Thanks. I did some more searching in the archives and found and
excellent description of what is actually going on, written by
yourself. (Anyone else interested should search for a post with
subject line 'Help with 12v Dometic wiring'. It all makes sense now,
though I'm still scratching my head as to *why* Westfalia chose to use
the starter for a ground given that positive is already coming from
the alternator sense line.

One last question re. this, and one I hate to pose: when I discovered
this I ran the engine for probably close to a minute before realizing
that the starter was still engaged -- the starter was emitting a
howling (thankfully not a grinding) noise. The engine starts fine now,
but how likely is it that I've done serious damage to the flyweel
and/or the starter itself? Am I looking at replacing either in the
near-term future? Realize that is impossible to assess without
actually seeing the unit, but I'm curious how much abuse these
starters can typically endure.

--Thomas

On Wed, Feb 16, 2011 at 2:40 PM, mark drillock <mdrillock@cox.net> wrote:
> If you have an 85-87 Wolfy Westy, or any Vanagon with a factory aux battery
> relay, as well as some Westy fridge relay setups, there is a conflict with
> the hard start relay. Jay's relay kit explains the fix and includes an extra
> wire with the correct ends on it that corrects this conflict. At least the
> kit I got from him did. It is an easy fix.
>
> Mark
>
>
>
> Thomas Wilsher wrote:
>>
>> This is a very timely discussion for me, as I'm putting in a hard
>> start relay right now. This is something I'm just wiring together
>> myself (wasn't aware of Jay's kit when I started this), but it's
>> following the WR-1 schematic, which is pretty straightforward.
>> However, right now the starter solenoid is not disengaging after the
>> engine starts. After the engine starts I am seeing around 8V on the
>> starter wire, which evidently wasn't enough to trigger the solenoid
>> but is sufficient to trigger the hard start relay.
>>
>> ..................
>