Laura, most trickle chargers will only maintain the charge that is on the
battery but will not increase the charge of a battery. Try jump starting or
a real battery charger.

Jim

On Tue, Jun 6, 2017 at 3:35 PM Laura Mangan <laurakmangan@gmail.com> wrote:

> '85 1.9L Vanagon
> Potter Co. North Central PA
>
> Hi Folks,
>
> My van wont start....
>
> All was well when i last drove it (admittedly, almost a month ago)
> Now, it wont start. I tried to jump start it, And no luck. took the battery
> to NAPA, and turns out, one of the cells or something, is fried. Okay.
>
> So, i have another newish battery, i try that... No luck. Try to jump start
> with the new battery. Nothing.
>
> So, i take the battery out, put it on a trickle charger to make sure its
> charged. Yep. No luck, once again.
>
> The dash is lighting up, when i turn the key, it doesn't even try to turn
> over....
>
> New starter in March.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> Also..... My exterior sliding door handle broke off beyond the key hole.
> So, locking mechanism is functional, but i cannot open it from the outside.
>
> Short of replacing the entire unit (and getting another key) what can i do?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Hopeless and not even a slight bit mechanically inclined,
>
> Laura
>