Another Bad Ignition Switch?, Starting woes... Options

[orthobiz]

I have a 2 year old ignition switch. When I first got my car, it had a bad ignition switch which I replaced when I first got the car. I haven't had problems again until this year.

I have a 1974 1.8 liter 914. Occasionally, when I turn the key, the brake lights, etc. go on in the first position, but in the START position, nothing happens. If I turn the key on and off a couple of times it will start the car. It's an intermittent problem. One time I turned it and the starter turned over but the engine wouldn't kick.

It has happened when the car was hot (80 degrees here yesterday and had been running a bit) and when the car is cold.

Is this an ignition switch or could it be a bad starter or solenoid or what?

Thanks,

Paul

[wobbletop]

I thought my starter switch was bad too, but after taking apart the steering column (PITA) it turned out to be a broken wire in the engine bay at the main wiring connector.

[zonedoubt]

I spotted a few recent user comments over on the PP site under the tech article for switch replacement:

Yesterday I was working on a friend's 914 that had a bad ignition switch. We had THREE new switches, but NONE of them worked until I put a shim at the right place between the die-cast metal cylinder and the plastic. That made it work! I sure hope it continues to work.

Seems that reproduction switches aren't built to the tolerances of the original German ones. There is a solution though. Simply adding a shim made from some folded over paper on the right hand side of the switch as viewed from the key's perspective at 3 o'clock is just enough to make the switch work as it should.

I doubted this at first, but when the switch I installed didn't work I gave it a try and it worked as it should!

I'm going to try this before I start tearing into wiring, etc.