If not fuel is not reaching them so could be a leak at the inlet. Is there a good amount of fuel being supplied to the carb to keep it filling? Could be a blocked filter in the carb, take the fuel pipe off the carb to see if fuel is getting to it properly and if not it could be a faulty fuel pump. Check the timing statically with the timing marks, as CBA says the belt may have slipped, which will cause the valves to open at the wrong time not allowing fuel in to detonate at the right time and will cause spit back through the carb.

Worst case is it may be a bent camshaft. I've had this happen once and luckily I had made it only a mile or so from home when it went after a 100 mile drive (not on a volvo though!).