Crisis of Faith, Do you HAVE to be a mecnanic to be into 914's? Options

[dagdal1967]

I (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wub.gif) my 914. This one is really special. Extremely clean, rust free (no really!) and original. I parted with my last one when I really didn't want to and regretted it severely!

However, the car is depressing me! After Clay helped me put the FI back on (which turned in to a mild debacle) she ran like a dream for a while, then the rebuilt feul pump started to "whine". It's internment so I still haven't diagnosed that propperly. Then I put new plugs in (on the recommendation of Clay) and now the damn thing is running like an old Briggs and Stratton Hit & Miss engine.

I am NOT mechanical. I never have been. I know enough to diagnose and fix small problems but don't really even have the base knowledge about engines that most all of you guys take for granted.

Am I kidding myself trying to own a 914? It seems like the maintenance never ends and after having the car (in running condition) for about a year now, I've barely been able to enjoy 2-3 months of driving!

Should I just give up and let someone else who has more know how and mechanical stamina take care of the old girl?

Suicidally yours.. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad2.gif)

Doug

[bperry]

Doug,
I'm in Addison. Just around the corner from you.
I can drop buy and give you hand. PM me.

My guess is that one of your ignition wires is bad.
I had a similar problem years ago, after changing out plugs.
I seem to recall that some ignition "wires" are not wires at all.
They use some kind of paste internally.
In my case, the plug connector wasn't making proper contact
with the internal paste. I pulled my hair out trying to figure out what
the problem was before I replaced the wires.
Only thing I can figure is that I accidentally pulled on the wire instead
of the connector when removing the plug wire.

In another case, it caused a heavy misfire between about 2000 and
2200 RPMs. In that case, it turned out that the engine vibration was
causing the internal paste to crack or separate and not fire one
of the plugs.
Talk about odd.... and painful (and expensive) to figure out since
it showed up suddenly after no maintenance and only caused
a problem in that RPM range.

After that second experience,
I now refuse to use ignition wires that are not made from real wire.

PS,
I've got a set of wires, I could bring over that we could try on your
engine to see if that is the problem.

---- bill

[dagdal1967]

Doug,
I'm in Addison. Just around the corner from you.
I can drop buy and give you hand. PM me.

My guess is that one of your ignition wires is bad.
I had a similar problem years ago, after changing out plugs.
I seem to recall that some ignition "wires" are not wires at all.
They use some kind of paste internally.
In my case, the plug connector wasn't making proper contact
with the internal paste. I pulled my hair out trying to figure out what
the problem was before I replaced the wires.
Only thing I can figure is that I accidentally pulled on the wire instead
of the connector when removing the plug wire.

In another case, it caused a heavy misfire between about 2000 and
2200 RPMs. In that case, it turned out that the engine vibration was
causing the internal paste to crack or separate and not fire one
of the plugs.
Talk about odd.... and painful (and expensive) to figure out since
it showed up suddenly after no maintenance and only caused
a problem in that RPM range.

After that second experience,
I now refuse to use ignition wires that are not made from real wire.

PS,
I've got a set of wires, I could bring over that we could try on your
engine to see if that is the problem.

---- bill

Bill,

Thanks for the offer. I'm going to do some trouble shooting today and see where it gets me, and I'll let you know. If you have some free time this weekend (and I don't get anywhere) I might PM you to see if you can help.

This group rocks! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/aktion035.gif)

[dagdal1967]

Good News ( (IMG:style_emoticons/default/boldblue.gif) ) and bad news ( (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad2.gif) )

Good News

After going through everything I did again, I managed to get the car running smoothly. While I'm not exactly sure what it was that I changed, removing the plug wires from the plugs and checking all the FI & Vacuum connections managed to do the trick.

Bad news (Clay ... are you listening?)

While I was on a roll, I decided to take your advice and take the access panel under the gas tank off and try to see if the fuel pump was vibrating against something to make all the racket.

I really don't think it is. By using the fuel line, I was able to move the fuel pump around quite a bit and no matter which way I moved it (up, down, left, right) it never stopped humming.

A also felt what I can only describe as heavy vibration through all of the fuel lines attached to the pump. My only diagnosis is that the re-built fuel pump is buggered.

Give me a call when you're back in town and we'll discuss how to handle this, since you purchased it from Zimms.

Anyway.. Crisis of faith over. Turns out I was just having a horrible week.

Thanks for all the kind words and advice guys. It's great to belong to such a nice group of people.

Doug