this is probably a dumb question but do the spark plug wires have to be plugged in to the distributor at a certain spot? and if so what would be the order? I'm brand new to the 914. Well actually brand new to all cars the 914 i recently inherited will be my first car!! so any help would be appreciated

The engine tin is marked next to the cylinders. With the piston #1 at top dead center, remove the dizzy cap and check to see which terminal the rotor is pointing at. That will be your #1 cylinder. Clock wise connect the wires 1-4-3-2.

And

thanks rick that was much simpler than i expected! will this solve my problem of when i drive it it feels like its studdering when i press on the gas? the wires were definately not in the right places

Nicely explained! the fellers on this forum are very good people - thank you all

You may have a wire crossed. There are a lot smarter guys on this forum than I. I just happen to be surfing. Let us know if you get it sorted.

i will update my progress as i go thanks rick

ok i put the spark plugs in the right place but now the car wont even start. is there a new adjustment i have to make now that the wires are right?

anyone have any idea why my car wont start all of a sudden??

My guess is the wires were in the correct spot until you changed them around now your firing order is off.

You need to get #1 at top dead center, both valves for #1 closed, mark on the flywheel lined up in the timing cover, then find where the rotor is pointing and make that wire go to #1 cyl. Then clockwise 4,3,2.

You might consider getting a shop manual at your local parts store, it will have diagrams of the correct setup and diagnostic procedures. There are many many things that could be wrong here.

well before i changed them them they were in the wrong order so i just now put them 1,4,3,2 but now it wont start so something doesn't make sense to me

look at my post. You cant just willy nilly put them in the right order. You need to find #1 TDC. If it started before you moved the wires you don't have them in the right spot. You also need to tell us if it's carbed or FI to diagnose running problems, as well as year and engine type or FI type.

i did find the tdc for #1 when i adjusted the valves so thats were i put the #1 wire and then continued clockwise 4,3,2 My car is a 1973 2.0L d-jet FI. hopefully that helps

Did you move the #1 wire when you re positioned them all? Chances are the #1 wire was in the right place and the others needed to be started from that place. Pictures always help us work more efficiently on your problem.

What procedure did you use to adjust the valves?

Dr evil it did run before i changed them and #1 was in a different spot but it seemed like it hesitated when i pressed the gas when in gear so i did some research and it seemed as if my wires were wrong so i followed direction and find TDC for #1 and then put them in firing order and now it wont start so what should i do i open to any ideas

I did exactly as the pelican article said to do

How did you decide what number each cylinder was? Numbers in the tin?(I am asking simple questions just to get started)

Do you have the manual? It is easier for us to reference pages when describing things.

Are you getting spark at the wires? Check this and if not then check to make sure that all wires are connected at: coil, dizzy

These are good starting points.

Thats a good reference.

Oh ya, is your dizzy moved so that it is at the correct static timing?

yes i have the Haynes manaul and i have no idea about the sparks im completely new to all cars all my knowledge i have learned form this website and the manual

No worries. None of us were born knowing any of this stuff.

To check spark you can get a buddy to crank over the engine while you hold the spark plug wire near the engine metal. A spark should be seen. There are also cheap testers that are installed inline that light up if there is spark and then you wont need a friend and have less chance of shocking the shit out of yourself.

i might wannna invest in one of those haha. But i had a spark before i moved the wires so why all of a sudden wouldnt i have a spark. Oh and i forgot to mention after i changed the wires i tried adjusting the dwell alls i did though was use feeler guages and sdjust to what my book said to do. I'm not sure if that matters any

This is how mine is. Yours could be 180 deg off, don't know.

And yes, the dwell will make a difference, but if your close it should start.

A lot of other things will make the rough running condition, usually fireing order will cause some pops and backfires.

bad wires/cap/rotor
bad fuel injector
bad gas
valve adjustment
Fi sensors
vacuum leaks
low fuel pressure
among many others

ok ill try that out

Do yourself a favor and go down to a used (or new) bookstore. Buy John Muir's "How to keep your Volkswagen alive. A step by step guide for the complete idiot". He explains with simple language, assisted by great pictures, how a VW motor is designed and runs. Within a day your level of knowledge will vastly increase. You'll have a great foundation to build upon.

Plus it is a fun read even if you did not need to keep it alive, Got mine in 1982 i believe, and still use it.

Oh Lordy!

how hard will it be to find this book?

Shouldn't be hard at all. It's still in print, although the newer editions have a lot of modification tips you'll have to wade through. The pure, distilled Type I stuff is excellent basic mechanical knowledge. I have an early 80's edition that's been well used and dog-eared and I still reference it all the time.

It'll answer all your ignition questions: Spark plug wire placement, dwell, timing, etc., etc.

ok i'll have to find some time to get that book. hard with school and work in the way

I'm a little worried that you may have fudged the points. You may have adjusted them too wide and now they are not really closing.

Start here: Remove the cap, rotor and plastic dust cover over the points. Turn on the ignition switch. Check the points by carefully opening them with a non metallic item like a dowel or a chop stick. Watch to see they spark. If you have spark, have a friend crank the ignition and watch them again to see if they continue to spark while cranking.

If you have spark at the points, you will have spark at the plugs when you reassemble the cap.

before i start taking all that apart i was looking closely around the distributor last night and i found two wires not connected to anything. one was green and black. The other one was brown. Could this be apart of the problem?

That is why I asked about loose wires

Brown is a ground. Green and black I am not sure about. Look for things that are not connected in the neighborhood. There should be a green wire from the dizzy to the coil that is a trigger for the coil. There should also be a black and red power wire to the coil on the opposite pole. Black and purple is the wire to your tach and attaches at the same place as the green wire from the dizzy.

With all of these hooked up you should get spark.

Green and black I think is oil pressure sender if i'm not mistaken.

Cannot get mine fired either. Carbed engine, pertronix ingnition. I ONLY have a red and black wire from my coil, and i am running Red to the Plus side of the coil, black to the negative. Double checked my TDC, it appears to be fine, with no one plug wire oriented correctly, and all others in sequence (1-4-3-2) I am only getting the occasional pop, and occasional backfires through the carbs.

Any ideas?

Backfires=timing.

Thats what I figured....wonder if what i thought was TDC was top of the exhaust stroke....

Easy enough to troubleshoot, swap wires 180 on the dizzy.

THATS DID IT. SHE RUNS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sounds strong, runs with min vibrations. got some popping through the carb on No 2 cylinder, but the fine tuning can wait until she is drivable.

Of course, the downside is that now i get to go back to body work, and the endless cycle of priming and blocking...........

URY once had his dizzy out 180, shot a stinger of flame out the tailpipe that almost caught my hair on fire.

T.C.

That begs the question of why you were you looking up Ury's tailpipe.

...not really...

would it be a bad idea if i blew out the distributor with my compresser to maybe clean it out. and maybe buy a new distributor cap? just ideas.

Compressed air will not hurt the dizzy.

Tell us what you've done so far.

Did you follow the step by step trouble shooting?

Take some photos of the engine maybe we can see a problem your missing.

new cap and rotor, points and condensor and wires/plugs if its a unknown car/age. DO NOT BUY KRAGENS CRAP. The bosch stuff is usually the same price or cheaper. If it ran even not well before you started moving/adjusting things, you need to put it back to where it was and start adjusting one thing at a time.

thats what i think im going to do, just get it started again so i can slowly adjust everything. i think i just made too drastic of a change. the problem is i dont know if i could have messed something else up in the process

Plenty of help on this site. Pictures go a long way for help. Once you get it started again, video with sound really helps. I've seen guys diagnose a small end rod knock on this site from that. I think the collective years of experience has got to be like one million years. Some of these guys are really old.