Struggling to find spark! 71 914 1.7L
 

Its been in a garage for 25yrs and now its mine to tinker with. I'm not sure why I can't get spark? Workin my way back,, Checked and changed plugs/ cap and rotor/ coil/ and voltage regulator. I'm not getting power to my coil.. Ignition switch looks "new" and its cranking, just no spark. The relay board and fuses seem ok... I'm stumped! Any help would be greatly appreciated.......also no power to pin 5 and 7, on the 12 pin ignition harness

Do you have a Haynes manual? They have wiring diagrams with labels for the wire colors.

The coil is component #6 in the 71 wring diagram part II. Near the lower-right corner. Power comes to it at terminal 15, through a black wire with a red stripe. (BK/RD) That comes from the relay board, pin #7 in the right-rear connector. Inside the relay board, that connects to pin #8 in the front connector.

That in turn is fed by a black wire that comes through the center tunnel in the main wiring harness. That wire connects to fuse #8 in the fuse box above the driver's feet, and there is another black wire crimped into that same terminal. Power comes from that wire, and doesn't go through the fuse on its way to the coil; it does when going to other parts of the car but not the coil for some reason. Anyway, that black wire ends up at terminal 15 on the ignition switch.

The ignition switch, when turned on, connects its terminal 30 to its terminal 15 (among others). Terminal 30 gets its power through a red wire that goes to the power distribution point that is up under the dash near the fuse box. That, of course, gets power from the battery.

Start tracing back up this path with your voltmeter. See where you have power and where you don't.

I'm not thrilled with the quality of ignition switches that are currently being made, so it is possible that yours may be pretty new and still have failed. I'm frankly not sure what to do about finding better ones.

--DD

Thank you for the help. I do have a Haynes, but it seems very limited on info. Also...One of my main confusions is with the 12 pin connecter under the dash that the switch is directly connected to that had (has) some wires that aren't connected. I'm not sure what you mean when saying terminal 15 and 12 on the ignition switch, since all i see is 4 wire coming down.With your info. I will continue to chase power. Considering the car is in great shape (Fathers garage 25 +yrs) I'm planning on going through with a fine tooth comb. Is there a more in depth manual you could recommend?.... Again,, thank you

The 12-pin connector I was referring to in my post is on the relay board in the engine bay. I had actually forgotten about the connector under the dash on the early cars!

The ignition switch should have little tiny numbers printed on it. Pin 30 is the power in to the switch, pin 15 is "switched power" out from the switch to fuse #8. (Looks like I misread the labels on the diagram; I will fix my post above!)

I do not remember how the early switches plug in, but I assume that the small numbers below the switch (component 26 in the diagram) correspond to the positions of the wires in the plug there. If that is so, then pin 30 is plug wire 12 and has a red wire running to it, while pin X is plug wire 8 and has a black wire running to it.

--DD

Thanks for your help. I'm glad I found you, since this also looks like the place to find the parts I will need for my restore. CHEERS

Do check out 914world.com as well- another great resource!