in Pamela's 73 2.0. As I turned into work this morning, hit the turn signal lever, tach died, generator light came on, pulled into parking space. Car starts again...has brand new ultima red top. What happened? Alternator? Voltage regulator?

Did the coil rotate in its bracket and allow one of the terminals to come into contact with the engine sheet metal? Happened to me once when I went around a corner.

check your fuses first. Make sure the tach is pluged in at the coil (black wire with purple stripe to - terminal).

Thanks guys, I kick those fuses regularly. Might have hit them with my knee. I'll run out and check in a few minutes and get back. Car ran great at A/X last weekend, Pamela beat several cars with her box stock teener.

Just checked, everybody at home, fuses in tact, coil is tight and tach wire is on tight. Shall we continue fishing?

Bare wire grounding out in the steering column? Does it die when turn signal is actualted or when wheel is turned hard. Or need both turn signal and wheel turn to kill car? Your ignition circuit runs through there too.

Car runs fine. Started up fine after parking as well. Probably won't run fine for long though..... saw another thread re: running without alternator.

Do your brake light and turns signals work? Did you roll the fuses or just look at them? Looks can be deceiving.

i vote for a bad ground... i just discovered one in my car last night that was doing all sorts of funky things with my gauges and such...

QUOTE (Joe Ricard @ Apr 20 2005, 08:30 AM)

Bare wire grounding out in the steering column? Does it die when turn signal is actualted or when wheel is turned hard. Or need both turn signal and wheel turn to kill car? Your ignition circuit runs through there too.

I'm with Joe on this one. I had a similar situation with a car yeeeaaars ago. It started when I bumped a curb taking a corner in the snow...no problems until I hit my left turn signal, then it'd backfire and kill everything. Turned out to be a pinched wire in the steering column.

Alternatively, you could just use it as an emergency "kill-switch"!

OK....Curt wins, I think. Two fuses blown, second and forth from the left of the fuse panel. No blinkers, no ER brake light, no guages. I checked the fuses earlier between patients and missed the blown ones. I'll replace tonight and see if they hold. Then I will turn the wheel, hit the blinker lever and see if I can make it happen again. I'm suspecting steering column short now. The wheel has a little side-side play in it, might be rubbing a wire raw?

I love this forum, problem.....ask.....problem diagnosed and fixed usually within 15 minutes. You guys RULE!!!

QUOTE (drgchapman @ Apr 20 2005, 12:31 PM)

I love this forum, problem.....ask.....problem diagnosed and fixed usually within 15 minutes. You guys RULE!!!

Hmmmmm.... I think I'll try it

what's wrong with my car? runs good... runs crappy.... runs good ... runs g..........

.....b

Oops, it was the fuses second and fourth from the right side. Car runs fine, just returned from lunch. Had to duck the local fuzz as I now have no turn signals and brake lights. I'll check the steering column this weekend.

I found it! .....with your help. Thanks so much. When right turn signal is selected, shorts out fuse 4th from right in fuse block. Tach goes screwy, guages quit, gen light comes on. There is a short in the steering column related to the turn signal lever.


Thanks for the input, guys

Gary

good find Gary. Don't that just make ya feel all fuzzy inside??

....b

QUOTE (drgchapman @ Apr 21 2005, 01:48 PM)

I found it! .....with your help. Thanks so much. When right turn signal is selected, shorts out fuse 4th from right in fuse block. Tach goes screwy, guages quit, gen light comes on. There is a short in the steering column related to the turn signal lever. Thanks for the input, guys Gary

Odd.................... In 32 years of sweating over 914s, I have NEVER seen a wire spontaneously grounding in the steering column. They're not exposed to any movement and don't get jiggled around much if the switch assembly is screwed down properly. I HAVE seen shorts induced in there by ham-fisted owners and/or mechanics, but this doesn't sound like what happened. My money's on the right tail light unit or the wires leading to it. There is, of course, always a chance it's in the right front parking light wires, and it bears scrutiny as well. The Cap'n

with the cap'n. Only short in the column I've seen was because the 4 screws that hold the combo switches in were very loose and shorting to the horn ring.

OK, after spending the weekend as a pretzel inside the car, I found it. Checked the wiring to both tail lights first per the Cap'n.......all good. Tore steering wheel apart, let it hang loose, signal worked fine. Put it together and apart about 10 times. Together no worky, apart worky. Got real intimate with the wiring, the right turn signal wire was initially installed pinched between the wiper assembly and the turn assembly. After so many years, a stray strand made it over the one of the four screws that anchor the assembly(the right turn signal wire runs in the channel right next to the lower right screw). I cleaned up this area, rechanneled the wire in properly, and viola.

We were able to PPI a motorhome for Rob Ways in the car on Sunday. No blown fuses!

Thanks for all the input guys. So many times advice is dispensed in this forum, but not often is the final outcome posted to see what worked.

Sincerely, Gary