hey everyone, im new to the forums and wanted to say hi. my car is a 1975 914 and im having starting problems. sometimes the car will start others it wont. ill let it sit for awhile after it refuses to start and most times within a couple hours i will go back and try to start it again and it will start right up. anyone know what could be causing this. also when i turn the igntion and the car doesnt start its still pulling power on the battery atleast thats what the voltmeter tells me on the car, it brings it down about 2 volts. thanks for the help.

Before I assume that "won't start" means "won't crank," please clarify:

When it won't start... when you turn the key, is it completely dead, or does it click but not crank (turn over), or does it crank but not start?

when it wont start it wont crank but will click once and then as long as the ignition switch is turned it will draw on the battery according to the voltmeter but will not continue clicking.

If you like quick and dirty like me, next time it fails do the screwdriver trick: Short between the main power terminal and the solenoid terminal at the starter (red to green in photo) and see if it cranks. (Of course, car in neutral and ebrake on in case it cranks while you're behind the rear wheel!)

In most cases it will crank with the screwdriver trick.

If so: The problem is most likely in the starter switch circuit. Perhaps a cracked ignition switch or a dirty connection at the seatbelt relay junk under the passenger seat.

If not: Clean the battery terminal connections, ground strap connections, measure voltage at starter.....

There are more possibilities, but hopefully you won't have to get into anything deeper or more expensive just yet.

will try thanks Rand

the first thing to check is the transmission ground strap. Its a braided copper (i think) strip thst connect the transmission to the car body. 'Course you can't really tell by looking if the thing is not grounding everything well b/c it deteriorates internally. You can get one from pelican parts or maybe a VW place, as I'm guessing they use sumthin mighty similar. Without a good ground strap, the starter may not get enough juice.

The usual suspects with this problem are:

1.ground strap from the tranny to the floor of your rear trunk.
2. Hot start issue? Was it hot?
3. Ig switch (I hope not)
4. See #1
5. See #4 (get it?)

If you try the screwdriver trick and it spins the starter, it is most likely not bad. Since your battery is drained when you have the ig switch turned this could mean that you have a short somewhere, that the switch is bad, or that the starter is shorting. Let us know what you find and dont start any fires

thanks for the help guys i really appriciate it. im going to try the short on the starter this weekend then i will get back to you and yes the car usually does not start after its been running awhile shut off then started again i assume this is what you meant by hot start. if the car had been sitting awhile it will ususally start right up.

QUOTE (ModPR3 @ Feb 7 2006, 10:29 PM)

the car usually does not start after its been running awhile shut off then started again i assume this is what you meant by hot start. if the car had been sitting awhile it will ususally start right up.

if everything else checks out *ok*, plan on replacing the starter ...

most of the "hot start" problems are from a failing starter.
Andy