I'm stumped. I just installed a brand new starter, started twice while jacked up, then when I lowered it and tried to start it again...no dice.

any ideas?????

waiting for quick response

Nock a wire off when you let it down

I've been told that 914s are very sensative to voltage drop, since the juice comes from the battery, loops all the way around to the ignition, then back around the other way to the starter.

If there is any bad wiring anywhere along this path that causes a drop in voltage - no dice.... remember, the wiring is pretty darn old in our cars.

Unless you or your buds are really good with electrical work, I'd take it to a shop and get all that stuff diagnosed.

I know this isn't TOO much help, but good luck.

dino called and said he had talked to you. sorry, but i know nothin' about starters 'cept that they are supposed to turn when you twist the key.

hope you get it ready before saturday, but if not, come eat with us anyhow. there will be lots of technical assistance at the table!

Check the jumper under the pass. seat for the seat belt logic relay,also you can reach up under the dash and remove the plug for the ign. sw. and jumper that with a wire if it starts with the jumper your problem lies in the ign. sw . also check your tranny ground strap! hope that helps? AL

914's prefer to be "on" jack stands!...at least mine do.

Seriously......the seat thing as mentioned above, or crappy connection at the battery when you hook it back up after changing the starter?

transmission ground strap? couldda been in the way replacing the starter and didn't get reconnected ?

If you want to rule out the battery, battery connections, ground strap, solenoid, starter, etc., etc., in less than a minute, do the screwdriver trick: Put the shank of the screwdriver on the main 12v terminal (rests nicely on bolt against nut - see photo), slide the tip forward and tap firmly against the solenoid tab (where large yellow wire connects).

If it cranks, pull the screwdriver off and you'll know immediately that you have: 1. A bad ignition switch, or 2. Bad circuit between ignition switch and soleniod (that large yellow wire), perhaps at the seatbelt bypass junk.



After that...
If it doesn't crank, then it's probably the battery connections (clean battery posts and insides of main terminals), bad ground, bad battery (try a jump start). Is there 12v at the starter? Ok... this is getting long. Keep us posted along the way.

Make certain that the car is OUT OF GEAR when you try this!!! I don't think you want to get to St. Peter and have to tell him, "I ran over myself with my own car...."

There's a very long and detailed tech article on starter system troubleshooting in the 914 Tech Articles section of the Bird site.

--DD

QUOTE (RandyLok @ Mar 10 2005, 10:17 AM)

If you want to rule out the battery, battery connections, ground strap, solenoid, starter, etc., etc., in less than a minute, do the screwdriver trick: Put the shank of the screwdriver on the main 12v terminal (rests nicely on bolt against nut - see photo), slide the tip forward and tap firmly against the solenoid tab (where large yellow wire connects). If it cranks, pull the screwdriver off and you'll know immediately that you have: 1. A bad ignition switch, or 2. Bad circuit between ignition switch and soleniod (that large yellow wire), perhaps at the seatbelt bypass junk. After that... If it doesn't crank, then it's probably the battery connections (clean battery posts and insides of main terminals), bad ground, bad battery (try a jump start). Is there 12v at the starter? Ok... this is getting long. Keep us posted along the way.

I tried that last night and no sparks, no jumps, no nothing.

my buddy darin, who is so much the mechanic than I am (I'm a musician....whaaaat??)
thinks it might be a solenoid issue.

everything on the car works fine, lights, headlamp motors, flashers, radio, so I don't think it's a connection issue, (again, i'm not a mechanic, so i might be wrong)

It's a new remanufactured one that i bought from a reputable parts store (N-PA..don't know if i can say other companies on this site) which I believe will exchange it.

thanx for your advice and assistance.

I'll be at the Bremerton Breakfast Chow down this Saturday!!

The starter draws way more power than other accessories, so a dirty battery connection can cause the starter to not work even though everything else does. More times than not, I've fixed cars that wouldn't crank by simply cleaning the battery posts and cable terminals. Anyway...

Is there power at the main terminal? (Multimeter from there to ground should show 12V DC.) If not, bingo. If so, it could be solenoid or bad ground strap.

You could jumper from main terminal to starter motor terminal (bypassing solenoid) to see if starter motor runs (I use a piece of heavy guage wire with alligator clips on the ends and a momentary switch in the middle). If it spins I would suspect solenoid. Otherwise I'm suspecting bad ground or connection since it worked before you took it off the jack.

You're getting closer!

QUOTE (RandyLok @ Mar 10 2005, 02:17 PM)

If you want to rule out the battery, battery connections, ground strap, solenoid, starter, etc., etc., in less than a minute, do the screwdriver trick: Put the shank of the screwdriver on the main 12v terminal (rests nicely on bolt against nut - see photo), slide the tip forward and tap firmly against the solenoid tab (where large yellow wire connects). If it cranks, pull the screwdriver off and you'll know immediately that you have: 1. A bad ignition switch, or 2. Bad circuit between ignition switch and soleniod (that large yellow wire), perhaps at the seatbelt bypass junk. After that... If it doesn't crank, then it's probably the battery connections (clean battery posts and insides of main terminals), bad ground, bad battery (try a jump start). Is there 12v at the starter? Ok... this is getting long. Keep us posted along the way.

Ditto.
Mine did the same darn thing! About drove me

Mine was the ignition switch "plastic part", just plain wore out. I replaced this unit and the hit or miss crap is no mo.

Same here. My problem was a crack in the plastic in the ignition switch. But it's pretty quick to troubleshoot if you break it down.