crank no start on 1980 Fiat X1/9 with Fuel Injection

1

1983Bertone

Low Mileage
Car has been starting flawlessly, but then after returning from a 5 mile drive. Would crank but not start. Distributor cap appeared loose. Has spark, coil checks out and when turning ignition key to run and opening up mass air flow control valve, I can hear fuel pump run. Any ideas? Also, which cylinder is #4 which apparently is the cylinder that fires at TDC?
 
Check the wire connection at the coil shown in this old post. May not be the issue, but it is easy to check.

Here is a picture of the firing order.

firing_order.jpg
 
And if the above doesn't sort it, the next place to check is the two pin connector on the lower part of the distributor body for the inductive pickup. With no connection there, you'll get no fuel or spark.
 
1983Bertone said:
Distributor cap appeared loose.
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Since there are two very capable clips holding the cap to the distributor body, and since the cap is indexed onto the distributor body with a locating notch and nub that would prevent the cap from rotating independently of the body, unless all of this somehow exploded, I'm not following your statement that the cap appeared loose.

Is it possible that you really meant to say the entire distributor was loose, in that it could be rotated by hand? If so you may just have an ignition timing issue that can be fixed by retiming the ignition and then attending to the distributor hold-down hardware.
 
Dan Sarandrea (Phila) said:
Since there are two very capable clips holding the cap to the distributor body, and since the cap is indexed onto the distributor body with a locating notch and nub that would prevent the cap from rotating independently of the body, unless all of this somehow exploded, I'm not following your statement that the cap appeared loose.

Is it possible that you really meant to say the entire distributor was loose, in that it could be rotated by hand? If so you may just have an ignition timing issue that can be fixed by retiming the ignition and then attending to the distributor hold-down hardware.
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Believe it or not, distributor is snug. Actually, the clips hold the cap relatively tight, but if I wiggle or rotate the cap, it can loosen. I plan to dig into it in detail this weekend, so I'll report back next week what I have found. I'm really hoping with the helpful pictures and diagrams I've obtained on this forum I can position everything back under the distributor cap and hopefully get it started. I'm starting to wonder if the indexing dowel may have come loose and started this whole mess.
 
The cap on my '83 is similar. The clips are tight and it is indexed by a tab, but it can be moved around a bit if you twist it with your hand. As long as it is not forced, it will stay in the correct position and has not caused me any problems.
 
Being able to rotate the cap relative to the distributor body is typical in my experience. It does have an effect on timing.

I wonder if there was a change in the tool for the cap over time.
 
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Check your rotor and inside ign cap for possible damage. Specially the rotor. My cap clips failed once while driving on a bad bumpy part of a highway construction. Your ignition shaft maybe turning but the rotor is broken/damaged and not turning. True story☹️
 
Thank you for the comments. Next week my buddy and I will get to the bottom of this. It's hard to check for spark by yourself, although I have used my phone video to help out. I did notice a 10 mm bolt laying on a shelf below the coil. Not sure where it's supposed to go. My suspicion is this is the distributor bolt. Any ideas?
 
I also found a green wire with a male flat blade laying loose on top of the water pump. I have not been able to trace where this connects. The car was never an A/C car, so I don't think it should be dangling unconnected anywhere.
 
Later cars like your '83 had a wiring harness kitted out for all options, so there will be A/C wiring and circuits present in your non-A/C car. One example is the green wire in the vicinity of the water pump, that wire would energize the A/C magnetic clutch in an A/C car. There are other examples such as the extra wiring for the A/C system's multi-speed cabin air fan that uses a resistor that would be mounted next to the wiper motor in the scuttle, and for the various pressure switches in the A/C refrigerant lines.
 
When you say crank but not start, do you mean you could literally crank it for a few minutes and it won't start?

I've been battling an issue with my X1/9 that has the same basic symptom. We've done all the standard testing and replaced a lot of parts but the problem still exists. One thing we've found is if you give it some gas when trying to start it, it will start. I know with FI, you're not supposed to but it's one thing we've found works.

Larry
 
Larry said:
When you say crank but not start, do you mean you could literally crank it for a few minutes and it won't start?

I've been battling an issue with my X1/9 that has the same basic symptom. We've done all the standard testing and replaced a lot of parts but the problem still exists. One thing we've found is if you give it some gas when trying to start it, it will start. I know with FI, you're not supposed to but it's one thing we've found works.

Larry
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I suspect this deals with an over rich condition. When my starter was sticking ‘on’ I had an issue where I needed to depress the gas pedal a bit to clear it to start.
 
kmead said:
I suspect this deals with an over rich condition. When my starter was sticking ‘on’ I had an issue where I needed to depress the gas pedal a bit to clear it to start.
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Oh how I wish that were the case. There's so much more to it.
 
An update on my 1980 Fiat X1/9. After much effort, it appears timing was off. I set static timing, using the information in this forum to guide me. It ran. Then I attempted to loosen distributor to set timing with timing light. Distributor cap has been a recurring problem, which came off while setting final timing. Now I'm installing a new rotor and cap and starting over with finding spark and doing the static timing thing again. Very frustrating....
 
1983Bertone said:
An update on my 1980 Fiat X1/9. After much effort, it appears timing was off. I set static timing, using the information in this forum to guide me. It ran. Then I attempted to loosen distributor to set timing with timing light. Distributor cap has been a recurring problem, which came off while setting final timing. Now I'm installing a new rotor and cap and starting over with finding spark and doing the static timing thing again. Very frustrating....
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Yep. Very very frustrating. I know my timing is dead on - verified it multiple times by me and a Fiat mechanic who is helping with the problems. I've tried multiple caps and rotors. Swapped in a distributor and ballast resistor from a car that is running good. No change.
 
1983Bertone said:
An update on my 1980 Fiat X1/9. After much effort, it appears timing was off. I set static timing, using the information in this forum to guide me. It ran. Then I attempted to loosen distributor to set timing with timing light. Distributor cap has been a recurring problem, which came off while setting final timing. Now I'm installing a new rotor and cap and starting over with finding spark and doing the static timing thing again. Very frustrating....
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It appears my no start issue is a timing issue as well. Seems the belt jumped.🤨
 
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