At 09:22 PM 12/26/2008, john schaper wrote...
>Something's wrong and its not the battery.  Drove up here Thur, with
>severe snow, etc.  No problems.  Went to start the 84 vanagon
>today--nothing.  Charged the battery and the symptom persists.  Manual
>transmission.  I don't hear a clicking sound, but there is a humming
>noise.

Sounds like the bendix isn't working. It's a spiral gear which causes
the starter gear to engage with the flywheel when the starter spins up.
On Vanagon starters, the bendix is assisted by the solenoid. The
humming noise is probably the starter spinning, but the bendix isn't
engaged to turn the engine.

It might just be stuck - sometimes they can be freed by whacking on the
starter. It's probably the solenoid which isn't moving fully - so pound
on the  smaller cylinder (the small cylinder is the solenoid, the large
one is the starter motor). Not hard enough to dent it, just a couple of
hard taps with your lug wrench. The starter is up underneath, about
even with the rear of the passenger side tire.