car ran, now wont, and pops while turning

[PandaSelecta]

As some of you know i have a black Fiat Panda for sale, but i want to make sure the car is a good runner before selling it. So here are the problems i currently have.......

The HT leads were in the wrong places (firing 4132) and the car ran terrible, so i put the HT leads where they are supposed to be and now the car pops/backfires in the engine bay for a couple of seconds when trying to start it (wont start though).

I then put the HT leads back where they were, and its still the same (pops but wont start)

So where do i go from here?

Other things i have wrong with the car are - oily/rainbow effect in the coolant, smoke coming out the oil cap/breather when it did run, and a load of oil leaking around the timing chain area

[damageandy]

does it have a hall sender type distributor? a simple change of cap and rotor arm has been enough to break an old distributor on some of mine before.

[PandaSelecta]

don't know what a hall sender is. It has - points, condensor, rotor arm, vacuum advance.

[xbo11ox]

sounds like the firing order or the timing is all to cock still. getting them in the right order is one thing, but have you defo got the no.1 plug lead on the correct 'no. 1' terminal on the dizzy?

[PandaSelecta]

yeah, double checked everything, and then got my dad to check it all too (owners manual shows where each lead should go on the dizzy)

[Autofive]

condensor

[PandaSelecta]

Cheers A5, will get a new condensor tomorrow, as only about £1.50

[Dez]

timings probly a bit out too if someones been curse word about with it and its popping back. hows it looking for allignment on the static timing marks?

[PandaSelecta]

havent checked timing yet, have spent too much time trying to sort the other panda today

[elmotheewokking]

Others will know better than me on this, but if it's popping and backfiring in the engine bay, surely that means the spark is arriving at the wrong time and igniting the fuel before the valve has closed fully? If it ran like a dog before with the plug leads in the wrong order, but still ran, the chances of the static timing being correct (I'd say) are slim to none...
As I said, others probably know better, but that's where I'd start Panda.

[ChasR]

As above. If it ran vaguely ok With the wrong firing order I reckon the ignition timing would be out. Get the timing light out or at the very least recheck the static timing.

Condenser (if it has one) may have short circuited, which would cause similar issues but I would check the timing first.

[xbo11ox]

If you're 100% sure you've got the plug leads in the right order and the right place, must be the timing I reckon. Loosen the dizzy and while your dad is cranking the starter give the dizzy a bit of a twist, see if you can find a position where it sounds like its more inclined to start.