Help! Lost key

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bromleybysea

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Went to start the engine for the first time this year and couldn't find the ignition key. It's usually in the corner of the chart table but no sign of it. Looked everywhere. Even put a magnet down the bilge, The engine (Beta) is 20 years old so I guess the panel is too. Do I need to get a new ignition switch and hope I can sort the wiring? Is there a temporary fix so I can go sailing on the bank holiday weekend. Any ideas chaps ?!
 
Ha. My lost key had mysteriously placed itself in the ignition. I have no idea how an inanimate object can accomplish such a feat?

Have you looked there?
 
bromleybysea said:
Went to start the engine for the first time this year and couldn't find the ignition key. It's usually in the corner of the chart table but no sign of it. Looked everywhere. Even put a magnet down the bilge, The engine (Beta) is 20 years old so I guess the panel is too. Do I need to get a new ignition switch and hope I can sort the wiring? Is there a temporary fix so I can go sailing on the bank holiday weekend. Any ideas chaps ?!
Click to expand...
Have you tried any random small keys or slivers of metal? On a Yanmar 1GM panel pretty much any small key or flat implement that fits into the slot works...! Failing that, if like a 1GM then presumably it's a simple switch just connecting some ignition wires together, so you could temporarily replace with a toggle switch or something if needed?
 
You can buy Kubota keys on Ebay for peanuts - they are all the same.
Even easier, just use a screwdriver. Whilst I never tried it on the Beta 20hp I had (2005) I don't think there is any security aspect to the 'key', it is just a lever operating a switch.
 
bromleybysea said:
Do I need to get a new ignition switch and hope I can sort the wiring? Is there a temporary fix so I can go sailing on the bank holiday weekend. Any ideas chaps ?!
Click to expand...

KEY/SWITCH
It is unlikely you will need to buy a new switch. As others have said, the keys are readily available. I'm not sure it is a Kubota switch/key, as though the basic engine is Kubota, the switch panel is likely part of Beta's marinisation. I know various switch panels (all the same make, I think) were available as options with the engine.

You can buy a new key (or even switch, in the unlikely event you needed that) direct from Beta. (Get two, to avoid this pickle in future!) They won't be the cheapest source, but at least you'll be sure you are getting the right one (if you can provide the WOC (Works Order Card) number -their preference - or failing that, the engine number). Beta are very helpful and ship out parts v. quickly - often same day - in my experience (though that was a few years back), so I think you'd have no trouble getting it by the bank holiday weekend.

TEMPRARY FIX
So you probably won't need the temporary fix you ask about. That would involve temporarily connecting the relevant terminals on the back of the switch panel, referring to the wiring diagram in the workshop manual. I am guessing that the engine would start if you simply temporarily applied a positive to the relevant terminal of the starter solenoid (it might be a little slower to start than normal without the heater setting first), but I don't know if you would have the temp/oil/charge alarms working starting that way. Others more knowledgeable than me may be able to advise.
 
Not any help for your current predicament but worth tethering the key somehow with a length of cord somehow so it cannot go walkabout again. It is what I do.
 
I lost my car keys, I was on my boat in Holyhead Harbour and placed them in my wife's black handbag. 3 days later when I was due to return home II asked my wife to get my keys out of her handbag, and they were not there, this was in 1973 so it showed my first sign of dementia.
I had to get a taxi to the nearest Ford Garage and get them to break into the car and fit a new steering lock and ignition key.

When I got home the friend who had been staying on the boat with us rang me and said that he had found a set of car keys in his wifes Black Handbag.

Obviously I had put the keys in the wrong handbag.
 
Only one ignition key! Duplicates are always a good idea.
Key storage is another issue, ignition key is kept in a specific locker on the boat along with battery isolator keys, a spare is on the boat keys and another at home.
Boat keys are snap hooked to a ring in 'boat bag', spare is in waterproof phone bag along with car keys, which hangs round my neck when I'm in transit in the dinghy.
Again, another set is at home.
I went over to keeping phone and keys in a waterproof pouch round my neck after once falling out of my dinghy and loosing my phone from my pocket. That's another story 🙄
 
I would be loth to lose a key but I have spares in the marina office, available to me and the engineers. In fact, the engineers managed to lose the keys many years ago, which cost them a fair bit in replacement. My start key usually sits on the chart table and hasn't yet learned how to walk.
 
paulbrown22 said:
Have you tried any random small keys or slivers of metal? On a Yanmar 1GM panel pretty much any small key or flat implement that fits into the slot works...! Failing that, if like a 1GM then presumably it's a simple switch just connecting some ignition wires together, so you could temporarily replace with a toggle switch or something if needed?
Click to expand...
We had an X332 with a Yanmar which was chartered. One of the charterers reported that the engine key kept falling out of the ignition, but it was still possible to start the engine. Turned out they had been using the key for the cockpit lockers which was on the same keyring!
 
blush2 said:
We had an X332 with a Yanmar which was chartered. One of the charterers reported that the engine key kept falling out of the ignition, but it was still possible to start the engine. Turned out they had been using the key for the cockpit lockers which was on the same keyring!
Click to expand...
Exactly - the benefit of a Yanmar key is that it stays in the ignition! Anything else that fits in the ignition will turn it, but tends to fall out...
 
Yeah, I turned the key switch on in my Yanmar control panel years ago, never did find the key again. Makes sure that I isolate the starter battery when engine off as the alarm blares until I do...
 
It may well be cheaper to find a suitable push button switch on ebay that will fit. As used by volvo. Easy job.

Yanmar ignition panels....lose key, use a screwdriver.

Gas bottle locker is first place I would look if I had bad intentions!
 
I've never had a beta engine, but most I've used have 4 position,
Centre key in and off.
Anticlockwise preheat
1st click clockwise power on, this generally will enable the field current to the alternator, without this function the alternator may not operate.
2nd click clockwise starter solenoid.

To hot wire, you may need to ensure that the alternator has a field current, this would need an on off/switch. you need to remember to turn it off when you stop the engine, or it may discharge the started battery ..... you can probably guess how I know that.
You'll need a momentary switch to activate the starter solenoid, shorting with a screwdriver can be "interesting" with lots of sparks, and may cause some damage. I keep a momentary switch in my tool box, wire to crock clips, especially for that.

My most annoying problem I've had with keys, were with car keys that didn't walk. I'd completed the spring delivery trip from the Clyde to Loch Linnhe, and after taking a taxi to Oban and the car still in the yard on the Clyde. I boarding the train, as it made it's way past Loch Lomond, I had the sinking feeling. where are my car keys. I search every pocket ... long story short, when I eventually got back the the boat, on it's mooring, the key had, very obediently, remained on the chart table, where I'd left them the previous evening so that I wouldn't forget them!
 
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