>If your solenoid itself is shot, your bus won't start.  How to tell?  
<snip>
>It's no big deal to replace the starter solenoid with a new or rebuilt 
>one.  Really.  Took me 1 1/2 hours and I worked slow, cleaning everything 
       hah ^^

Watch it folks, the VW solenoid uses big 13mm nuts to hold on the fat cable 
from the battery, and the other end of these nuts is a bolt residing in 
cheap brittle plastic. Having totally fragmented two of these plastic end 
covers, '72 van, '81 rabbit I would go cautiously on the removal part. 
        I was removing the nut to replace a rust/broken off cable that 
needed a new eye connector on it. Cost me $72 for a new solenoid from the 
dealer. All I really needed to do was clean up the area, leaving the rusted 
nut in place, and hold down the cable eye with a new nut, a $0.25 solution, 
vs. $72. 
        That was years ago, so why did I do it again on the rabbit less than 
a month ago?  Because heat, WD-40 and a nut splitter weren't working. I was 
using a cold chisel on the nut, well braced against a vice. It still fragged 
into pieces. I think it was a sticky/dead solenoid I was trying to cure, 
guess I'll never know. Hope it wasn't _just_ the wiring, which was all I was 
really trying to clean anyhow.  tim s.

PS the rabbit is for sale, cheap, unless someone can show me how to 
pushstart an automatic, grumble. Do I hear $50?, lemme hear $50, OK, anyone 
for $25?, c'mon now!