Homeless wires - Anyone?

[firey914]

Ok, I bought a 1974 914 1.8L that had a small engine fire. All the wiring harnesses were OK. The only things that needed replacing were a few vacuum hoses (we also replaced fuel hoses just to be safe) and the grill drip pan. We cleaned the engine up and everything. However, we also found some wires that are homeless.

Keep in mind this car has an air-conditioner and one of them might be from the compressor, we're not sure - we can't really see where it goes to.

This picture shows the end of this wire. Under the tape there are 3 pretty thin wires. It appears to come off of one of the main wiring harnesses (as the 2nd picture shows). These wires were taped when we got the car. We were not told about them or anything by the seller.




This wire comes from somewhere down below. I am pretty sure it is grounded (this is what my friend told me, I didn't see him use the circuit tester). This wire just showed up one day and we didnt know where it came from. It could have been disconnected when we bought the car, we're not sure.



1 more thing to note - The engine turns over, the fuel pump runs, but the car does not start. Whether or not this has anything to do with these 2 wires remains to be seen. However, we did tonight connect a different homeless wire which was a ground for the ignition/fuel pump relay and have not tried to start it since then - SO these wires may have nothing to do with the ignition at all.

ANY help will be greatly appreciated.

THANKS THANKS THANKS.

[firey914]

A new breakthrough this morning. This has more to do with starting it than the homeless wires, but the problems may be related.

This morning we took her outside in hopes of starting her with that new ground grounded and fuel pump working. So we took her outside and tried it and she turned and turned and popped every so often. We then adjusted the distributor to produce a better spark - which made the engine pop a little more frequently. Then we checked the pressure in the fuel lines - very good, not a problem. We then tried starting it again, this time spraying some carb cleaner into the air intake. The engine came to life billowing rich carb cleaner smoke out the back. Then, of course it stopped because it had no fuel.

So we have concluded that our fuel injectors are not injecting. I am inclined to think that the injectors are not getting power and that it has something to do with the 3 taped wires (picture up above). I am going to go talk to a guy south of my town (Watertown, WI) who works a lot on old beetles - he might have a good idea of what the problem is.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Is there a white (ish) wire hooked up to the (-) side of the coil? That's what tells the FI when to inject fuel.

Not sure what your homeless wires could be. Your one pic shows split-loom wire harness wrapping; that is very definitely not stock! Can you tell what colors the homeless wires are, and can you tell if any of them are "hot" with the engine on (or off), if any of them are grounded, etc.?

--DD

[Tidybuoy]

On my 1974 1.8 Fi car, there are also 3 homeless white wires that come out of the wire harness near the battery tray.

When I first bought my car, I tried hard to figure out where they go. I found out......These 3 white wires go to an optional altitude compensator (which I have never seen a 914 with). And the taped off method was the factory method (which I find very bizzar).

I have a book called "914 Tech Tips 700" and these 3 white wires are addressed in the book - with a picture of the altitude compensator.

Unfortunately, this does not address why your injectors are not injecting but, you might want to check the injector relays or the resistor (not sure what it's called) this is the thing that's mounted to the battery tray and looks like 4 cigarettes connected together.

Hopefully, these are the wires you are talking about and the problem is solved...................Vern

[firey914]

Thanks a lot for letting me know what those wires go to. The brown wire is grounded to the frame, still not sure what it goes to.

We're pretty sure the wire going to the throttle switch is hosed which could cause the engine not to maintain an idle (the injectors are injecting we found out). We also put in new spark plugs which should be great. We also found a vacuum leak in the big elbow from the airbox to the throttle body. I can't BELIEVE that plastic elbow is $90(!!) from ***********. Can't BELIEVE IT!!! Oh well, i guess it's the price i'll have to pay unless someone can refer to a cheaper place. Thanks for the info again.

[castlesteve]

CHECK YOU RESISTOR BLOCK!!!

1.8s have an aluminum case the size of a (a thick candy bar)... it houses 4 long resistors. These resistors are in series to your injectors. I've seen the wires pop off the connections... and you wont get anything at all. Pull this out and resolder.

Believe it or not, this is how I bought my 914 for CHEAP. The previous owner had taken the car to about 10 shops to try to FIX why it was running on 3 cyls. They couldnt figure it out... so they bumped up the timing and throttle. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?

anyway, just check it. ITs cheap and easy fix.

[firey914]

Thanks, we started to check it but didn't because it was getting late the one night and it was a huge b!tch to get the block out from under the battery.

What's an easy way to check how many cylinders are pumping?

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

You can pull the injectors out and put them into mayonnaise jars or something similar. Have someone crank the starter and look for fuel to come out of each one. You should also look at the spray pattern; it should be somewhat cone-shaped and not just a dribble.

Try Pelican for the intake air boot. Not sure if it's currently available to us, but if it is there's a decent chance we can beat AA's price.

--DD

[firey914]

It'd be great if pelican parts could get that elbow in stock, cause AA is riduclous and has bad service. I don't want to plug pelican parts or anything, but it's just better.

Thanks for the advice, I'll try the mayo bottle.

[firey914]

Heres 2 new pictures of the one ground that is homeless. This might better help someone find it? The second picture is better than the first.




The car is a 914 1.8l with stock L-Jetronic. We actually got it running tonight, but the idle is sort of rough and we're not sure if it's running on all cylinders. It's also running quite rich. Anyone know some quick checks to see what is going on with these two?

Help is greatly appreciated.

[firey914]

If anyone is curious to see the car that I keep talking about, which now runs (I just like saying that it runs haha cause no one thought we could do it [parents, friends, etc - me and my friend are only 17 and 18 years old]) here it is -



I would've liked to post more pictures but geocities is being lame.

Enjoy

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

For more pictures--

Click "post reply" instead of just going to the "quick reply" at the bottom of the page. Then look for an "Attach File" label, and an "attach multiple" link. Click that. Click "Browse" to find a file, then "Upload Now!" to upload it. You can keep uploading files, one at a time. Not sure of the maximum, but please keep the images to a relatively-sane size.

--DD

[firey914]

Anyone have any quick checks/tests for why our 1.8 l-jet engine is running rich? Any help is appreciated - Thanks

[coconut 321]

I also have the '74 stock F.I. Try checking the cylinder head temperature sensor (CHT) wire that exits below #3 cyl. spark plug wire. It is a single wire that you can check ohms with a meter. At 68* you should read 2000 to 3000 ohms, @125* the reading should be 700 to1000 ohms, @175* 200-400 ohms. Mine turned out to be off by 10% and gave me a rich mixture. A $22 part at Pelican solved this problem for me.