My 1.7L won't RUN!?!?!? HELP, Cant get it running good Options

[justdrive914]

I live in asheville north carolina and own a 1973 914 1.7L. I have had the worst problems and cant seem to get it running right. When I first bought the car the man said he had the engine rebuilt and I realized he knew nothing about the 914 and he never got it running correctly again after the rebuild. So I have it now and I'm still having problems, First off it kept getting gas in the oil, after much tests i figured out it was the pressure sensorand replaced it. Now I am still having problems. Here it is, It doesn't idle to well but pretty god most times, and when you try and give it hard gas it misses a little at first but not bad till you get to about 3000rpm and then it seems it has no power just the sound of the engine and takes a long time to start speeding up in the higher rpm range, through out the rpm range it kinda spits and sputters the higher you go the worse it gets ,but around 2500 to 4000 its the worst. It has a petronix ingitor on it instead of points, I've tried switching back and forth from points to the ignitor and back, to no avail ,I did a valve adjustment checked it twice and check fuel pressure and compression all great! changed plugs, wires ,rotor, cap. Put on all new vacuum lines ( no leaks) , pressure sensor (mps) and head temp sensor!

Do you have any other suggestions, ideas or anything?

Thanks , Andrew Konopka

Check my other thread too!

[BMXerror]

1. Kinda sounds like it possibly could be a throttle position sensor. Check this by turning the ignition on without starting the car, hitting the throttle and listening for your injectors clicking. This will be a pretty obvious 'yes or no' because the injectors are surprisingly loud. I would just check this first because it's quick and easy, but I really think that it's a timing issue.

2. This is purely a hunch, but given that the guy didn't know anything about 914s.... I would check the valves again, but this time make sure they're timed correctly with the crank AND the distributor. Again, just a gut feeling, but it sounds possible that something is out of time internally within the engine.

It just sounds like you have the three elements needed for combustion(air, fuel, and spark) but you don't have that last, very important element needed to make an engine run well: timing. It sounds like something is WAY out of time... like the engine is actually fighting itself. Does it vibrate like hell? If so, I'd suspect a cam. Seen it before with a Lycoming IO-540 who's cam was 55 degrees out of time. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/slap.gif) Scary shit. If it doesn't vibrate, I'd say distributor.... Maybe this is way out there, because it's late and I'm really tired. But it's worth looking into. Hope that helps. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)
Mark D.

[justdrive914]

1. Kinda sounds like it possibly could be a throttle position sensor. Check this by turning the ignition on without starting the car, hitting the throttle and listening for your injectors clicking. This will be a pretty obvious 'yes or no' because the injectors are surprisingly loud. I would just check this first because it's quick and easy, but I really think that it's a timing issue.

2. This is purely a hunch, but given that the guy didn't know anything about 914s.... I would check the valves again, but this time make sure they're timed correctly with the crank AND the distributor. Again, just a gut feeling, but it sounds possible that something is out of time internally within the engine.

It just sounds like you have the three elements needed for combustion(air, fuel, and spark) but you don't have that last, very important element needed to make an engine run well: timing. It sounds like something is WAY out of time... like the engine is actually fighting itself. Does it vibrate like hell? If so, I'd suspect a cam. Seen it before with a Lycoming IO-540 who's cam was 55 degrees out of time. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/slap.gif) Scary shit. If it doesn't vibrate, I'd say distributor.... Maybe this is way out there, because it's late and I'm really tired. But it's worth looking into. Hope that helps. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)
Mark D.

I'll check the valve even though I re did them, how can I tell there line up with the crank also the injectors click there 20 times

The vibration it does vibrate a bit but seems normal I' ve had a 914 before like a year ago but got hit, go it running and it seems about the same , but how can i tell