This is a very good guess for what happened to me..... that the
starter hit the gas tank..... I did not think of that.

The only thing in my case is I think it would have happened driving
in Vermont in very rough country with not adequate skid plate
protection on this trip:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4OPDsQ6cAI>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4OPDsQ6cAI

Now that I think of it, I would not be surprised if one of the bumps
we had on the ground smashed the starter into the gas tank, as you say.

At 02:32 PM 12/7/2013, you wrote:
>So is the crack caused by the starter bumping up against the fuel tank
>while cranking engine?  (movement in drivetrain?) Or is a higher
>compression engine causing the starter to torque (my term, kinda
>fishing here)  up against the housing thus causing the crack over
>time?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Neil.
>
>On 12/7/13, Robert Stevens <mtbiker62@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On Dec 7, 2013, at 11:32 AM, Derek Drew <derekdrew@DEREKMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> > Eventually it took on a dead or dying battery symptom because
> > the housing was so broken the starter was binding way off 90 degrees
> > and the engine wouldn't start at all.
> >
> > A shop I took it to just replaced the battery, not noticing that made no
> > difference
> > at all. Of course, never have returned to that shop. Had the van towed to
> > another
> > shop that diagnosed the cracked bellhousing immediately and have used them
> > periodically since.....and got rid of the TIICO in '05.
> >
> > Bob
>
>
>--
>Neil n
>
>Blog: tubaneil.blogspot.ca
>
>'88 Westy http://tinyurl.com/c8rlw6p
>
>'81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco"  http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/
>
>Vanagon VAG *Gas* inline-VR Engine Swap Group:
>
>http://tinyurl.com/d7gd5ej

_______________________________________________
Derek Drew
Washington DC / New York
derekdrew@derekmail.com
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