I've been there done that

     My 82 desel Vanagon would give me the intermittent starting problem
 . It pained me to read about so many people on the list spending so 
much on this problem with little result . I thought I should pass on my 
12 $ repair .  I would turn the key and sometimes the starter would just
 click . I had the starter , alternater , and battery replaced .  At one
 point I was driving cross country and seeing the problem daily . I 
hooked a trouble light up to the selenoid to see if it turned on each 
time I turned the key . It always did even thougth the starter would not
 engage . I even tried running new wires back to the selenoid to 
eliminate the possibility of a bad wire or connection . Finally I went 
to the auto parts store and got a plain selenoid , the kind that is 
mounted on the firewall in cars that do not have the selenoid mounted 
directly on the starter . I think that it was for some GM car , its not 
important . I mounted it in the engine compartment, on the side with the
 starter . I took the wire that energizes the selenoid and hooked up to 
the terminal on the new selenoid that trips on the relay . I ran heavy 
gage wire directly from the positive battery terminal  to the new 
selenoid and then out the other terminal to the selenoid on the starter 
. The van started every time from then on . I think that it must be that
 the wires going to the ignition switch and back are just be too long 
and they drop so much voltage the selenoid can't activate the  starter .
 
             Let me know if this is of any help to you . I do not 
subscribe to the list so if this works for you you could pass it along .
 I would appreciate an explanaton on how to get involved with the 
Vanagon list . I can see how it could be useful . I used to think I was 
the only one having these problems .

Thomas Walsh 
tjwalsh@ichange.com