From: ddarling@wgss.com on behalf of Dave Darling [ddarling@wgss.com] Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 1999 1:59 PM To: joseph Cc: 914 Subject: Re: [914] DWD not terminal!!! At 1:05 PM -0700 5/5/99, josephus@preferred.com wrote: > UPDATE: After 8 mos at the body shop, lil yeller is HOME, on the front >lawn, lookin GOOD, and stopping traffic! Why, yes--I *am* jealous! But congrats, Joe. Take some pix for us! Scan 'em in or send them to someone with a scanner (I know of one long-haired weirdo who has access to a Gov't scanner) and let's get them posted up! > Ok, down to business...those of you with the patience to have read this >far are the folk I need to address these Q's to: > > (1) I've got most all the wiring hooked up, left signal light and >taillight shine constantly, (showing a negative deflection on the ammeter >however,) but the right side lights are dark....any advice? This doesn't sound quite like the ground problems I've found on my car, but then again grounding problems cause all sorts of strange electrical behavior. Got the wire colors all sorted out? Brown is ground... Also, are the brake light bulbs (the center ones, I think) dual-filament bulbs the way they should be? Swapping single-/dual-filament bulbs around leads to very strange behavior. I don't remember offhand any wire in the back that should get power all the time. This could be indicative of other problems elsewhere. Like the washer on the brake pushrod not contacting the brake light switch, pos- sibly. (BTDT.) Is this all the time as in *all* the time, or is it only with the ignition "on"? The brake lights can only get power when the ignition is on. The license plate lights and parking/marker lights only when the headlight switch is on "parking lights" or "headlights". I don't remember if one of the bulbs in the taillights is also activated by the "parking light" (sorry, too many meanings on that one name) feature of the turn-signal setup. That can get power when the key is off, IF the turn signal lever is moved left or right. Not sure what else offhand... It might come down to unplugging the wires and doing a continuity check with your handy multimeter. > (2) He starts fine, but rev's a bit slow, and idles waay too slow, (chug >chug) but doesn't die...I know where the idle screw is, and the rich/lean >screw on the brain, but I'm thinking I need to make sure my vacuum hoses are >correct and ok (which I doubt) before I start turning screws, right? |Got >some new spark plugs, should I go ahead and put them in now?) Not necessarily, but it's probably a good idea to take a look at their coloring. I bet it's black and sooty. In which case you tweak the idle mixture screw on the ECU counter-clockwise a few clicks to see if that helps. Check the timing and dwell, too, and make sure you're getting some reasonable spark. The closest thing we have to a diagram of the vacc hoses is my 2.0 diagram up on the 914 Fan Page. It won't be exact by any means, but there should be the same types of components, and the vacc hoses should hook up to the same sources. (There are three main vaccuum sources: Before the throttle body, after the throttle body, and AT the throttle body. The air cleaner is "before", the intake air distributor [plenum] is "after".) That should at least give you some idea if it's reasonable. > (3) Sometimes he backfires out the exhaust, worries me, then, when I want >to show someone who might have a clue, he won't do it...runs smooth, except >for the waay too slow idle... Could be the mixture (rich or lean), the ignition, the valves or valve adjustment, maybe an exhaust leak.... See if verifying the ignition and mix- ture fixes the problem. If not, check the valve adjustment. > (4) Tach works perfectly...center console (from a '74 I think) temp guage >is inoperative...speedo sorta works, but gently slops around betw 0mph and >30mph at slow speed...should I grease something somewhere? Temp gauge sender is in the sump plate on the left-front corner of the bottom of the engine. Chances are that your engine never had one. All the bits can be bought, but that temp-sender sump plate is expensive. Try to get it used somewhere. (In a few weeks, I may be able to report on how well an aftermarket VDO sender fits...) For the speedo, make sure the cable isn't binding up anywhere. If it is bent in too-tight a radius, it can bind like that. You may be able to get some lubricant down the cable. Also check the condition of the cable sheath. It could be getting time to replace the cable. Or you could just live with it. Good luck, Joe!! --DD Dave Darling 74 914 2.0 (VROOM!) darling@simlab.arc.nasa.gov <--- OR ---> ddarling@wgss.com "914: The Porsche Picnic Basket. A lid that opens on each end, and a handle in the middle.." -- CHD