Lancia Beta Forum

Having been laid up for most of the winter, my HPE has lost its spark. its a later 1980 with electronic ignition.
I have followed the system back from the plugs, no voltage going into the coil. Cleaned and made new connections, and new earths.....still nothing.
When i came along today i noticed that the red battery warning light was not on when the starter turned over as they normally do. So could it be the ignition switch?

Mark

I would check the multiplug on the ignition switch loom, they do have
a habit of melting. ignition is dual circuit, 1 circuit lights 1 circuit ignition
(plus output to starter from ignition circuit) also check alternator wiring
and press test button on dash to check for blown warning lamps)

Geoff

Or you could check out the large black and white plugs under the fusebox.
My VX coupe pulled a similar stunt and everything went dead while moving the car back into the garage - all ignition lights went out and engine cut out.
I traced it to Plug three counting away from the drivers side, was a burnt connection but have seen them slightly loose causing the same thing.

You can with care using a small screwdriver, just pinch up the female spade ends assuming none are burnt.

If you are really stuck and need to move the car in an emergency, just jump a live wire from the battery to the positive side of the coil - thats the red side with the ballast resistor.

Hurry it up though - Auto Italia - Italian Car Day is just three weeks away!

I've had it where i've had ignition but no starter nor most lights, and that was the main wire from battery going into fusebox. Might be worth checking the main wire going into the fusebox from the alternator, might just be a corroded or broken connector.
If not that, have the ignition on, get the multimeter out, start from the wire you know isn't feeding the coil, and follow it checking for volts at every connection, junction, switch, it HAS to be getting feed from the battery somewhere so your soon find out where the volts are being lost, even if the switch is knackered it'll be getting 12v's to it, if it's not then it's either the black or brown wire which come from the fusebox fed by the two big wires furthest left and right into the fusebox.
Good luck mate  :D

Well it turned out to be the ignition switch. swapped it over with a used one and fired up on the turn of the key. phew............ no i can get on with the long list of jobs to do.

Mark

I was trying to get my Beta started today which also had no spark after an 18 month rest although fully serviceable when originally parked.  

I tried the usual 'plug lead to the head'...no spark... then 'main HT lead from the coil, to the head' but still no spark.  I checked the voltage where the LT circuit meets the coil and with a good reading on the test meter assumed the coil to be at fault.  I thus changed the coil - but still no spark!  Started thinking about more complex stuff and tried changing the ignition module but it was only when I made the link of the wiring from the distributor going to the LT circuit that I opted to change the distributor.  Wow....problem solved.

So....the car now runs just as it did 18 months ago when I parked (abandoned) it but I'm not sure what it is in the distributor that was broken.  I've now used my spare but I'll need another for my project car so.... can I fix it?  What could be wrong?  

Generally its the pick up bits in the dizzy that goes, if you need a replcement for your project  and if you have the boosh type dizzy, i have some recon ones on an exchange basis. www.lanciabetaparts.co.uk (http://www.lanciabetaparts.co.uk)
Mark

I wonder whether Betabuoy would like to look at the l.t. lead where it goes into the base of the distributor.  I had an intermittent starting fault on my spyder for two years. Was puzzled when removing a plug to check spark, it would start on 3 cylinders.  Problem was a break in the insulation where it enters the distributor,  creating the intermittent fault. Removing plug created engine vibration which moved cable for a short time and fault disappeared !  !  !

Ammy.  The wires both look fine as far as I can see but I haven't yet stripped down the distributor to go any further.  If or when I find out what the snag was I'll post it.

Chris