if normal cranking with a jump, then battery is most likely at fault. 5
years is a lot of service from a battery, and it is probably shot.
hydrometer test will show whether battery takes a charge, but often
batteries fail due to an increased internal resistance (evident by low
battery voltage across battery terminals under heavy load, such as
cranking).

dlk

On Tue, 13 Jan 2004 17:54:21 -0800, Mike Ray <svomikey1@YAHOO.COM> wrote:

>Hi  all. I�ve just spent an hour looking at the archives for battery
info. There�s a lot!
>
>
>While starting my `87 Westy, I turn the key and during the crank cycle,
it slows down like there�s a dead spot on the starter field winding, then
it picks back up. It did this for about a month and when I was 6 hours
from the house, it finally failed to crank at all while in a parking lot.
Turning the key did nothing. Bentley test procedure (p27.13) showed
voltage at solenoid and not at terminal A (field winding, should be 8v+),
I had .5v. The import FLAPS couldn�t get a solenoid so I replaced the
entire starter & solenoid. On my return trip (w/ new starter) it failed to
start 2 more times and has the same hestitation!! The ignition switch is
new so I ASSUME I need a battery? My Autobahn is 5yrs old. Is this starter
hesitation a sign of a bad cell or something? Sometimes it still starts
fine so I can�t tell. Any opinions would be appreciated! Pls p-mail me in
addition to posting to the list, I�m on perma-vacation as far as the email
server is concerned  :-)
>
>Thanks all! Mike, Macon, GA
>
>
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