it cranks fine but won't fire up,. when hot,
OR  it has trouble cranking on the starter when hot ? 
which one please ? 
'won't start' covers both of those, and often people fail to distinguish which one they mean.
I've had to ask a million customers what they mean when they say 'it won't start' .....does it crank fine, and won't fire up, or does it fail to crank. 
Amusingly, some people can't really quite say even !!  lol. 
< one guy called it Delayed Gratification - I like that !  :-) 

the discussion posted is about when a starter won't crank the engine when things are hot. 
if that's the case, my attention would be drawn to the starter itself, .....but also all of the starter circuit. 

you might try the ole hammer trick.
IF the issue is it won't crank on the starter.
Next time it does it ........be careful doing this of course, but , make sure it's in neutral, have someone turn the key to 'start' and hold it.
You whack the side of the starter sharply with a hammer.
if that makes the starter work ...........it's usually an indication the problem is 'the starter' ....
but pay attention to things like the electrical part of the ignition switch, transmission ground strap, battery cables and connections,
the battery, and charging voltage. 
I forgot which version of vanagon you have Mathew......  silly me. 

that's always good to know, air cooled, 1.9 or 2.1 wbxr, diesel, and manual trans or automatic.
( for example.......there are contacts for the starter circuit in the automatic trans shifter....) 
so it really helps.....
at least for those who are really trying to zero in on what your issue might be ........
year,  make and model, and version, please.
I always keep at least one known-good starter around for testing purposes  - so easy to pop in another one, 'usually' . ( less so on a syncro of course ) 
They made the main battery cable significantly larger in 2.1 vanagons .........interestingly. That means something, like 85 and earlier is underbuilt a little. 
Scott
turbovans 

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Matthew Snook 
  To: 'Wetwesties' ; vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com 
  Sent: Sunday, July 26, 2009 8:13 PM
  Subject: [WetWesties] hot-not-start

    I tried to do my duty and use the Vanagon archives. My Westy has a new
  symptom and I thought it was the Vanagon Syndrome, but I read now that this
  is a loss of power and hesitation at full rpms. That is not my situation.

  Instead, sometimes the '84 Westy 1.9 wbx won't start if I turn it off (or
  kill it by stalling) when hot, then try to start it back up again. If I wait
  a little bit (haven't timed it yet) then it starts right up again, per
  usual. Does this symptom have a name, or does anybody know the technique
  for avoiding this?

  Matt

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