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Posted by: Garold Shaffer May 14 2007, 10:27 AM

Saturday we had our first solo. My 914 is still at the body shop so I ran the 944. My brother inlaw brought his 72 914. The past few weeks it has been hard to start after driving for a bit. I thought maybe hot start problem.

At the solo it wouldn't start, it would hardly crank at all. Tried push starting, nada. tried jump start, car would crank but I didn't here the fuel pump. Time was running short so we both just ran my 944. I towed his 914 back to my house and Sunday afternoon I charged the battery, because it was down below 10 volts.

Because of the 914 sites I knew that you need to check for the basics, spark & fuel. We had spark, so I pulled a fuel injector and put the end in glass jar, cranked the car, yep no fuel. Ok back to basics, again because of this site I knew to check the relays on the relay board. I pulled them and plugged them in the headlight motor and found that with two of them the light would turn on, but not raise. Could this be the problem???

Like all good 914 nuts I have a few spare relays', found two good ones to replace the possible bad ones. Put everything back together, turned the key and heard the fuel pump and then VAROOM YES!!!

Now, I'm a car guy, but by far no mechanic. I like to tinker, but I have always been a little gun shy when it comes to anything beyond oil changes & tire rotations. I do buy junk 914s and part them from time to time, but never really done mechanic type stuff. I know this sounds very minor to most everyone here, but I am proud of myself.

We still need to figure out why the battery needed to charged. It could just be a old battery, but I am not sure just yet. I guess it is time to hang my mechanic sign out front of the house, NOT

Posted by: Eric_Shea May 14 2007, 10:39 AM

:WTG: Sparky!

Posted by: Bartlett 914 May 14 2007, 10:46 AM

Way to go Garold!

Maybe it just needed to be charged after trying to start without fuel. Could be an old weak battery. To check the charging, measure the voltage at the battery before and after starting the motor. Should jump up to 13.5 to 14 volts when running.

Posted by: So.Cal.914 May 14 2007, 10:50 AM

Way to go!

Posted by: Justinp71 May 14 2007, 10:55 AM

You have unleashed the mechanic within...

Posted by: markb May 14 2007, 02:48 PM

Posted by: seanery May 14 2007, 09:09 PM

Way to go Garold! I'm gunshy, too