I am trying to resurrect my 914 2.0 that I purchased a year ago from someone. After getting depressed about the extrememly poor condition of the car I began to begin replacing wires and hoses.

Then it sat. It has now sat dormant for almost a year.

Vacuum lines were replace with new.
New FI and Engine harness wires were purchased from Jeff on this board and installed. Unfortunately the car was not restarted at the point. It did not get started because I had the wires going to the coil from the distributer switch and killed the condensor.

Now I am trying to start it....
Replaced points with Pertronix.
Drained fuel. Put in 2 gallons of premium. Still no start.
Replaced negative battery cable. Sounds a little stronger on trying to start but still no start.
Cleaned battery terminals and positive wire.

Coil is putting out over 14 volts when I try to crank it over.
Starter is turning the engine.

No spark is being produced from the coil.


What is going on?

I did purchase another coil from Advance auto parts but it put out the same voltage and did not start either. As a side note I returned the new coil since my distributer wire would not fit onto it.

What should I do now?

Is it possible that the distributor is gone or the pertronix unit? How do I test?

Thank you for any and all suggestions.

I want to get this car running and sell it since I obviously don't have the time to restore it.

-David

Lose the Permatex (easier to diagnose without, and they have a tendency to burn out very easily if installed backwards), install new points and condenser, cap and rotor.

Then, diagnose spark.

My guess is you'll get SOMETHING after doing that.

I do have a new condensor but no points. There was a ground wire that went from the points "plate"(?) that had to be ground off. The other side was not attached to anything. I will see if I can find any pictures of this to show. The wire was just soilder onto the plate.

Is there anyway to test the pertronix unit with a volt meter?

-David

I see that Napa has a remanufactured distributer for sale for $62.00.

Has anyone else purchased one of theses? Any good? I don't know if mine is shot or not. Just reaching for possiblities.

Thanks,
David

QUOTE (cmolina @ Jan 20 2005, 07:53 PM)

Lose the Permatex (easier to diagnose without, and they have a tendency to burn out very easily if installed backwards), install new points and condenser, cap and rotor.

for testing purposes, the points are much better! at least you'll get something.
with a broken pertronix, you won't get anything. and if you reverse the pertronix wires on the coil only *once* on accident, it's going to be fried.

leave the pertronix for later. do you get spark from the coil?
take the center wire off the dizzy and see if the coil sparks, then go from there ...

Andy

I agree about the pet. You can add a ground wire with a couple of terminal ends and a short piece of wire. Work through the points carefully and you'll get it.

I don't think that we have ever reversed the wired going from the pertronix to the coil. Not since I learned that lesson when I did that with the point and killed the points and condensor.

I will either buy the rebuilt dist. from Napa or just some points this weekend and give that a shot.

-David

Here is a picture of my distributor when I was last working on the car back in June.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?act...f=2&t=13474&hl=

Demick did say that one of the reasons for the pertronix not work, acording to the Pertronix FAQ, is that the distributor is not grounded...

QUOTE (eldiosyeldiablo @ Jan 21 2005, 05:58 AM)

Demick did say that one of the reasons for the pertronix not work, acording to the Pertronix FAQ, is that the distributor is not grounded...

I have used the Pertronix on all three of my 914 and never used the ground.

Have you checked to make sure that the wires are not reversed on the coil? It could easily be that the positive is on the negative, which will fry your points, I don't know what it does to pertronix. I had done this, and I just kept buring through point set's and the motor was deffinatly not getting any spark, and my distributor looked similar to the one in your picture.
eric

I ordered a rebuilt distributor from Advance Auto (www.partsamerica.com) but I was still getting no spark with the new dist. and bosche blue coil.

Well today I finally realized that there are some differences between the old dist and this new one. First clue was that the dizzy was not turning. I then realized that it was not locking down and the rotor could turn freely. The second was that the TDC mark is at the wrong spot.

The is the numbers on my old dist.:
JFUDX 4 <--
0 231 174 011
W 039 905 205 A

The rebuilt one is:
JFURX 2 <--
0 231 163 018
W 311 905 205 O

Has anyone else had this problem when ordering from PartsAmerica? Is this a random error on their part or do they just have the wrong parts all the time?

I also got a set of OEM wire and they are all too short.

-David

Anyone?

Has anyone bought a rebuilt dist?

What dist. numbers should work in my 2.0 GA engine?

-David

i'm abotu to get a NAPA one.....says it will work. my roomy's father owns the NAPA in louisville (actually 3 of them) so i know where to go if it DOESNT work

Britt, let me know when you have gotten the one from Napa and if it works.

The company (Cardone) has told me to sand off the new paint on the rebuilt dist shaft and try again. If it does not fit then return it.

Thanks,
David

you should still get a spark if the dizzy was iffy, the only thing to go bad in a dizzy (besides the obvious points) is the shaft and the advance...neither of those will cause you not to get spark...to test the pertronixs, with power on, you should have ~12vdc on the negative side of the coil, when the magnet passes the window, it should drop to 0vdc

I had the same problem with mine. Hot wire the car. Mine turned out to be mechanical failure on the ignition assembly. It would turn over all day long but no spark to the plugs. Replaced everything from electrical switch to plugs, including MPS.


Have Fun,

BB