Indicator Lights that don't

[John Rogers]

The turn signal indicators (K5-45) and the hi-beam indicator (K1-16) do not work on our 1974 914. These are Haynes manual ID and current tracks. The "lower" side of the diagram for these connect to other lights, specifically Tach Illumination lights (2) which work fine. The lights on the speedo all work okay including the parking indicator. There is no ground on the tach case and the illumination lights use their case as a "ground" for current flow. Before I short something out I think the connectors on the "ground" side of the lights shouls just go to the case and the case should be grounded?? Does this sound correct?? Thanx

[JP Noonan]

From the top of my head... The tach wire is Blk/Purple stripe. It goes from the ign. coil to the relay board to the terminal on the tach. I don't know which terminal as I have seen them with different markings. A Red/Wht wire is +12V and goes to all the gauges. A Blk/blue is the display lighting. A brown wire goes to the case of each gauge, if your tach is not grounded in this way then it is probably feeding back and grounding somewhere else. Also the indicator light ground to the case (depending on the year). Also check the bulbs, swap them around to something that works. I had a problem with the turn siganl indicator coming on once and then stop. it ended up being bad grounds behind the headlight buckets. The 914 only has about half a dozen ground points on the whole car, so it is worth while to undo-clean-reconnect all of them. I did this and it took care of all my electrical problems, I also coated the reconnected grounds with battery/terminal protector.

[Wayne 962]

If your illumination lights work fine, then there isn't a ground problem. Check the voltage from the lamps with a voltmeter and see if you are getting voltage to the lamps. I would start tracing the wire back. I think that the brights wire goes to the headlamp relay, and the signal wire goes to the hazard switch.

I'm going to put the rest of the electrical diagrams up on the site since I have gotten so many requests for them.

-Wayne

[John Rogers]

I finally got time to do some more looking at this problem and found the following:
- no voltage to the lights on the tach, the blue/wht wire has continuity, lug 'C' is dead on the flasher. Lug 'C' is used only to send power to the in-dash lights it seems?
- The tach case has a good ground.
- I have a 1973 tach and plastic bulb holders, but it was wired like a '74.
- the front/rear turn signals work okay.
Question: Can I tap into the turn signal wires for left/right to power the in-dash lights which is what is done on newer cars of all makes? Has anyone done this and as far as I can see, the worst thing that will happen is a blown fuse which will force me to get one of those 4-prong flashers.

[John Rogers]

Finished finally. I used electrical splicers and hooked the turn signal lights in the tach to their respective connections on the emergency flasher switch and the other side to ground and they work great. I tested a three prong flasher and it works too, but I put the original one back in.