That was my assessment of the situation.   I was a little confused by the �remove the throttle body�, then I realized he was talking about going at the starter from the top.  I plan to tackle it from underneath.

Once I have confirmation the starter is indeed dead, I am debating a shift to a TDi starter (SR0408X) w/ adaptor, rather than another WBX starter.  It still looks like I should have room to install the larger starter without having to remove an axle.

> On 14-Jul-2016, at 21:54, OlRivrRat <OlRivrRat@comcast.net> wrote:
> 
>        If It Is a 2WD there is no reason to remove anything other than the Cables & SecuringBolts ~
> 
> Access is QuiteGood from DownUnder, Preferably with the BackEnd Up On Ramps ~ 
> 
>        Battery Should, OfCourse, be disconnected 1st ~
> 
>                                                        ORR ~ DeanB
> 
> 
> On 14 Jul , 2016, at 3:46 PM, C. Abney wrote:
> 
>> Things you have to remove to pull the starter: the battery
>> ground(:-*), and (probably) the throttle body.  At least, doing that
>> makes removing that long hex head screw easy.
>> 
>> I don't think you have to remove the axle.  I can't say for sure
>> though, because when I removed the starter on my vanagon I had already
>> removed the axles.
>> 
>> On 7/13/16, Roy Nicholl <RNicholl@nbnet.nb.ca> wrote:
>>> All,
>>> 
>>> Tuesday morning we had a �no crank� situation in the Hyena (�88 2.1 WBX) and
>>> were �late for swimming lessons� as I shifted the kid pod from the Westy
>>> back to "Mom�s car�.
>>> 
>>> My multimeter and kit is at another location - I�ll fetch it on Friday - but
>>> today at lunch I had 15-minutes so I pulled the plug off the ignition switch
>>> and stuck a strand of 14/2 Nomax between 12V and 50.  I head what sounded
>>> like the solenoid �slam� into place, but only the once.   I then went aft
>>> with my stand of 14/2 and bridged #50 at the solenoid � nothing.
>>> 
>>> Batter seems fine � according to the simple meter on the charger � will
>>> measure this again with multimeter.
>>> 
>>> So it is looking like the {original} starter has packed it in � I�ll go out
>>> on Saturday morning with the meter just to make certain I�m getting all the
>>> required voltage at all the required places.
>>> 
>>> While I was under there, I noted there is nothing attached to #16 on the
>>> solenoid � isn�t there suppose to be a connection to the ignition system
>>> (coil) here?
>>> 
>>> Let�s assume I need to replace the starter.
>>> 1) Do I really need to disconnect the right axle to do this {as I was told
>>> over the phone today}?  It looks like I should be able to get at all the
>>> bolts (after a little cleaning) � not as easy as the �66, but should be
>>> possible.
>>> 2) Is there an improvement that can be made over the OEM starter?  {i.e.
>>> something like a starter from a mk2 jetta i4 that is cheaper to procure}
>>> 3) Is a rebuilt starter worth the cost savings (50%)?
>>> 4) Was there any significant change in the starter over the years?  The
>>> Hyena is a 1988, but I know of a possible �84 donor nearby.
>>> 
>>> I also noted a couple more ground straps that need cleaning/attention
>>> (including the one between the solenoid and starter) � I�ll take care of
>>> these before ordering a new starter.   I�ve never had a starter fail
>>> completely w/o any prior warning before, so I�m not 100% convinced I do not
>>> have another notoriously bad ground/earth.
>>> 
>>> I may as well use this as an opportunity to remove all that current from the
>>> ignition switch and install some additional relays.
>>> 
>>> Roy
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> There's no .sig like the present