John:

Given what you've done, pulling the starter and having it bench tested is
about the only logical next step.  Starters and solinoids *do* wear out
eventually.

On Thu, 23 Jul 1998, John S. Cronin wrote:

> I have a 1981 Westfalia I acquired recently, and it has a serious hot start
> problem.

>[snip]

> Last weekend, I decided to work on it (I have had the van for about three
> weeks).  I opened both battery compartments, cleaned the terminals and the
> battery cables, pulled the ground straps loose and cleaned up around their
> connections, replaced one of the ground straps entirely, and replaced an
> old battery with one that is about five months old.  (I also cleaned up and
> regreased the swivel mechanisms of the front seats while I was under there,
> and cleaned up some of the battery corrosion (only in ONE battery box - yeah!),
> etc.
>
> Then I crawled under the car, pulled the various connectors from the starter
> and cleaned them up and inspected the cables, pulled the groundstrap from the
> transaxle to the chassis on both ends and cleaned it, and then wired in a
> Bosch relay as explained in these mailing lists and various documents on the
> web.
>
> Result: I still have a hot start problem.  What should I try next?  Replace
> or rebuild the starter?

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Tom Young               young@sherlock.SIMS.Berkeley.EDU
Lafayette, CA  94549    '81 Vanagon
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