Starting problems

[tmeracz]

My 914 has an intermittent problem starting.
I took all weekend to go over the wiring and I've traced all the funkiness to the cluster of wires leading to the relay-looking thing under the passenger seat.
Can somebody enlighten me as to what this thing does?
It is stamped Logik underneath and the only thing I know is that it is an interrupter to the starter when it senses that someone is seated in the passenger seat. (I think)
I've tried all possible combos- with the sensors to the seatbelt plugged or unplugged, etc. and the car will start regardless. I also don't see the bypass to this mechanism wired in after the fact. So is this not working properly?

Several of the wires leading to the back of this assembly were loose and after jiggling them and reseating the loose wires it went from a no-go to about a 3 out of 5 on attempted starts.

When I hold it in my hand, I can feel something click inside the relay on the times that it does start.

Are these units known to go bad?
Is there a procedure for troubleshooting this outside of what I'm doing with the seat cushion sensors and seatbelts?
How much can I expect to pay for a replacement?

[ruddyboys]

The wiring under the pass seat is for the seat belt logic system. In '74 the government made it manditory to have seat belts fastened. If there were pressure in the pass seat and the belt wasn't fastned the little warning light on the dash would light, a buzzer would sound and the car wouldn't start. Here is a quote I found fron Dave Darling to by pass this system:

Originally posted by Dave at Pelican Parts
I would re-disconnect the logic switch. Its only designed function is to keep you from operating the starter if someone is in the car without their seatbelt on. What it does in practice is that, and also keeps you from operating the starter if the weather is wrong, or if it gets dirty, or if it's in a bad mood, or... I suggest permanently splicing the two fat yellow wires (one may have a red stripe) and covering with shrink-tubing to keep out water and dirt.

The other "can" is the "door ajar" buzzer. I found that to be quite annoying, so I removed it from my car and never looked back.

...Of course, I still haven't gotten around to disabling the seatbelt thing. It's working so far and I never remember it when I'm out there messing around with the car.

--DD

Hope this helps

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Yup, that's the Infamous Seatbelt Interlock Relay.

Splice the two big yellow wires together to eliminate all doubt about its functioning. Then throw it away. The relay does nothing else at all. If you want to eliminate the relay socket there under the seat, then cut off all the wires that go to it and cap them off in a nice water-tight fashion. For the socket terminals that have two wires crimped into a single metal connector, you need to splice those wires together or something "downstream" won't work correctly.

Make sure all splices are solid and water-tight. (Shrink tubing is your friend here!!) Unless your 914 doesn't leak in the rain....

--DD