pete:

starting battery is almost surely at fault. acid can be tested with
hydrometer; excessive internal resistance by monitoring terminal volatge
with load. at 60 months, any ordinary battery is suspect.

dan

On Sun, 7 Jan 2007 21:00:13 -0500, Peter T. Owsianowski
<pnoceanwesty@GMAIL.COM> wrote:

>Hello, Listees:
>
>Hope this isn't to simple of a question for the list:
>
>
>Have had no starting issues in 5 years with our '87 Westy, "Joe's
>Van".  Last weekend,  I drove it on the weekend around town all day
>and left the radio on after parking it in the barn.  Dead, naturally,
>so I trickle charged the battery (5 Year old battery) and it popped
>right off, started all day.    This weekend, we took it down to Potato
>Creek State park this weekend (again, no problems) and this morning,
>temps dipped to the 20's at night and everything was frosted when we
>woke up.  Really wet out.   Went to fire it it up and turned over
>maybe 1.5X, then, nothing.  The dash lights come on and you can hear
>the fuel pump buzzing, but no crank.
>
>I tried to jump start off another vehicle, but again nothing.  The
>battery light on the kitchen shows green and all the lights seem
>bright.  Got under and banged on the starter and solenoid to no avail.
>
>Had it flatbedded home (Thanks, AAA) and it's back in the barn.  Can
>the starter or solenoid go out from one start to the next?  Do I not
>have enough cranking power?   I found a similar related issues
>slogging thru the archive.  I pasted it below.  Looking the Muir right
>now for any hints.
>
>Thanks for any info!
>
>Pete
>'79 Westy "Aardvark"
>'87 Westy "Joe's Van"
>'02 Audi A6 Avant
>WWW. Busesbythebeach.com
>
>
>
>
>
>Date:         Thu, 20 Apr 1995 11:58:16 -0700 (PDT)
>Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
>From:         "Tobin T. Copley" <tobin@freenet.vancouver.bc.ca>
>Subject:      Re: New starter?+wierd noise (help!)
>
>On Thu, 20 Apr 1995, Eugene C. Palmer wrote:
>
>
>> > I know that sometimes, if your van won't start, (as in nothing at all
>> >happens when you turn the key) you can bang on the
>> >starter and solenoid a bit, and get it to start. This usually happens
>> >when parked on hills. My question is, since this is happening, is a new
>> >starter in order?  [snip]
>> >
>> You could try crossing the selenoid and B+ terminals with a screwdriver
to
>> be sure it isn't some other gremlin.  The parked on hills thing makes me
>> think there is something loose, either the engine mounts, trans mounts,
or
>> starter bolts themselves.
>
>--