No start problem.

[AaronM]

Just got back from a 100+ mile round trip in te 914, everything was running great, brakes were firm, chassis solid, steering tight, engine purring (or as close to purring as a flat four gets).

I got home and he car sat for about an hour and when I went to start it again, nothing happened. The solenoid's not clicking, nothing at all is happening in the engine compartment. The ignition switch seems to be functioning properly since the dash lights dim when I turn the key to "start" and I can hear extra humming in the front trunk. It's not a low battery, jumping the car made no difference.

My father thinks that this is a dead spot on the starter and I'm inclined to agree. Later tonight I'm going to try to push-start it and see if it gets running that way. Right now my little sister's Prom group is in the driveway and since I look as though I've been working on a car I figured I'd stay away from her festivities.

Any ideas on what this might be? Or am I on the right track with the starter?

Aaron

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Could very well be. Could be other stuff, too--check the battery connections (clean them!) and the tranny ground strap. Check through the "starter system troubleshooting" tech article elsewhere on this system.

--DD

[AaronM]

Originally posted by Dave at Pelican Parts
Could very well be. Could be other stuff, too--check the battery connections (clean them!) and the tranny ground strap. Check through the "starter system troubleshooting" tech article elsewhere on this system.

--DD

Everything else works. The headlights will come on full bright even with the engine off, and I cleaned all the connections at the battery when I installed the battery last week after pulling the car from storage. When I had the engine running, I measured ~14 volts across the battery terminals at idle.

I'm going to try jumpering the solenoid today, but I don't suspect the ignition switch since everything else that happens with the switch in "start" is happening. Thanks for the pointer to the tech article.

Aaron

[AaronM]

Figured it out, it's just a dead spot on the (apparantly) original starter. I jumpered the solenoid and the starter spun but not enough to engage anything. Next time I tried the key, the car fired right up.

I'm considering a few options to replace the starter:

For $41.00 I can go cheap and get a "Duralast" rebuilt from AutoZone with a "Lifetime" warranty.

For $50.00 I can buy an original starter from Fred Volmerhausen according to his website, naturally no warranty aside from not being DOA.

For $119.00 I can get a rebuilt Beck/Arnley (sp?) starter from NAPA with a 3 month warranty.

Or, for $179.00 I can get a BOSCH rebuilt starter from NAPA, no information about a warranty.

The Duralast is tempting since it's so bloody cheap and it has a lifetime warranty, but I'm pretty sure that I'd just be asking for trouble with it. Then again, for all I know Duralasts could be re-badged BOSCH rebuilts, anyone know?

A rebuilt BOSCH would be nice, but it's pricey. On the other hand, if I'm spending $100+ on this starter, I definitely want it to have been rebuilt by BOSCH and not by anyone else. (Which basically eliminates Beck/Arnley from consideration.)

This brings me to the option of buying a starter from Fred. He's been great in the past (especially when he happened to have the FI system I needed), but the idea of replacing one 26 year old starter with another 26 year old (possibly even older) starter is worrisome to me.

Any advice on which road to take? Thanks a lot guys. I really appreciate all your help.

Aaron

[Joe Bob]

Bang on the solenoid....should do it....

[Peter_Hinkle]

Aaron, I'm sure that others won't agree with me but when my starter finally bit the dust, I went with a Duralast from Auto Zone as I was on a road trip and it decided to die on me in Dumas, Texas. If you don't know where Dumas is, the directions include: Drive straight to Hell and then turn off the paved road. I swear, the people I met were still exited about the wheel. Anyway, that was all I could find so i bought it. That was a year ago and it has worked flawlessly. Mine cost $26.50 with no core charge in good 'ole Dumas. Like you mentioned in your post, it also has a lifetime guarantee and AutoZone is everywhere so how could you go wrong? Just my $.02 peter

[karlp]

Just a suggestion-
I had a spare laying around that I did not know the history of. The one in the car started acting up as you have described. I put the spare in and it worked O.K.
The wife and I disassembled the original and found it was full of dust and rust, the solenoid lnkage needed some rough edges filed off and lubricated etc.
Put it back together and the bench test showed it was good so we put it back in the car and it hasn't missed a lick since. (>2yrs)

Oh, yeah ... the suggestion: Buy the cheap one. Fix the original, it's probably just dirty.

Karl P.

[Dave Bell]

Relay fixed everything for me... see pictures