Well I thought I had a plan until I followed your link Stuart. The
description of the cable says it will not work with gear reduction
starters.  I assume that it has to do with the gauge of the wire. I
replaced my alternator wiring with a kit from one of the usual suspects a
while back and I'm wondering if my kit had or should have had the same foot
note.

On Wed, Jun 29, 2016 at 1:32 PM Stuart MacMillan <stuartmacm@gmail.com>
wrote:

> I doubt that you'll have any further problems with that starter.  There
> are no "new" stock Bosch starters for the Vanagon, just rebuilds that are
> simply junk. The windings are old and subject to failure since they are all
> at least 25 years old, and the starter were weak from the get-go. This is
> why most vendors have stopped selling them.
>
> I've replaced the end of the cable at the battery with a clamp on type
> with no issues.  Also be sure your braided ground cable is in good
> condition. This wire is a good thing to make or buy for your '85:
> http://www.van-cafe.com/home/van/page_780_449/alternator-cable-upgrade.html
>
> Stuart
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
> Of Michael McSwain
> Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2016 10:02 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Is something killing my starters?
>
> Well I took the starter out last night and it's definitely not responding
> to voltage at all.  I think I'm going to try one of Karl's adapters and a
> gear reduction starter along with a new cable to the battery.  My current
> cable is slightly frayed at the battery end and at least 2 strands of wire
> are broken.  So hopefully that's a safe bet. I will probably try the
> voltage test you described after new starter but before new cable.  Seems
> reasonable.
>
> On Wed, Jun 29, 2016, 10:29 AM Steve Williams <
> steve@williamsitconsulting.com> wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > My first guess would be the positive cable from the battery to the
> starter.
> >
> > If there is corrosion or deterioriation of the wiring, there will be a
> > bigger voltage drop over the length of the cable.  Voltage drop is
> > related to the amount of current being drawn through the wire, so it's
> > best to test under load.
> >
> > If the voltage drop is too much (voltage too low @ starter), the only
> > way for the starter to work is to draw more current to compensate for
> > lower voltage.  High current is what will generally cause electrical
> > devices to burn up.
> >
> > I've never had to do this, but I would think measuring the actual
> > voltage from the starter post to a local ground WHILE CRANKING would
> > be a useful data point.  Do the same thing at the battery end of the
> > cable & see how much voltage loss is in the cable.
> >
> > The other disadvantage of high voltage drop is that the drop is lost
> > as heat, which isn't really desirable when dealing with the current
> > that a starter draws.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Steve W.
> >
> >
> > On 26/06/2016 12:09 PM, Michael McSwain wrote:
> > > I replaced my unknown age starter on my 1.9 about a year ago with a
> > > brand new Bosch.  Recently it started displaying the same symptoms
> > > as the previous one.  Turning the engine over seemed to get more and
> > > more laborious and eventually it stopped doing anything at all.  The
> > > last hand full of times it actually started, I turned the key and it
> > > turned over once,  then a 2 second or so silent pause then it turned
> > > over again and cranked up. Pretty much the same exact symptoms as the
> previous starter.
> > >
> > > So far I've jumpered around my ignition switch.  Nothing.  I cleaned
> > > my battery/body and transmission grounds.  Nothing.  I bridged the
> > > starter
> > and
> > > solenoid posts with a screw driver and got a little spark,  but
> > > nothing
> > at
> > > all from the starter motor.  Silence on all counts except for the
> > > fuel
> > pump
> > > priming which has been happening all along.  Does this just sound
> > > like
> > bad
> > > luck and it's a bad starter or is there something else that could be
> > > causing a premature failure of the starter?
> > >
> > > I also had my battery checked and it checked out fine.  I have one
> > > of
> > those
> > > cigarette lighter volt meters that consistently shows 13.9 volts at
> > speed.
> > > If it weren't a 1 year old Bosch starter I would have immediately
> > > assumed that to be the problem. Am I just in denial?
> > >
> > > Any thoughts would be much appreciated
> >
> >
>
>