Let me begin by saying that I take full responsibility for everything that transpired as I bought this car sight unseen based purely on math, flew to it's location and immediately drove it home. I knew what I was getting into with a
car that is one year older than me, so I wasn't exactly surprised when that drive home took a turn for the worse. This first post from me on 914World is meant to be entertainment/amusement/ridicule/catharsis for anyone here who can or cannot relate

With that said, a few years ago I owned an '06 Cayman S, which I can say was the best handling and most fun-to-drive car I've ever owned. My current daily driver is an '06 997.1S, which is borne out of the necessity to be able to chauffeur around two elementary-age children. While also enjoyable to drive on a daily basis, anyone who understands basic physics and isn't the typical shallow, superficial Porsche (specifically 911) fanboy understands that the engine is in the wrong place. For a number of reasons, I recently became enamored (again) with the idea of owning a 914, and this time, I was set on pulling the trigger. After about a month of searching, this car which I'd been watching off-and-on had inexplicably come down in price to where I had to make a move. Mathematically it was an absolute no-brainer, so after getting as much info as I could over the phone a deal was agreed. I flew up the next day (yesterday morning), liked what I saw based on my half-assed visual inspection, closed the deal, and proceeded to drive home. Notably (or stupidly), my VERY FIRST DRIVE in the car was said drive home.

The first 300 miles pass without a hitch. I even make a stop in Paso Robles for a couple of hours to see my old mentor/boss. Right at sunset I'm passing by Lake Cachuma on Hwy 154 (a remote, twisty mountain road) when the need to go #1 becomes untenable. I find a clearing off to the side, shut the engine off, and take care of business. Afterwards, I snap this fateful photo of the car right at sunset.



Bladder emptied and photo taken, I hop back in and turn the key. Engine doesn't crank at all. Try a few times but same result. Wait a minute or two, same. Everything else turns on, so it clearly isn't a dead battery. You can't see in the photo, but it's on an incline, so I try to back it around to where I can face downhill for a bump start. It gets stuck halfway around in the CA post-thunderstorm mud and I can't move it by myself. Now I'm REALLY stranded.

Due to the remote location and because it's a Friday evening, 3 hours pass from the time I make the pitstop until a tow truck arrives. Passing the time while waiting was especially tedious because the cigarette lighter barrel depth is more than any other car, so my phone charger isn't deep enough to connect. So in order to pass the time, I can neither call anyone nor listen to Pandora without killing my phone battery in a remote area where service is spotty at best. But since all I could do was think, I came to the conclusion that IF I could bump start the car, I would just drive home without shutting off the engine. Sure enough, we get back to civilization and the tow-truck driver and I get it started in a hotel parking lot with a decline after two attempts.

Now I'm back on the freeway headed home. I don't want to stop for food because I figure the hunger will keep me awake, but it turns out another issue will keep me from falling asleep on the drive. I also don't want to drink the extra Gatorade that I have because now that I'm in civilization, I can't just pull over on the side and drop my pants. I should also point out now that I realized within the first hour of starting the drive in the Bay Area that the fuel gauge was inoperable, meaning that I had to calculate fuel economy using the odometer. I make one last stop for gas (with the engine on) just before LA proper, reset the trip odometer again, and within a few miles I realize that the odometer and trip odometer have both stopped working. Of course, this is a minor annoyance on the road trip because I'm certain at this point that I can make it home without another stop for gas.

The big problem for me at this point is that it's now nighttime, this car has headers, and I'm wearing shorts because I live in SD. So I have no heat in the interior, and to make matters worse, all of the plastic trim around the HVAC controls are faded/worn out, so I have no idea what slider does what. I drive the final 270 miles home in high 40s/low 50s weather with fresh cold air blowing into the interior and no heat from the engine. When I finally arrive home just before 1am, my nose is frozen (and running profusely) as well as my hands, feet, and legs. On top of that, I'm also starving and dehydrated.

One does not need to be a rocket scientist and/or brain surgeon to figure out that I could have handled this transaction differently. But I wanted to ensure that no one else stole it out from under me given the price relative to the engine. I lost out on another car on this forum merely because I couldn't contact the seller until the afternoon after it was posted the night before. In closing this long-winded diatribe, I will say that, for the most part, the car is what I expected, and most importantly, I have a tragicomical story attached to the car that is now part of its history.

In the truest sense.......





PS: where's the pic of the 914 on the hook? There's a thread here for that.

Mid-engine Madness is what I like to call it!

But you must have discovered why it wouldn't start for you... will you share?

It's not just a trip, it's an ADVENTURE!

I once drove a VW bus solo from Kansas through Indiana, to the Great Smoky Mountains, down to the Okeefenokee in Georgia, then all the way south into the Florida Keys and back home via the Gulf Coast. Somewhere in Louisiana, the solenoid physically snapped off the starter leaving me in your situation for the last several hundred miles from Texas to home.

The heating system on those buses was a joke so in the winter we would drive around in sub-zero weather zipped inside down sleeping bags with the feet unzipped to to work the pedals and an ice scraper on the dash for a defroster.

These kind of things put a pucker in your seat when they are happening but make for great stories ever after. Enjoy your new prize!

Welcome!


Now it is truly yours.

Great looking 914, good news is you made it home. Hope to meet you at some of are rally’s.

I like people with a sense of adventure. Great story and what a way to enter the 914 community. We look forward to seeing more pictures and hearing more about your new car. Glad you made it home safely, if somewhat chilled; you will always remember that trip. Now that your car is home, you are good to go.

OK. You survived. In some fashion a 914 is ALWAYS an adventure. Without fail. Big ?. Looks nice, how's the rust?

Looks like a beautiful car. Always an adventure with these. Great story for the ages, Figure out the culprits for the nonstart?

Have fun!

Not much of a story when everything goes right.

glad you got it home and shared your adventure. Look forward to seeing it someday in SoCal.

Indeed - we are doing a run on Jan 5th that you are expected to show up for.

Grin.

Of course I have that too

I'm guessing the ignition switch failed at the least ideal moment.

I thought I was reading a non-fiction story until the reference about “post thunderstorm mud”. We all know, it never rains in California. A lot of Members own several 914’s just to have one running and driving.

The perfect initiation. Thanks for the story and welcome!

PS I’m betting it’s just the hot start issue. Here’s the super simple fix...

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...p;mode=threaded

Reminds me of the time I bought my '87 911 Carrera sight unseen. Picked it up in N Carolina and hit the road home to central Florida. Couldn't get the seat into a comfortable position, so drove kind of hunched over that first day. Couldn't get the cruise control to work. When I stopped for the night, couldn't get the engine to restart when I went from the front desk over to the side of the motel where my room was. Ended up the next day refueling with the motor running, no pee stops, etc. Sorted all the problems and it turned out to be a great car. Finally sold it after ten years. Now I wish I hadn't. Welcome to the club.

Common problem, easy fix.


The part where we can't help you with is where you fly to pick up a 45+ year old car in *shorts* in December with no additional clothes in your carry on luggage.

That is something you'll have to figure out for yourself ...

Great story and thanks for telling it here!
Have fun and enjoy a running car!

I'm researching start issues on this forum right now, and two days later it still won't crank, so I don't think it is the hot start issue in this case. Having said that, I will probably want to do the Ford solenoid as well once I get this issue resolved.

Hot start will crank but not fire. So that's not it.


There's really just two things:

- The starter doesn't get voltage, in which case i'd suspect the ignition key
- The starter does get voltage, in which case i'd suspect the starter

I will make it simple, start with a meter on the battery, first. 12 volts on the terminals, follow grounds and power to starter. then rip your ignition apart and your wiring harness, you will get it, eventually. just my hunch, your regulator packed up and you are not charging, but you cant be certain until you fuch up a bunch of other shit first.

Just jumped the starter motor and it cranked. Is it fair to say the ignition switch is toast? Since this is a '71, I guess I should wire a push-button start or spring-loaded toggle switch as others here have done?

yup, that's the answer, go around the problem, don't fix it

Done a search here already, but is there a tutorial on this mod? I'm electrically challenged, to say the least.

Everyone of us who has owned their cars has great stories!! Yours just happened to be the first time you got behind the wheel!! Get the ignition fixed. I am sure it will be the first of many stories!! Have fun and welcome to the madness!!

Send it to Tweet/Dan and have it fixed like new.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...=214952&hl=

Great job, I bought my 930 the same way, had my mishap 10 minutes after taking possession, at the gas station, preparing for a 400 mile drive home. In the end I got it fixed and it ran better than expected all the way home.

Get this issue and the odometer fixed and now you know you’ve got a pretty good long distance car,

Welcome to the world!

I have had many of these cars over many years,though a popular fix on here, I have never experienced a bad ignition switch. that being said, I have bad batteries, bad grounds, bad connections, etc. before ripping into the switch, make sure you have 12volts at the battery, 12 volts at the starter when cranking or not. just to be safe replace the starter and the blinker fluid, while your in there.

It may be me; however, I never turn off any of my older cars until I reach my destination...even while getting fuel

What an “adventure” of a story. Reminds me of the saying, Let my life serve as a warning to others.

Bought my SC sight unseen and flew to SLC to pick it up and drive it home. In advance, I mailed a package with an extra fan belt, CD box, tools, plugs, etc. unfortunately I transposed two of the zip code numbers and it never arrived. So much for being prepared. On the two day trip home I discovered the windshield seal was shot because every time we hit a thunderstorm I had two small waterfalls coming off the dash soaking the electrics and the floor. The second gear synchro was shot and so second was skipped, and on and on. At least I made it home where the fan belt broke the next time I started it which was a good thing because there were no tools to remove anything on the trip. They were waiting for me at home as undeliverable.

Enjoyed reading this! Great story.

Never ever hit the odo reset when car is moving!

Could also be a dirty/loose female spade on the starter solenoid. If you need to jump it and you can't/won't jack it up then lay down on your back with your head next to the rear tire. Now you can get your arm up to the starter and easily jump it with a screwdriver. Post your Tow pic in "The flatbed Thread".

@injunmort

Come on man, be nice. He's learning, like all of us new guys have had to.

@Bulldozer27 - there are a good number of us that are local / semi-local if you get stuck.

It sounds like the starter is healthy when you get power to it, so your issue is "upstream" from that which is to say that power is not getting from the ignition circuit to the starter. That limits the focus area.

She's a beaut Clark! Love the irish green

my apologies, just trying to point in the right direction without overloading. could it be the switch, yes but I would determine that before throwing parts at it. could be a fuse, I would check all that before taking the column apart.

Right on, and super helpful. Agree with checking all of the connections, if it worked before and then just stopped it’s highly likely a single point of failure.

Just check the yellow wire that goes to the starter for volts. If its signal is weak, because it goes through the ig switch, then you know the ig switch MAY be bad. Clean connectors, check circuit board in engine compartment. The Ford solenoid fix is to take the load off of the ig switch circuit and trigger full volts to the starter with less voltage needed from the ig switch circuit.

I sold a very nice 73 2.0 to a friend a year and a half ago and it never had starting issues. He flew out from San Diego (my home town) to Columbus, OH (my current home) and drove it back. It developed same issue. I instructed him on how to short the starter and he didnt turn the car off the whole way home after this happened, even when he got gas. Since been easily fixed. Very common.

Welcome to the adventure of 'teener ownership, and now you have a good introductory story to begin your collection. There are many interesting names for locations here in Kentucky, but to have a "Sandy Eggo" name there must be a wonderful background story!