This is a really weird one! Went to jump in my 914 this morning and the battery was totally dead. I thought I may have left something on and validated that I had not left any interior lights on (both doors were closed) and that the light switch, fog light, and turn signal switches were all fully pressed in.

Anyway, I hook up my battery charger this evening and immediately notice that the rear license plate light, the light in the engine compartment, and the dash guage lights (above the steering wheel and in the factory center console), along with the word FAN, are all dimly lit. With the light switch still pushed in, I was able to dim and/or control the brightness of all dash lights too (with the keys still in my pocket). I then pulled on all the light switches and pushed them back in, and nothing changed. I then put the keys in the ignitiion (power was at 6 or 7 volts) and turned the key to ON and then pulled my light switch. My front lights then kept opening/closing, as expected from too little voltage.

Any ideas??? Did my ignition switch short out and leave my light's on? Note that my parking brakes don't come on since the light switch is pushed in, but what is lighting the engine bay and rear license plate light? Do these normally come on as part of turnining the ignition on, and if my igniion failed, that's what's causing them to come on and stay on now? Could my light switch have partially melted in a position that left only the dash lights, engine, and rear license plate on??? I have been having a consistent issue for a while now in which my passenger side headlight does not open up. I've been turning my lights on, manually moving my passenger light to the "UP" position, but then when I press in the lights switch, BOTH lights have come down.

By the way, the very last thing I did to my 914, while it was parked in the driveway (last night), was change all four spark plugs. That's it!

Your help is very much appreciated!! I have a voltmeter and know how to use it. I just don't know where to even start with this one. Should I replace the ignition switch to rule it out?

Where to start? First, you need to determine what MY car you have. As you didn't tell us when you asked for help, I'm guessing you don't know ............... Next, obtain a wiring diagram or current track for your car. They're available on the Pelican Parts website, and they're in color. I suspect you may have a feedback problem. That is, there's voltage from a 12v+ source somehow getting to a wire at the light switch not normally "hot" when the switch is in the "off" position. Since the turn signals, one side or the other, are illuminated with the key off and the turn signal switch in the on position with the car all shut down, that might one place to look. For example, if you had a single filament bulb in one of the front turn signal bulb positions in the front, power would feed back into the parking light system and light up every one of the bulbs you mention. Might want to check that. Be nice if you'd report back with your progress and with any more questions.

The Cap'n

Check your major ground locations for poor connections. . one is above the fuse tray left side, one next to engine relay board, and 1 by each headlight. .

When I went to get gas the other evening, I noticed that if I had my headlights up and my turn signal on when I turned the key off, then my lights stayed on, even after taking the key out.

If I put the key back in and turned off the blinker, all the lights went out. Might be a "no-fix" fix.

It's a 75 914 2.0. I inserted the key and played with the turn signal (moving it up and down) and then put it back in the OFF position. I also turned on all lights and shut them off and even jiggled the keys, just in case it was an issue with the ignition switch, which I might still swap out with a known good one. I unplugged all of the ground connections by the front headlights and cleaned them up. Now working on the other grounds that were mentioned above before I drop the bottom dash to look at the light switch and associated wiring.


Thanks everyone for your input so far.

Sorry....in a weird mood today and your post title made me think of this:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCBS5EtszYI

Dude,

Get a spare motor before you crack

Still haven't figured it out. Had to stop working though so I could swap out the rear hubs on my Honda Ody. Why does it seem like all cars need attention at the same time? Oh I also swapped out the CHT on my other 914. Checkout the mod to my new "CHT" socket. Can't believe how easy it was to swap it out on the 75 1.8. Anyway back to working on the 2.0 now.

Could have saved the socket from sacrifice by stuffing the wire in the socket. That also helps to hold the sensor at the end of the socket instead of down inside of it.

Finished cleaning all grounds and still not working. I then called up Brad Mayeur at 914 Limited (great guy with about 20+ years as a Porsche mechanic and tons of knowledge and parts too). He told me some other things to try but in the end I just ordered a light switch from him as that definitely seems to be the culprit, and I just want to rule it out now.

Or just sacrifice an extension. Grind off one corner till it fits with the wire poking out the back.

So, did you check the bulbs yet?