I had this happen to me about a year ago and it had been going on for 6-8
months.  I took it to a VW shop in Bishop, CA and he said van's tend to have
this problem as they get old.  He said it would be no problem that the fix is
to ad a capacitor or resistor or something in the circuitry and I don't know
where in the circuitry, but it was not in the starter or ignition switch. 
Sorry--I 'm not exactly sure what he did, but it was in the circuitry
somewhere.  The fix cost about $40 and it's worked fine since then.

"Tom L. Neal" <jneal@NETCOM.COM> wrote:
> If it starts while cold, and not while hot, try replacing the bushing
> before replacing the whole starter.
> 
> Cheers, Tom Neal
> 
> On Mon, 12 Jul 1999, Brad Anderson wrote:
> 
> > This weekend, on three seperate occasions, my starter wouldn't do its
thing
> > when I turned the key.
> >
> > *       The first time I figured it was the ingnition tumbler because
there
> > was no sound from the rear when the key hit the 'start' position. Sliding
> > under the van and checking the connections at the starter resulted in
> > nothing. I tried my back-up key and the van started.
> > *       The next day, while hurrying to catch a ferry, it happened again.
> > This time, my buddy who was standing at the rear, said he could hear the
> > fuel injection system switching on when the key hit the 'start' position.
He
> > threatened sliding under the van to tap the starter, but just then the
van
> > started (with my regular key) and we were on our way. We presumed the
threat
> > was what did it.
> > *       Then, after the ferry docked, again no start. As you can imagine,
I
> > threatened up and down, while trying both keys, as angry motorists and
> > Washington State Ferry System deckhands observed. After being pushed off
the
> > ferry by one of those cool little tractors, I bump started it while
coasting
> > down the ramp.
> >
> > Long story short, twice later that night the van started with no issue as
it
> > did this morning. Is this situation the precursor to a starter crapping
out?
> > Is there anything else I should be checking or testing?
> >
> > Thanks in advance for your replies!
> >
> > >       [Brad Anderson]
> > >       87 Vanagon Syncro
> > >       87 Golf GL
> >
> >

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