Craig, I believe that starter no-disengage issue was on vans equipped with
the refrigerator relay under the driver's seat. I believe it was Dennis
Haynes or Mark Drillock who schooled me on the solution, although this
happened to my manual transmission van. It was as simple as moving a ground
on that relay, although I forget the details. It did solve that issue
though.
Good call on the grounds. A bad transmission to chassis ground will
definitely prevent the starter from engaging.
As far as that automatic transmission neutral safety switch, I need to
check that out. I have an auto, but have never had any trouble with it.

Miguel

On Mon, Feb 17, 2014 at 6:51 AM, Craig Cowan <phishman068@gmail.com> wrote:

> A few things I have learned from having exactly the same problem on a few
> late model automatic vans....
> It's probably your grounds! Clean the ground at the batter terminal and
> where the ground strap attaches to the body, and add a new thick ground
> strap from the starter nut to the frame.
> Check and clean your neutral safety switch, in an automatic all the power
> strangely has to go through a little switch in the shift column known to
> fail.
> Lastly, a hard start relay kit is a good move, unless you have a 90/91
> model automatic van with cruise control. For whatever reason those, you
> can't install a relay kit in ( it won't disengage the starter, last I heard
> jay brown was looking into it but still hadn't figured it out).
>
> I do not proactively replace ignition switches, as I find the bulk of
> those available today to have a very high failure rate.
>
> -craig
>
> > On Feb 17, 2014, at 7:31 AM, Larry Alofs <lalofs@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> >
> > It takes significant current to activate the starter solenoid, especially
> > as it ages.  This is rough on the contacts in the ignition switch.
> > Replacing the switch and cleaning or replacing the starter and/or
> solenoid
> > may solve the problem.  Regardless, the system is under-engineered and
> > failure prone.  Many more modern vehicles (including Eurovans from VW)
> use
> > a relay between the switch and the solenoid.
> >  Some of our on-line vendors sell a "hard start relay" kit to address
> this
> > problem on Vanagons.
> >
> > Larry A.
> >
> >
> >
> >> On Sun, Feb 16, 2014 at 9:23 AM, David <okdavid5555@cox.net> wrote:
> >>
> >> Thank you, list members, for all the advice about my quirky starter.
> Looks
> >> like replacing the ignition switch is my first priority, and then maybe
> >> repair or replace the starter.  I appreciate all the suggestions and
> help
> >> very much!
> >>
> >> David S.
> >> Oklahoma City
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On
> Behalf Of
> >> David
> >> Sent: Saturday, February 15, 2014 3:20 PM
> >> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> >> Subject: Starting system quirk - diagnosis help needed
> >>
> >> Hello Vanagon listers.  I've been a list member for quite a while, but
> have
> >> contributed infrequently, only when I think I might be able to actually
> add
> >> something worthwhile to a discussion. I've never asked a question about
> my
> >> own Vanagon, but now I'd appreciate some help.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> I've got a stock '91 Carat, automatic trans, with 145K miles (60K put
> on by
> >> me). I've experienced this issue a number of times over the past six
> months
> >> or so, and it was never a problem until about a month ago when I
> thought it
> >> was going to strand me.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Here's the symptom: When turning the ignition key to the "start"
> position,
> >> every once in a while, there is a very brief period of nothing
> happening,
> >> ranging from a split-second to maybe a half-second. Continuing to hold
> the
> >> key in the start position, the starter kicks in and the engine starts as
> >> normal.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> I emphasize that this happens infrequently, and when it does, the
> period of
> >> time before the starter kicks in is usually almost imperceptible, but
> it's
> >> enough of a delay that you're aware of it happening. There does not
> appear
> >> to be a correlation between outside air temp or whether the engine is
> warm
> >> or cold.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> About a month ago, when I was 100 miles from home, I turned the key to
> the
> >> start position and nothing happened. Nothing. The usual dash warning
> lights
> >> lit up when the switch passed through the "run" position, and when in
> the
> >> start position, nothing happened. There was no dimming of the warning
> >> lights; no sound (like a click, for instance) at all. No indication
> that a
> >> load was being placed on the electrical system. The no-sound and
> >> no-light-dimming seemed very odd to me. I repeated the
> >> turn-off-try-to-start-again sequence several times, which yielded no
> >> change.
> >> Then I got the idea that maybe the neutral safety switch was the
> problem,
> >> so
> >> I moved the gear selector from "P" to "N" and tried again - several
> times -
> >> with the same result. I even rapidly moved the gear selector back and
> forth
> >> from "P" to "1" several times, thinking I would "clear" or shake loose
> (?)
> >> the contact mechanism. This resulted in no change when trying to start
> in
> >> either "P" and "N."
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Frustrated, I got out of the van and walked around it in dismay. I even
> >> looked on the ground under the engine - as if I'd find some part had
> >> dropped
> >> on the ground or was hanging loose (isn't looking at and underneath the
> >> engine what we're "supposed to do" when something's wrong? J  )
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> After about 10 minutes of being thoroughly upset and confused, I crawled
> >> back in the driver's seat figuring I was going to have to call a
> wrecker. I
> >> decided to give it one last try before grabbing the cell phone, and to
> my
> >> amazement, it started right up, without any perceived delay.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> It has started perfectly since then, however, the infrequent, very brief
> >> delay episodes have continued.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> I would appreciate any advice on diagnosing where the problem may lay.
> >> Thank you.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> David S.
> >>
> >> Oklahoma City
> >>
>