LBZ Running !

[davidb]

Yes Dear Friends it's davidb, Mr. Know-It-All [hardly] here.
After 3 & a half yrs. working on my own I had my mechanic
pull, acid wash, coat, replace the tank & sundry original cloth
covered fuel lines while accessible last week. I can finally
drive more than a mile. The engine rocks while shifting: motor
mounts & the mini struts, hmmmm? Shifting into 2ND & reverse
is damn near impossible in spite of new bushings. Adjustment
& that famous "T" bar Jim, Charley, SubG talk about for new
stuff. Coal cart ride remains. V. disappointing! BetaBoyz is soon
to sell rear upper shock rubbers. Hopefully the 3 part fronts will
follow soon. After this length of time, well it's grossly unfair.
I thought these cars were re-do-able if you spent lotsa dollars &
lotsa time on them. In summation apparently I don't know squat.

[davidb]

Just had it towed back to house after a 1/2 run. No start. Call
it an addendum. This car is cursed.

[Jim Keller]

The no start, was it turning over? or just nothing when you turned the key? if nothing, replace the red wire to the selenoid all the way past the connector a the battery tray, removing the two or three plug terminals and cleaning the selenoid terminal for same very well. That will cure the "no turn over on hot engine" problem

You can start it in an emergency if it fails to turn over when the engine is hot and leaves you stranded somewhere by unplugging that red selenoid wire terminal at the front corner towards the engine of the battery tray, sticking it in neutral, setting the park brake, turning the ignition to "on" or "run" position, and then jumping the red wire from the plug to the positive battery terminal with a piece of wire, it will turn over and start for you, then just plug it back in and stick the jumper wire in the glove box for the next time. I have carried a jumper wire around in the glove box of every Beta I have owned since about the second year of ownership, when I realized I could get it started like that!, prior to my stumbling accross the fix of just replacing that wire all the way eliminating a couple extra plug in connectors that get corroded and take away the voltage when they get warm from operation. No more being embarrased too much at the filling station or beer carry out market getting someone to help push it around the parking lot while I dumped the clutch to get it running! LOL

On that note, if you are ever in the position you need to "push" start it by dumping the clutch, push the car backwards and use reverse, for some reason, they will always start right up in reverse at barely any speed at all, it just needs to roll enough for you to get back in, slam it in reverse and dump the clutch, (I have used one leg out the door a gazillion times pushing it just a few feet to gain a little roll speed and popped the clutch), but you have to roll it pretty fast using forward gears, not sure why, but reverse must turn it over at a speed it likes for startup, trying forward has always taken several tries and pretty fast roll before it will come to life

Or you can install the relay trick too

If it turned over but failed to start, I'll need more symptom description to help

Glad to hear the tanks finally ironed out! <big smile>

[davidb]

I had a "new" [re-built] starter put in 2 weeks ago. It cranks,
won't catch. I sent you a descriptive e-mail Jim. Thanks.

[Jim Keller]

Yup, got your email, it's not a starter problem

Ignition or fuel