I recently purchased a Beta volumex, had been standing for at least 3 years with an engine problem, probably ignition. This is my third VX engined car and is proving a bit reluctant to burst into life.
I was convinced the rotor arm was at fault as the coil, plugs, leads and cap had been changed. There was a signal from the dizzy and the ignition modules are pretty bomb proof. It was not the rotor arm. I changed the ignition module, it was not that either.
Eventually I found the fault but not the cause so to speak. If the distributor is removed and turned by hand, the sparks come back into our lifes. The distributor does not appear to function when on the engine(end of camshaft type) The sparks are lost somewhere or more likely the coil is not 'triggered'
WHY?
I tried earthing the distributor when turning by hand, stills functions. All the plugs were out and the battery was fully charged so the engine turns over quickly but:
Perhaps the hall effect signal is too weak
I've got 'charged hands'
I've missed something obvious
Not many passengers are prepared to sit in the car and turn the distributor by hand, imagine, 3000rpm
Any ideas, it took me 3 months to find the faulty rotor arm on my stratos replica, only played up when hot. Starting to wish I'd bought a piano!
