Worn out electronic portion of ignition switch. R/R.
Remove ALL the extra keys from your key ring as well as any "good luck"
boat anchors, bowling balls, etc. to prevent recurrence.

From historic, walkable Mount Olive, NC,

G. Matthew Bulley
Bulley-Hewlett
Corporate Communications
Business: www.bulley-hewlett.com
Alliance: www.ntara.com
Home: www.MountOliveNC.info

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf
Of Jim Wheaton
Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2002 7:57 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: delayed start

Hi All-

I've been having this trouble with my 1990 Multivan for a year now.
The symtom is:

Turn key to first position (can hear fuel pump come to life).
Turn key to start position --- nothing happens.  Can hear a slight hum
that
was present before trying to start.  Keep key in start position.
Sometimes,
after a delay of up to 45-60 seconds (a long time) the engine will
start.
During the silence, there is no cranking or attempted starter action.

Clues:
It is pretty predictable that this will occur on the day *following* a
long highway
trip.

Short trips around town do not cause the problem, and once it starts
during the
day, it will continue to start all day long.  The day after short trips
around town
it is a pretty reliable starter.

It starts just fine regardless of temperature (except on days following
long journeys).

When it won't start, I've tried wiggling the starter switch - no change
pound on battery connections - no change.
wiggle wires around starter - no change.

Wait a while (an hour?) and it will sometimes then start.

My mechanic says "bring it on down", but I doubt he can find the trouble
when it
is starting, and if I can't start it, I can't "bring it on down"!

Any guesses?

T.I.A.

-Jim

--
Jim Wheaton * e-mail: jim@musclefish.com * http://www.musclefish.com
Muscle Fish / Audible Magic * 2550 Ninth St., 207B * Berkeley, CA 94710
Berkeley: (510) 486-0141 * Home Office:  (707) 823-9301