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Just a quick update as I hate threads that come to nothing. I eventually fixed this issue a week after the last post (early January 2020). What was it ? The Halls sensor in the distributor. I changed the diizzy and it fired up first time. Its going for an MOT in the next couple of weeks and then it will be up for sale. Its started on the first flick of the key ever since. Currently showing just over 36,600 miles. Anyone any ideas on what a reasonable asking price would be? Ill post some pics in the next few days. Thanks for all the help on this (a bit delayed, I admit) Chris.

OMG! This is freaking unbelievable. I wish you were nearby. ok, so it has to be related to ignition. Or a power rail fault, maybe via a relay? And intermittant at that. Not throttle body. Nope. You can always check the TPS output by watching the throttle % demand from the pedal as you move it on the laptop (I think it's a cable, not drive by wire in that model?). If powered throttle body, it usually goes into limp mode, which allows it ti start and only gives you a fast idle. More air than a regular idle... so will always start. This is nuts. You have practically rebuilt the damn thing. Respect. And you haven't completely lost it.... yet. I wonder... Can you measure 5v at the sensors? Oh, and check the earth (continuity) bus while you're at it. The behaviour is like a coil pack or plug lead/dizzy is failing. But from all the stuff you've changed, I'm pretty sure it can't be. But you 'can' get very similar symptoms when a relay is iffy. Like the engine loom power bus isn't quite right. I'm shaking my head. I had a similar issue with an SDI, where I changed everything to try and eliminate a loud ticking noise while idling. Read about it on here somewhere, 2 years ago. In the end I even swapped the whole engine as I was convinced it was a broken ring. The ticking came back. It was a dodgy injector. Even though I had 3 sets of injectors, all of which had been properly matched, calibrated and bench tested- and were known to be good. Yeah, it happens to all of us.

Ha ha ha, Its never that fooking easy is it! Having got it running sweet on Monday I then commenced to purchasing new disks, pads, Shell Helix oil, oil filter, air filter, cabin filter and fresh brake fluid to bleed through. All of these were fitted 26th and it was running very nicely indeed.Took it for a test spin, all good. Came to start it today and guess what. Yep, It wont start. Turning over, but wont fire. Plugs wet again, and plugs sparking again, however spark looked a bit weak. So, as mentioned in my previous post. Quote - Still cant get my head around it. Well I can, but there are still some things I don't understand. Yep, I couldn't understand what was wrong with the HT leads, because there was nothing wrong with them. Swapping them out was a fluke. Swapping the old ones back was a fluke, and a bloody good one, Had me, half fooled. Changed the coil for the second hand one I bought, still would not start. Then thought Id swap the distributor over, Did this and guess what, It started, Trimmed it in and all was good, running sweet again Turned it off/on many times, all good. So I resigned myself to a dodgy Halls sensor or something, and packed away. Just as Id finished and was loosing the light, tried it again, it had been stood for about 15 mins. Would not start, turning over fine. but just not firing AGAIN!!!! Plugged in the diagnostic and Im getting two fault codes, the same ones that have always been present. 00533 Idle speed regulation control limit exceed.01087 Basic setting not performed, signal outside tolerances. This is what the Snap-on diagnostic says - 00533 Idle speed regulation control limit exceed - Intake leak/blockage, throttle valve tight/sticking IAC Valve or ISC actuator/position sensor. 01087 Basic setting not performed, signal outside tolerances - Throttle valve tight/sticking. So looks like a throttle body issue. Would this allow the car not to start, then to start, then not to etc? So far spent £176.50 on getting a car back on the road that wont run, It did run, and tricked me into spending more money, then stopped again. I really have to move on now.

I've been down the exact same road, but not on a Lupo so feel your pain... There is something wierd about vdub plug leads. They all fail. My gut feeling is that it has something to do with the metal heat shroud around the plug end. If you carefully remove the outside metal bits, you'll see that the leads start working again. Nothing to do with the resistance (as they are meant to be resistive leads to reduce radio interference). I think the metal bit which is earthed, somehow shorts out the HT- which doesn't show up on a regular meter test. I have seen the metal bit pierce the insulation over time, but only enough to short out the HT. Try it and let us know what you find...

Cheers, Yep, nothing worse than posts that come to nothing. I mean, its fine, some things in life do come to nothing, but you need to say so. What happened next, did you get it sorted or what? I have read plenty of these over the years and quite a lot of in the last four weeks.

OK, Its fixed. Thanks for all the support and suggestions. Still cant get my head around it. Well I can, but there are still some things I don't understand. Bought a set of new Intermotor HT's, fitted them today and it fired-up instantly and settled to a smooth idle at around 900 rpm. Perfect. Totally confused by how the originals failed, all at once, all together, also how each plug was sparking strongly when tested with no tracking when checked in the dark. Also, checked with strobe HT clamp and it showed them to be sparking. Finally, tested them for continually and resistance and all tested fine. So why didn't they allow the feckin' car to run? Took the new ones off and replaced with the old again, just to check that I wasn't loosing my head, and no, wouldn't start, just 'chugging' on one cylinder? intermittently. Took each plug out and to check and they were fooking sparking, every fooking one!!! Put the new ones back on, fired up instantly, ticking over smooth. So, what happened was, the car was stood for over two years and started every now and then, It always started and ticked over fine. The week before I got into these problems it started fine and ticked over sweet. The very next weekend it was started again and developed a misfire on one cylinder. At this stage I beloved it to be a plug lead perhaps as I found that one could be unplugged without effecting the running. Next weekend it wouldn't start, so this made me think it perhaps has a dodgy lead, but now something else has developed. These are the readings for the defective plug leads. ie defective meaning they allow the plugs to spark and give the impression of functioning leads but not allow the engine to run? 4 = 5.48k Ohms3 = 5.94K Ohms2 = 5.74k Ohms1 = 5.83k Ohms For reference the new plug leads all tested at around 2 - 2.5 Ohms. Now I don't think the results above are bad enough not to allow the car to run, but it appears that they are? This has been a frustrating journey, that totally mislead me. Still will never know how the HT's can go from an intermittent misfire on one cylinder to a complete no-start in less than half an hour. One big circle. Just glad it was something an nothing.