New to this site and not sure what I am doing or how to post a problem

You are in the right place. Ask your question.

Everyday I get up and I'm unsure as to what I'm doing. I suggest you get in your 914 and go for drive. How could that be bad? Welcome to the World.

have a '74 914 with 1.8 engine. Had the car for about 5 years and now I have the time to work on it.
I have had the engine in and out several times to address problems that the previous owner left me with and the engine will not start.
It has the L-Jetronic setup

I typically work about 5 minutes from your location, I'll send you a pm

Ask any questions you want. We've all been there.

Konrad

welcome....and...you are ahead of most newbies since you already took the engine out several times !! that gives great experience.
Make sure to complete your questions with details and pics for better/quicker answers.

and the madness that these great little cars bring on .

Great bunch of guys on here,never be afraid to ask questions,you won't get flamed like some the other forums , as a wise man said "the day you stop learning is the day you die''.

By the way we all like pictures ,post a few of your car.

Tested the power relay and the fuel pump relay by substituting them for the headlights relays and they both worked.
Used jumper wire to connect the fuse on the relay board to the fuel pump relay socket and that started the fuel pump, so I know that works. Anyone know how I can check for ignition problem by myself.

There are a couple of LJet gurus here. I'm not one of them but Timothynd28? or one of the other ones will be around shortly. It will help to edit your title to read Ljet help or similar change.

When did it stop working? Was it before the removal of the engine or have you been having problems since reinstalling the last time?

L-Jet does not use the relays on the relay board. There is a double relay mounted to the battery tray support. It runs the fuel pump.

Test 1: Unhook the yellow wire from the starter. Turn the key to the start position. does the fuel pump run?

Test 2: Turn the key on. Open the air flow meter flap with your finger. Does the fuel pump run?


Try those and get back to us with results.

Oh... and

Oh boy another new one! Here's how it works. You ask questions, some of us give you great answers. Some of us give you shit. It's your job to put up with it or not. Giving us a hard time is not permitted until you've shown that you know more than the masses (not as hard as it sounds).

Now your first question will be what size tires fit our car. Go ahead, start a new thread and ask.

Billy, I love the tire question. I'm surprised it hasn't come up before.

Also in for pics

Those two tests that Clay has already mentioned is a great place to start. If you can, see if you can post a few pictures of your engine bay.

Performed test mentioned by sandbox bouncer.

Test 1 There is no yellow wire going to my starter. It appears someone along the way replaced some of these wires. After market connectors.

Test 2 Turned key on and moved flap in air intake. Pump did not go on but heard clicking sound from the double relay under the battery.

Additional information
There is a yellow wire that is in the cable harness for the 12 point connector for the relay board that is not connected to anything. I traced the wire and it appears to go to the double relay under thr battery.

Wow! You been here one day and your already familiar with the sandbox and one of our admin? That's jumping in with both feet!

Welcome to the site..........

Time to trace those wires. There should be a yellow wire that comes from the ignition switch (by way of the relay board) that connects to one of the flag terminals on the starter. That's what tells the starter to crank.




If the double relay clicks, that is a good sign! It sounds like the problem is somewhere in the electrical circuit between the relay and the pump. Unplug the pump and the relay, and check the "hot" (red) wire for connectivity with the relay socket. Also check that the brown wire has a good ground.




That yellow wire should be going to the starter, I believe. Unless someone has messed with things pretty extensively.

Here is a link to some wiring diagrams. Some people find the "waterfall" diagrams for the 74+ cars confusing, but I find them useful.

There should be a white wire in the fuel injection harness that goes from the dual relay to one pin of the four-pin connector on the relay board. That wire carries the "start the car" signal to the dual relay, triggering the pump.


It sounds like someone who didn't know what they were doing did some wiring work on the car. You will want to start tracing wires to figure out what they did. Take lots of notes and pics.

--DD

Welcome to a great site, once you get your issues sorted out with help from the knowledgeable people here, enjoy that teener! Look forward to seeing some pictures of your car.

Ian Stott
Moncton
Canada

2nd. question should be: What brand of oil do you guys prefer?




, Ricardo ... you're in good hands on this forum

... and Joe


I just noticed something in your profile: "LawnGuyland" ...

Thanks for getting back to me
The starter cranks just fine. There is nothing connected to the 4 pin connector on the relay board. There is no white wire connected to the dual relay, just the yellow one that is unattached by the relay board.
I will get pictures up as soon as I figure out how to put them on this site.

Posting pics is easy. Just hit the choose file button below the smilies, go find pic in your device, then hit the add this attachment button, hit add this. Do not click preview post!

There should be a yellow wire with a female spade connector coming out of the engine harness on the same end as the 12 pin connector (relay board end).

Make sure that is connected to one of the two rear connectors on the 4 pin connector at the right rear of the relay board.


If your pump does not run when you open the air flow meter flap, then your next step is to find the fuel pump, and use a test light to see if it is getting power when you open the air flow meter flap.

Also, check to see if there is a heavy red wire from the double relay up to the positive post on the battery. If that is missing, nothing on your injection will work.

Thanks Clay,
I suspected that wire should be connected.
Just to be clear, these are the 4 male connections on the rear left of the relay board.
Which connector should I connect this wire to?

Either of the two rear ones. Both are connected to the same circuit.

The wire sends a signal to the double relay to turn on the fuel pump while the engine is cranking.

Did you check the fuel pump yet?

I had previously checked the fuel pump and it did work
I was out for awhile but I will be plugging the wire in to the connection and checking if the pump works

Did you check the heavy red wire that goes between the double relay and the positive battery post? It has to be there to power the L-Jet system. If it is missing, nothing works, not even the fuel pump.

Welcome, wish I could help more but I can't even really help myself...

Let's go back to post 12 test #2. As you are redoing this test, measure the voltage at the dual relay at pin 88d. 88d will have a pretty thick black wire with red stripe in the connector that attaches to the relay. Leave the socket attached to the dual relay, you will need to back probe when getting this measurement. With the meter set for DC, have one meter lead on the negative battery post while the other meter lead is stuck inside the socket for pin 88d.

Turn the ignition switch on, and deflect the flap inside the airflow meter. You should hear the dual relay click like you did before. As the relay clicks, you should see a solid 12 volts on your meter.

The black/red stripe wire on pin 88d heads to the fuel pump. If you didn't see 12volts from the prevous test, you can temporarily add a jumper between 88d of the dual relay straight to the positive post of the battery for testing purposes.

Be cautious when turning the ignition switch on with the engine not running. You run the risk of burning up the points or electronic module inside the distributor. It would be wise to temporary remove the positive wire on the ignition coil

When out shopping and asked if I need help by a store employee, I usually tell them that I'm beyond help

Did the test as you described and got 11 volts. I'm getting a new battery this afternoon and I suspect I will get a full 12 volts when I install it.

......WELCOME.....

That's a great thing, getting this dual relay to work is half the battle. Since you are seeing voltage at 88d, you should redo the test one more time but this time measure the voltage between the black wire with red stripe at the fuel pump and negative battery post.

If you have 12volts here, recheck the voltage between the black wire with red stripe at the fuel pump and the brown wire that ties to chassis ground

Sounds like you might have a bad ground near the fuel pump or a faulty pump (but you said earlier that it worked).

Performed both tests and got 14 volts ?
Not sure what that's all about

Battery charger running while running these tests? So you have 12-14 volts sitting at the fuel pump, and it's not working. Sounds like a bad pump.

Battery charger not running, tested with old battery. Will run tests again with new battery.
I believe the pump is running, what is the easiest way to test if pump is working.
Engine turns over well with new battery but still won't start.

Separated nylon fuel line from rubber line going to the fuel rail and got fuel coming out.
I'm wondering about the wires going to the coil. I've got a green wire, a black and red wire and a white wire all going to the negative terminal on coil. Does that seem right?

I must have read your opening question wrong, I thought we were chasing a no fuel delivery issue.

You should have 3 wires on the negative terminal of the ignition coil. A black with purple stripe wire heads to the tachometer, the white wire goes to the Ljet ECU, and whatever color wire that goes to the points inside the distributor.

Have you verified spark yet? This should be the next thing you do.

It might help if you start posting pictures of what you have going on there.

Do you have a service manual (Haynes or =) ?

Also, you would benefit by boning up on the info provided on Brad Ander's site to assure your electrical wiring and fuel/vacuum hoses are connected properly ... http://members.rennlist.com/pbanders/

Thanks for the sketch
Yes I have both Haynes and Clymer service manuals.

Yes, I was chasing a fuel pump problem until I realized the fuel pump was activated by the AFM and not by just turning on the key. Also, I did not have the yellow wire attached to the four prong terminal on the relay board.
With your help, I determined that the fuel pump was working.
My next step will be to check the coil, I have already verified the gap on the points.

No worries, so I assume that you have no spark? With the key set to on, measure the voltage between the + terminal of the ignition coil and the negative battery post.

If you have a smart phone, you can text me the pictures and I would be happy to post them on here for you.

I held the primary wire from the coil near the fan housing while turning the car over and there was no spark. based on that I bought a new coil. I haven't installed it yet so I can return it if my assumption was wrong.
I tested the voltage to the + terminal on the coil and got 10.73 volts ( see Attachment)Click to view attachment

Looking good. When I test for spark, I like to use a timing light. Clip it over any high tension lead, turn the engine over and stare at the timing gun for any flashes.

You can test the ignition coil by pulling off all the wires, set your meter for resistance and measure the resistance between the + and - terminals. After that, measure the resistance between the - or + terminal to the middle high tension lead socket.

Ignition coils typically don't fail all that often, you might have a issue with the points inside the distributor. Pull the cap and rotor off, snap a pic of the points.

Checked the resistance as follows:
+ to - 3.5
+ to middle 9.25
- to middle 9.25
Click to view attachment