one of my sayings ..
in any car..........'Good starting is a great thing to have !" 

me too .....get back from a trip ..
gotta unpack, and clean some, then tackle anything that's not fully roadworthy ..
keep 'er ready for tippin' on short notice, just in case. 
 
yer right ..he did say push start, so it's a manual trans. 
    Partially I'm thinking of anyone reading who might not realize  that 'starter bushing' only applies to manual trans. 

Now we might get to see what Bryan finds, and fixes. 

scott 
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Don Hanson 
  To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans 
  Cc: vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com 
  Sent: Sunday, October 10, 2010 8:40 PM
  Subject: Re: No start questions

    Scott, in his original post he mentions push-starting the Vanagon, if I recall.  I don't think you'd wanna push start an automatic.  We pulled automatics to start them, in my past, but you hadda go 35-40mph...too fast to push.

    Now if that was my vanagon, I'd have left it dirty from the camping trip and got it running right as my first priority...What good is a clean van that won't go?  Dirty van (sometimes)  that starts dependably...that is more my style....

    Don Hanson

  On Sun, Oct 10, 2010 at 6:12 PM, Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@turbovans.com> wrote:

    hi, lol,
    re 

    All I get from you is a three sentence response? :)

    I was trying to spare you from reading a long thing ,
    with too many details, or too tinged with things like ..'don't think of what
    part it might be first ...
    but inspect and diagnose first.'

    I seldom bother anymore, but I used to take the starters apart and see how
    short the brushes are ..
    how much powdery material in there from wearing brushes..how good the
    bushings are etc.

    oh ...btw ...be sure to inspect your starter bushing in your bell housing
    ....
    assuming manual trans.

    have fun, do good work .
    Scott 

    ----- Original Message -----
    From: "B Feddish" <uprightbassghost@HOTMAIL.COM>
    To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>

    Sent: Sunday, October 10, 2010 5:39 PM
    Subject: Re: No start questions

    You can be facetious   but you need to spell it right first. bwahahah

    You are right, | have not looked yet. It's Sunday evening and I just spent
    forever unloading and cleaning the van after another camping trip. I have
    not had a chance to climb under it yet and I am going to do that tommorow
    morning. I was just looking for some sugestions that I can have on hand when
    I start.

    From all the pmails I've recieved my goal tommorow is to 1) clean the
    battery terminals, 2) clean the connections to the starter and 3) replace
    the ignition switch. Then determine if I need a new starter.  This should
    work out OK since I can try all that stuff first thing and if needed I can
    drive to the BD at 11 when they open and get a new starter.

    And C'mon Scott. All I get from you is a three sentence response? :)  I know
    you're good for allot more than that!

    Bryan

      Date: Sun, 10 Oct 2010 17:19:20 -0700
      From: scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM
      Subject: Re: No start questions
      To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM

      re
      "don't want to spend allot of time trying figure out if a 27 year old
      starter is having issues."

      seems it's due anyway if you really believe it is actually 27 years old.

      re
      "Should I just start by cleaning the connections to the soleniod'

      That implies that you havn't even looked.

      There is nothing quite like a careful visual inspection for a first step.
      Doesn't take a whole lotta time or energy ...'visual inspection' ...

      I'm being facetous ...but, believe it or not, that is the normal and best
      first step in any automotive diagnostic process....you look at things.

      ----- Original Message -----
      From: "B Feddish" <uprightbassghost@HOTMAIL.COM>
      To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
      Sent: Sunday, October 10, 2010 2:22 PM
      Subject: No start questions

      Keeping up with my vans tradition of breaking down in my own driveway
      after
      another trip...

      Over the past few years the starter would take a second or two to engage
      after turning the key. Well we know where thats leading. When I turned the
      key to go to the store nothing happened. I pushed started it and was on my
      way. When I returned home it started fine. OK, what to check? Should I
      just
      start by cleaning the connections to the soleniod or should I just go
      ahead
      and get a new starter and soleniod at the BD tomoorow and put it i? I
      don't
      want to just go and throw parts at the problem but I also don't want to
      spend allot of time trying figure out if a 27 year old starter is having
      issues.

      Thoughts? Looks like I'll have to work from home tommorow so I can spend
      the morning trying to diagnose this.

      Thanks,
      Bryan =

                                            =