My 1970 914-6 has just finally gotten back together, I'm enjoying driving it for the first time in about a year!
Last night I got in the car and turned on the headlights. All good. When I pushed the stalk for high beams, they came on BUT my tach instantly died. Turned the back to 'normal' and tach bounced back to life. What in the heck???
I have recently gone to LED bulbs for gauges and tail lights, so if thats causing some oddball resistance problem, just wanted to share the only change I've made.
Any ideas? Thanks in advance for any help.
Full Version: Weird electrical thing going on - Need some help!
Did you change the flasher relay to one that would accept the voltage changes? You might need a EP26 LED flasher unit.
When operating one electrical device affects another, unrelated device, the problem is almost always ground related.
Porsche 914s suffer from ground problems more than most any other car.
The problems are well known.
I would start with the body to transmission ground strap.
Make sure the Battery to body negative lead is clean and tight.
After that, get a long piece of wire, attach it to the neg terminal on the battery and clip it to the place where the tach gets it’s ground.
I suspect you will have proper operation at that point.
If so, clean and check all your grounds.
Porsche 914s suffer from ground problems more than most any other car.
The problems are well known.
I would start with the body to transmission ground strap.
Make sure the Battery to body negative lead is clean and tight.
After that, get a long piece of wire, attach it to the neg terminal on the battery and clip it to the place where the tach gets it’s ground.
I suspect you will have proper operation at that point.
If so, clean and check all your grounds.
QUOTE(Jmkorfha @ Jul 18 2019, 07:19 AM) 
When operating one electrical device affects another, unrelated device, the problem is almost always ground related.
Porsche 914s suffer from ground problems more than most any other car.
The problems are well known.
I would start with the body to transmission ground strap.
Make sure the Battery to body negative lead is clean and tight.
After that, get a long piece of wire, attach it to the neg terminal on the battery and clip it to the place where the tach gets it’s ground.
I suspect you will have proper operation at that point.
If so, clean and check all your grounds.
Neat trick! Thx for sharing that.
QUOTE(Jmkorfha @ Jul 18 2019, 09:19 AM)
When operating one electrical device affects another, unrelated device, the problem is almost always ground related.
Porsche 914s suffer from ground problems more than most any other car.
The problems are well known.
I would start with the body to transmission ground strap.
Make sure the Battery to body negative lead is clean and tight.
After that, get a long piece of wire, attach it to the neg terminal on the battery and clip it to the place where the tach gets it’s ground.
I suspect you will have proper operation at that point.
If so, clean and check all your grounds.
Oh my gosh, is it too early in our relationship for me to profess love!?!
Thank you!I'd cleaned both the battery ground and trans strap ground, BUT, the last tech in there (who removed both) may not've reattached as securely. In fact, my 'charge light' comes on now when it didn't before, but goes out after a few moments. I bet you you're right on the ground!
OH, and thanks for the recommendation #914SIXER on the relay. No I did NOT replace that, but plan to right away.
Super good advice guys.
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