Date:         Fri, 23 Jun 2000 14:19:34 -0400
Reply-To:     Chris Stinson <chstinson@earthlink.net>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Chris Stinson <chstinson@earthlink.net>
Subject:      Today's PUZZLER... SLWR-VAN won't start
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"

OK folks, I'm stumped (again).

I have one of Darrell's digitools hooked up to the ECU in a 1986
Vanagon GL "SLWR-VAN" that drove home fine one evening and wouldn't
start the next morning.

The digitool says there isn't power from the ECU to either the coil
or the fuel injection system when I turn the key in the ignition.
Everything else is getting power.  When I try to start ol' Solwer,
the starter clicks but doesn't do anything else.  If I unbolt the
starter and try to start ol' Slower, the starter whirrs.

The starter was sold to me as a new starter.  Do the above symptoms
sound like the starter isn't working?  (But, if the starter is
broken, how can a nonworking starter cause the ECU to not send power
to the coil and the fuel injection system?)

I have...
- reinstalled the starter twice and checked the wire connections to
the terminals on the solenoid
- checked the ignition switch (by hooking a new switch up to the
wires going to the current ignition switch)
- checked the coil (by hooking up the coil wires to a new coil)
- checked the ECU (by hooking up a new ECU under the back seat)
- put in 2 new relays in the fuel injection black box (on left side
of engine) and, actually, I even tried a second pair here because
this was recently the problem in my other van "SLOW-VAN"
- checked the park/neutral starting switch
- put a new terminal on the pair of red wires that attach to the
alternator (and go towards the front of the van from there) to
eliminate a section of those wires that was fraying
- checked all of the fuses
- checked the sparkplug/coil wires for appropriate resistance
- cleaned and retightened the grounds underneath the battery, at the
fuel pump, at the front end of the transmission, and on the left side
of the engine.
- cleaned and filed to shiny the distributor cap contacts and the rotor
- the battery is holding its charge (and hooking up the battery
cables to another 12V battery doesn't change anything).

I haven't done all pairwise combinations of the above list.  So, one
possibility is that two of the above are simultaneously busted.

Thanks for any new suggestions!

Chris

1986 Vanagon GL, VA license "SLOW-VAN"
1986 Vanagon GL, VA license "SLWR-VAN"
1986 Vanagon GL, no license... a humble parts van "Part-y Boy"