[George D]

My car currently would not start (no crank) so I think it's the starter, solenoid, battery, electrical, etc. Headlights, brake lights, instrument work fine.

I noticed that there is a black wire not attached to a device near the distributor cap on the attached picture. It's a big pain to attach the wire back as it wouldn't reach. What is this device?

 

[Alfacliff]

looks like the cold start solenoid,
cliff

 

[john.harrill]

There are two electrical connection to (most) Spica FI pumps. The rear-most is the cold-start sonenoid and the front is the fuel cut-off solenoid.

The cold-start solenoid is energized by a wire from the starter. You should be able to trace to there, as the starter sits right behind it.

The fuel cut-off solenoid cuts off fuel (cleaver name, huh?) as the engine revs fall below around 3000 rpm. This is to prevent backfiring. This wire goes to a micro switch mounted under the FI pump.

 

[George D]

Cliff & John, thank you very much.

 

[144]

What you have circled is the Fuel Cutoff Solenoid. The wire that attaches to is comes from the microswitch on the underside of the injection pump. The power feed is from a chassis wire along the side of the engine compartment. The chassis wire is hot when power is on the car. The microswitch closes and sends 12v to the FCS when the throttle is closed and the engine rpm is above about 1300-1600 rpm. This energizes the FCS and shuts off fuel delivery to prevent backfiring. As the engine decels below 1300 rpm or so (or if you open the throttle again), the microswitch opens, the FCS de-energizes and fuel delivery is restored.

If the microswitch malfunctions and shorts (constantly closed), then a constant fuel cutoff signal is sent to the solenoid and the engine dies. To remedy this until you can install a new microswitch, just remove the wire from the FCS. If the system is in good tune, you probably won't experience hardly any backfiring.