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Date:         Tue, 16 Oct 2001 20:42:16 +0100
Reply-To:     Timothy Lee Harrison <tim@HARRISONLAND.CO.UK>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Timothy Lee Harrison <tim@HARRISONLAND.CO.UK>
Subject:      Re: Sticky diesel starter motor
Comments: To: Aled <aledw@BTINTERNET.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <002901c1565c$95bc2540$0100000a@workstation>
Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii"

<html>
<font size=3>At 17:06 16/10/01 +0100, Aled wrote:<br>
<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>I've an '86 1.6D HighTop
Transporter (UK) and today the starter won't turn<br>
on the first twist of the key, following glow plug warm up. After
subsequent<br>
rattling of the gear shift and dumping the clutch, rolling the van
forward<br>
an inch (I'll try anything once...) it started as if nothing was amiss.
It<br>
did the same this afternoon while leaving work. I've noticed that
the<br>
starter has been getting more sluggish to engage and turn lately,
though<br>
plenty powerful enough to crank the engine.</blockquote><br>
</font>Aled<br>
<br>
I had the same problem with my 86 Caravelle (also UK). Additionally, it
seemed to get stuck the day following a longer journey - presumably when
the engine had ran quite hot and then cooled down again. <br>
<br>
There are suggestions about installing a relay to increase the power to
the starter. Fortunately, I've not *had* to go that far, but if my fix
doesn't last that's my next option. I'd certainly make sure that the
ground connection is good, but I did that by taking the starter out and
taking it to bits. <br>
<br>
The amount of crud in there was incredible and I'm not surprised that the
thing wouldn't work properly. The bushes looked good, although there was
a little pitting on the opposing contacts. I gave them a good clean with
very fine sandpaper and washed the whole thing out to make sure there
were no sand remnants left. Basically, I took the whole thing to bits
(including the solenoid), cleaned it up, gave it a light coating of oil
and put it back together again. <br>
<br>
So far, no more hesitation at startups! We'll see if that's done the
trick in the longer term, though. If anyone has any comments, suggestions
or warnings etc about the above, please feel free... I wasn't quite sure
what to use to clean the starter out with and just used plenty of elbow
grease and sweat - any suggestions?<br>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
Tim(H)<br>
'86 Caravelle - 7 seater </html>
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