Many thanks for the starter advice.  I installed a new gear reduction
starter with the Westy Ventures adapter today and couldn't be happier.  I
was considering replacing the factory +battery cable with some welding
cable but I decided to leave it be for now.  I'll probably try the load/no
load multimeter test but it seems to be starting the van effortlessly at
the moment so hopefully I'm all good.

Thanks again!

Michael.

On Wed, Jun 29, 2016, 1:01 PM Michael McSwain <michaelmcswain@gmail.com>
wrote:

> 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
>>
>>