Lancia Beta Forum

I have a B reg Beta and i have having no joy trying to get it started.  I have now tried 2 black boxes i have bought over the interenet and still not been able to get it started.  The mechanic that has looked at it is 99% certain it is the black box.  Any ideas

Should i go down the line of lumenition etc.  If so what should i go for

Need to know exactly what sort of Beta you have?
Injection, carburettor, capacity?
Beta's (Coupe and HPE) of that vintage (1985) - 2.0l are all injection with Digiplex unless retro fitted with carb or carbs, 1600 should also have digiplex but have seen earlier block mounted Bosch units.
So as i said need to know exactly what you have.

When you say "black box" you must be talking about the ignition module on the suspension turret (Lumenition makes me think of the ignition)
But then again the injection ECU is black also. 
Its possible you have bought two duds but cant help thinking that maybe you have another problem.
99% also gives me the impression your mechanic is not certain - he/she should be able to test the distributor/coil with a multimeter. 

Let us know what the car is exactly and we can go from their.

And no i would not bother with lumenition because unless you have a car with points and wanted an easy bolt on ignition solution you would have to look for a points distributor to fit one.

Hi there sorry for the delay.  Thanks for the reply,  I have a Lancia Beta 1985 HPE 1.6 Carb

the black box you are correcting in assuming it is the ignition module on the suspension turret.

We have tested the coil and the distributor and things seem to be working there.  We can get one spark from the black box but that is it before we have to discontect and it seems to be with the coil gets charged back up again we can get another.

Any direction would be good thanks

Just a thought, have you checked the insulation on the pickup sensor inside the distributer?
Had it happen on a few Lancias.

Insulator on the pick up sensor inside a Bosch hall effect distributor is difficult to see unlike the Marelli unit, which can be seen with ease when you take the cap off.
The two wires loose the covering and you are left with nice green/blue exposed wire.
The way they work is identical but Bosch have made it a little overcomplicated.

OK so you have tested the distributor with a multimeter?
That is connected it to the pins in the plug and spun the engine over to make sure you are getting a pulse - this is just to make double sure that the distributor can be ruled out.

Check the three pin plug on the harness also - black is earth (this earths the plate the amplifier sits on also so make sure its doing its job) , double Grey is positive, blue/white goes to the rev counter so ignore this.

Also remove the sheath on the amplifiers plug and check for broken wires (sometimes the pins pull out) any bent pins on the Bosch amplifier box?
Do the same also for the distributor plugs - just to make double sure!

 
Is the ceramic resistor fitted in line on the positive side of the coil - if so bypass for the time being to make sure you get 12 volts on the plus side of the coil.

If the above checks out then your mechanic is 100% right and not 99% its the amplifier that's faulty.

Seems odd though that you have purchased two replacements and they also don't work - makes me a little suspicious of your wiring harness.

Can sell you a guaranteed working unit, if you fit it and it does not work, chances are the fault is on your car.
Did the car run and has developed this fault or did you buy it as a non runner?  Just curious.