electrical power problem questions Options

[Black914_4]

1974 2.0, all stock and orginal

1) Last week I suddenly lost power to my fuel pump. I checked fuses and replaced relays to no avail.
Right now I have a wire tapped onto the fuel pump power wire that is ran into the car to a switch. If the car is on the fuel has power via my wire that keeps the fuel pump running full time. I've been driving it like this, but would like to fix it properly.
Any ideal where I should look for the problem?

2) I only have power to one headlight (it was like this since I bought the car a couple weeks ago). I jumped wires from the other light across to the power wires on this light and it works but again I would like to fix it correctly but not sure where to look for the problem. I did check the ground and it looks fine.

3) The other night I was driving the car with the lights on, radio on, heater on, and wipers on. The wipers would barely run. I glanced at my volt gage and it was at around 7-8 volts. Is this normal? Do I need to rebuild my alternator or get a bigger one?

[Mike Bellis]

Disconnect your battery. Remove all fuses and clean the terminals with a brass brush.

These cars are notorious for getting corrosion on the fuse connections.

[Mike Bellis]

While your at it, clean all the ground connections...

[windforfun]

Check your voltage regulator too.

[messix]

You must have some lucus electrical part some where...... Pretty soon it will let all the british magic electirical smoke out.!

[JStroud]

Had the same fuel pump issue, turned out to be corrosion in the relay socket on my relay board, cleaned all the connections reinstalled, fuel pump worked and other electrical issues cleared up as well. Or your relay board may need rebuilding, check for missing, cracked tar and corrosion on the bottom.

Hope this helps
Jeff

[SLITS]

Fuel pump ... ground is above relay board .. check it. Power wire is from relay board relay. Clean connections.

Headlight: Could be the headlight switch itself .. they come apart after many years.
Did you check to see if you have hi/lo beams on the one side? Could be the column switch also or relay.

Lo volts ... old wires, corroded connections, etc. Check alternator with VOM. Check battery voltage first .. approx 12.6 volts. Start engine and raise RPM to about 1000, check battery voltage again ... should read 13.6 or there about.

[Black914_4]

I'll check my relay board again and clean all the connectors.

I havent pulled my light switch yet, I'll try that. High/low beams work.

Had good voltage just now when I drove to town. With nothing on it runs around 14ish. But the more stuff I turn on the lower it gets.

The car does show its age. Most of the wires are old. My plan is to fix it up slowly and enjoy driving it every day. Should I be looking into replacing all the wire harnesses?

[ClayPerrine]

I'll check my relay board again and clean all the connectors.

I havent pulled my light switch yet, I'll try that. High/low beams work.

Had good voltage just now when I drove to town. With nothing on it runs around 14ish. But the more stuff I turn on the lower it gets.

The car does show its age. Most of the wires are old. My plan is to fix it up slowly and enjoy driving it every day. Should I be looking into replacing all the wire harnesses?

If you are looking at the factory volt meter in the console, then you need to get a real volt meter on the car. That one is about as accurate as trying to shoot a tack with a shotgun.

[Black914_4]

If you are looking at the factory volt meter in the console, then you need to get a real volt meter on the car. That one is about as accurate as trying to shoot a tack with a shotgun.
[/quote]

I was looking at the gage inside. lol
I do have a real meter though.

[Mike Bellis]

If any of your headlights work, the problem is not the switch. The headlight switch turns on a single wire. This wire goes to the Hi/Lo relay. If you can switch Hi/Lo, the relay is OK. From the relay two wires go to the fuse panel; Yellow and White. These are your Light power wires. The white wires split and go to the first 2 fuses. The yellow wire splits and go to fuses 3 & 4.
Fuse 1= High Left
Fuse 2= High Right
Fuse 3= Low Left
Fuse 4= Low Right

[wingnut86]

Start saving up for a wiring harness rebuild via Mr. Bowlsby on our site...

Shameless Plug (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon_bump.gif)

[sean_v8_914]

kg6dxn is spot-on
don't waste any time trouble shooting ANY 914 electrical issued until you do some basic old car maintenance.

dont think about it, just ATTACK!
green scrubby schotch pad works well
clean fuse contacts
clean ground point on vertical wall in front of relay bvoard
clean relay board contacts

this will make many 914 gremlins go away.

[Black914_4]

Will do

thanks