I was driving my recently purchased 914 when suddenly smoke was coming from under the carpet near the inspection hole and along the tunnel. Quickly shut the car off. I let stuff cool down and looked around and when I tried to start it... Nothing. No fuel pump. No starter. No Guages.

The only damaged wires I found were the four that go to and from the center console gauges and the back pad light. I followed them back and cut off any conjoined or nasty wires. Any ideas? Im thinking ignition switch maybe. Or possibly I fried all my components to the car...

Thanks guys.

Any blown fuses?

You mean near the shifter? Did you pull the heater lever up while you were driving?

If so, the square "defroster" light on the console/tunnel has a unprotected small wire for the bulb.
It comes on when you pull the heater lever and they're known to easily short out.

You have 2 other unprotected large red wires that travel thru there. They come off the batt's + post. One goes to the ign switch and the other to the fuse block under the dash. Are those OK? Regrdless, get those 2 circuits fused. Do you have 12v at the coil? If yes, what is your voltage reading on the large yellow wire (disconnect it) that connects to the starter solenoid, when the key is turned to the start position? Anything else dead or it just won't turn over?

No blown fuses sadly. That would be easy haha. Im at work right now ill check the red wires later tonight. Thanks for that info. Thats exactly what I was looking for. The only thing that works right now are the headlights . Nothing else.

resistance, where there's smoke there's electrical load problems. Smoke / heat where ever its coming from is where the issue is. Also could be a electrical component demanding higher amperage due to it being "F"ed up. finding a weak spot and reacting there. LOL

I've learned a lot about electrical problems it burnt down my car some years ago.

UPDATE: I checked some wires and components

Both red wire to fuse box and ignition have power all the way through them. The large yellow wire to the ignition has power when the car goes from on to "start". There is constant 12v to the starter but no power to the coil in the on position.

Im thinking ignition switch got fried. Anyone? This is the daily driver of an 18 year old (not my best idea) so I need this fixed haha

Fried ignition switch, did the same with a super beetle. Same type of switch. Also changed this in my 72 914.

Check fuse #9 for power on both sides. IIRC, that's where the coil gets it's power from. That wire comes from the fuse block then goes to the 14 pin connector at your relay panel in the engine compartment. Power travel thru the board and out to the coil via the engine harness which also connects to the relay board but via a smaller (10 pin?) connector.

Well I got the car to turn over. I bypassed the seat relay stuff and put the two yellow wires together. The fuel pump still wont go and theres no power at the coil. Theres no power at the #9 fuse so ill look into that next.