wes:

many posts back you mentioned normal starting after running the van for a
while to charge up the battery. that suggests that the starting system is
ok, except for the battery. i suggests ruling out the battery by replacing
it with a known good battery.

sometimes batteries pass the hydrometer test, and have a normal no load
voltage, but due to an excessive internal resistance, cannot reliably pass
enough current to crank the engine. an ordinary boost may not always work
with such a battery, because the battery still has to provide most of the
starting current. therefore, although reliable cranking only with a boost
would suggest a bad battery (in this case), the converse is not
necessarily true; i.e., even if a boost doesn't make for reliable
cranking, the battery may still be faulty.

also, it sounds as if the battery has probably been whacked around pretty
good, first by being run down becasue of alternator problems, and now from
many starts, or attempted starts, without much normal charging in between.

please be sure to let us know what the real problem was when you get her
fixed.

dan