Stumble Problem......1.7l

[Jim Fraser]

Hi Everyone.

Well, I just picked up my 914, big smile. I've wanted one for years and now I've got it. The car is a 1972 1.7l with 43000 miles indicated, and it looks like the odo may actually be right, but you never know.

Here is some history. About a week ago, when i test drove the car, the car, the car quit. The fuel guage was above the E, the ca hesitated a few times then stopped. The guy selling the car played with the fuel pump relay, and viola...away it went. No problem.

Well, here is a description of my problem. I've put about 500 miles on it in the last two days. The first 200 miles or so went flawless (boy are these things fun to drive!!), however I now get a very short stumble from the car occasionally, it only lasts a split second. Sometimes it takes 20 minutes before it happens again..sometimes 2...then 15....very random. It seems to occur at all speeds and load situations.

So. Is it the fuel pump relay? The injector contacts? A bad vacuum line? Water in the fuel? (I put in some fuel injector cleaner, water removal elixer) A plugged fuel filter? A loose connector somewhere? Maybe the planets aren't aligned properly?

Other than this probelm the car runs perfectly.

Jim Fraser

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Jim Fraser

[rich]

Take a couple of hours and clean/check all your electrical connections. Look for terminal ends that may have been replaced over the years with the wrong size, or streched, loose connections. Look for a cracked,corroded relay board.
Good luck

[mejulihn]

Jim,
Congratulations on your "new" car! I would also start with looking for bad electrical connections and terminal. And don't overlook a corroded or loose ground. Be patient as this may take a while to discover the culprit since it is intermittent. Only 43,000 miles? Well, maybe -- but it would have to be one of those very rare "I-found-it-in-a-barn-after-
25-years-of-storage" kind of a story. Speedo cables on these cars fail with some regularity. Any signs of a rebuild? A compression test would also help verify engine miles.

[Jim Fraser]

Thanks people!

I'm in the process of checking out the electrical system, but as you said, it may take a while to find the problem.

Well, as I live in Canada, any of the 914's that are left are ones that tended to be summer driven only as the wintered ones are long gone to the porsche heaven courtesy of the tin worm. This car doesn't have any of the characteristics of the higher mileage cars, i.e. the interior is excellent, the steering wheel and pedals have a bit of wear, but not a lot and the body have almost no rust (a few areas of surface rust and one hole about 3mm in diameter beneath the battery tray) I've had the car on a hoist and poked around underneath...VERY solid car. Actually, I'm really not that concerned what the mileage is as the car is in such good shape. Oh, and the shop I bought it from got it from the original owner....

I'm still grinning from my drives...

It's amazing that this thing stops and turns better than my 93 Golf, and is about equal in acelleration...and this with no swaybar in the 914...and a 1.7l motor to boot.

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Jim Fraser