911tracker85

got the rear caliper rebuilt and on the car, and fluid flushed.

the owner said he had replaced plugs/wires and it was running after that.

he was not sure if his buddy fiddled with anything after that. I do wonder as I found the wires to the starter solenoid disconnected and one of the starter bolts off. his buddy was going to start pulling stuff to trouble shoot the no-start problem on the other 914. his friend was only visiting for a few days.

so starting the trobleshooting process.

with a remote start button switch and the key on, the motor turns over and nothing. tried a small cap of gas and still nothing.

I checked and get 12V to the coil, but when I pull the wire going to the rotor and try to check for spark I don't seem to be getting any spark to the dist.

reading the books, and it said I should see a spark from the coil to dist wire.

any suggestion on what to check/verify is appreciated. my first time to have to track down this kind of issue.

be careful what you ask for. you definitely learn more when things are messed up.

Matt Romanowski

To make it run, you need fuel, air, and spark. The air part is almost always easy. Pull the wire from the coil to the distributor and check for spark when it's turning over and key is on. If no spark, then see if it's getting 12v to the coil. After that, you have to check the points.

If it's getting 12v and a point signal, then it's a bad coil.

911tracker85

Matt,
thanks. reading the haynes I now suspect points. I got a reading on both wires on the dist when turning over. haynes said I should not see voltage on the other coil wires if the points are making contact.

this is one of the dangers of starting to work on such an old car. something that was working may break in the middle of you fixing something else.

blizzard in our area today, so probably wont make it to the shop again until Thurs.

will report back after next effort.

==================

so I also started looking at the other one. guy said he replaced the solenoid trying to troubleshoot the issue. issue is turn key and nothing after another shop replaced the battery and alt. he was there and heard the zap when they were working on it, so shorted something.

so I hooked up the starter button to the solenoid. hear clicking but does not turn over. had a second battery and charger attached, so should have enough amps.

reading the haynes and it says a bad solenoid may click but not do the job of sending juice to the starter. so will probably put the old solenoid back on and test.

you do learn more when things don't work ..... the saga continues......

Matt Romanowski

Ignition switches can go bad. You can run the starter with a switch or a screwdriver (connecting the main lead and the solinoid). If that works ok, then work back towards the switch. 914 solinoids are known to fail, but it's usually that they will let the starter spin but not push the gear out.

911tracker85

Matt,
thanks for your replies.

on the no-starter-movement '70 ( the second entry in my last post), will be borrowing a spare ign switch and a few relays from a friend for more testing.

but...

when I use the starter button connected to the solenoid, get a pretty loud click but engine does not turn over. as neither battery is fully charged, could be that or weak ground. was feeling around the front of the engine for a crank bolt to manually turn the engine to move the flywheel/starter contact point, but guess it is covered by the housing.

SUGGESTION on how to do that? need to see if the books suggest a method.

both cars were sitting outside for a couple months after running last, getting to my shop just before thanksgiving. so was hoping it would not involve moisture issues by now.

so if getting the batteries charged and then if necessary putting the old solenoid back on does not alter the symptoms on the 70, may pull starter/solenoid from the 76 as it is turning the motor over.


now back to checking the points on the 76...

Matt Romanowski

There is a nut on the front of the fan inside the housing that you can turn. I can't remember what size it is off hand, but I think it's a 13mm. You can turn the motor over with that. Don't pry on the blades of the fan - you'll break them. Or just throw it in 5th gear and rock it. If the motor is seized you'll know pretty quick.

Also, don't screw with used starters. Go to Advanced autoparts and buy a starter for a 1970 911. It should be around $70 and have a lifetime warranty.

It sounds like you might have a low battery condition. Just stick a voltmeter on it.

911tracker85

Matt,
thanks again.

only reason I would swap the starters between the cars is troubleshoot. will try to try that crank bolt to rotate the motor a bit first, then swap back old solenoid. up on jack stands or I would rock it.

the sound is similar to low voltage, but it is a new battery, and had a second one jumpered along with putting a charger on for a while.

snow and ice here today or I would be at the garage now......

Matt Romanowski

Put a jack under one wheel and jack it up until the car just starts to come off the jack stand. Then you can turn the other wheel to see if the motor will turn. I do the same thing under then car when adjusting the valves.

911tracker85

76 update: SUCCESS.
don't ask me what I did. R&R the dist/rotor. check points movement while car turning over. pull wires from coil to dist/points. ground coil checking for spark. seeing spark when grounding the coil lead to dist, but not as big a spark as expected.

reconnect coil wire to dist/points. turn motor and seeing spark from coil. reassemble and the motor fired right up.

waiting on the RR caliper to finish the 76.


70 update:
Matt,
thanks again. bracing one wheel and turning the other worked. motor turned over some. but solenoid only makes clicking. fully charged the new battery in the car and jumper another fully charged battery.

guy put in the new solenoid but never tested. so will pull and maybe reinstall the old solenoid. and start troubleshooting the other inop elec stuff.

911tracker85

got back to the shop and tinkering on the 70.

R&R the solenoid to verify it was installed correct. still only a clicking sound.

so re-install the OLD solenoid, and voila. turns over fine, but does not fire.

try a little gas down the carb throats and it fires but dies. so now need to start tracing what appears to be a fuel problem. this car has two, dual downdraft carbs, not sure what mfg, and has a small elec fuel pump. I can hear/ feel the pump running with ign on. not sure how long it has been sitting since last run, but suspect at least a couple months now. really hope I don't have to disassemble/clean those carbs.

and haven't even started trying to figure out the elec issues, want to have motor running when I start checking what does and does not work.

911tracker85

70 update.

removed both weber carbs, drained and flushed with carb cleaner and left soaking over night.

put them back in and got it running. after talking to the guy I am going to run a pair of wires to the dash and put in a 'start button' that will trigger the solenoid, rather than troubleshoot / replace the ign switch. everything I checked seemed to work, headlights, tail lights, etc. hoping nothing else inop.

started the 76 again, and no problems.

now they both need to be driven to decide how much 'tuning' to do. fortunately the guy I rent from used to build/race VWs dune buggies and is familiar with syncing and tuning webers.

so this is the end of the 'now wont start' posting.

thanks again to Matt for the replies / suggestions.

Matt Romanowski

No problem. Glad they are running.

skl

The ignition button sounds of "cool." My new Golf R has it as do most cars now with keyless start. May have to do that on the 914 I'm restoring as it's going to kind of a "hot rod" anyway, and not stock...