1974 914

[brcacti]

I have been putting the stock steering wheel back on and noticed I needed more parts, have them on order. The horn is disconnected and the wheel cap is on loose so I could drive it while waiting for parts. It wont start now, fires a few times and quits right away and turns over without running, any chance it is from the wheel not being put together right and finished?

[brcacti]

I might have an answer for my own question, it was acting like it was out of gas even though the guage said less than 1/4 tank like I had some in. I put some gas in from a can I had and it started up. My question is.................can there be no gas when the guage says there is still some?, more than 1/8 but less than 1/4?

[BeeMaster]

sounds like your gas went bad. Modern gas goes bad very fast.

[Bigtoe32067]

If the sender is bad it can read off

[dr914]

the float moves up and down on what looks like a fireman's pole. The pole accumulates deposits preventing the float from sliding up and down and often sticks where ever the gas level is sitting for the longest time. Removal of the sending unit unbolting the cylinder and sanding the pole fixes the problem

[brcacti]

Thanks Dr. 914, I wonder if there is some kind of gas additive that would help for this?

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Generally the gas additive won't do much. It may help prevent the accumulation of stuff on the slider, but once it's on there it probably won't help.

The usual solution is to remove the sender from the tank, disassemble it, and clean it. Note that the resistance wire is very thin and can be fragile, so you have to be careful not to break it.

That said, the sender is not always the cause. Sometimes it's the gauge, or the connections to the gauge and/or sender. You can see what the sender is saying with an ohmmeter; the resistance range of the stock sender is something like 80 ohms to ~0 ohms. I think I remember the resistance being higher when the tank is full, but I could have that backwards. Anyway, if you see the reading not change, the sender is almost certainly stuck. If it does change a good amount from empty to full, then the problem is more likely elsewhere.

You can simulate the tank being full and empty by removing the sender from the tank and either holding it upright (tank empty) or upside down (tank full).

--DD

[brcacti]

Thanks Dave, for now I will observe it for this winter when I drive it, too hot to drive it here in S. AZ in summer. On your car did you put too much stress on the engine racing it? Maybe needs a rebuild?