Hey Milo - thanks for all the advice - I think you're right and I outta go
from front to back - my van has lived its whole life on an island here off
the cape of Mass. so corrosion is a big problem here.  Would be worth the
effort I think!

Peace,
Marla

>From: "Milo's Kitchen" <sagmoore@zoominternet.net>
>To: "Marla Stelk" <mjstelk@HOTMAIL.COM>
>Subject: RE: Starter Solenoid?
>Date: Tue, 6 May 2003 21:28:41 -0400
>
>Marla,
>Glad it's starting now, I forgot about the strap from the trans to body,
>duh. When I bought my '87 Syncro in 1995 (@74,000 miles, and primarily for
>the VWoA replacement engine; I had another van with head troubles) it was
>not running. The guy selling it to me was, at the time, parts manager for
>Apollo VW in Pittsburgh. He said although the engine was good, it had a bad
>engine fuel injection harness and the engine would not run.
>
>I had it flat-bedded home and just for fun(!) cleaned every ground and
>component connection (trans, heads, harness, body, inside the LH junction
>box and so on). I also inspected and cleaned the ECU plug and contacts. The
>engine ran fine. The grounds (and their multiplicity) inspired me to
>measure
>the length and go to a local battery shop and have them fabricate a long
>ground cable (welding cable, #2 gauge) with ring terminals crimped on to
>attach between the upper LH trans to engine mount bolt and the body
>attachment bolt of the battery ground strap. The engine subsequently ran
>fine and continued to for eight years without a problem until the O2 sensor
>died. I have not had any ground related problems since, (now at 150,000
>miles).
>
>You had mentioned erratic/flakey idle/operation on yours. You may have
>noticed there has been discussion on the list regarding the inline ground
>connectors in the harness, (after some hunting, they are visible and
>accessible,) I cleaned those also. Point being, although being a major PIA,
>starting from one end of the van (the battery) and proceeding aft, one can
>inspect and clean just about every electrical connection essential to
>smooth
>running in the space of a weekend. From my hard earned experience with
>three
>prior vans, I can assure you that sometimes just letting the seasons pass
>(Winter to Summer or vice versa) can make a poor running van run fine,
>because of the poor electrical connections, and not necessarily a bad
>component. It is well worth the exercise in aggravation, as afterwards, you
>can then be assured that if you do identify a component villain, it's not a
>ghost.
>
>I hope this helps, (and sorry for the length)
>
>Dave Milo
>
>

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