Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 20:01:05 -0500
Reply-To: Walt Spak <wnsopc3@3RDM.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Walt Spak <wnsopc3@3RDM.NET>
Subject: Re: Starting Problem
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Dan,
You don't state the year of your bus. My 84 had this problem & it was
difficult to find. Most of the time it would start just fine, but every so
often it would turn over but would not start. It would sometimes try to
catch when you left off of the key. Sometimes though it would seem like the
engine was trying to turn backwards when you let off of the key. The belt
would squeal. Sometimes it would turn over slowly and laboriously. If it
sat for a while, it would just start right up. Never would the condition
last long enough or happen at home where I could test for things like spark
& fuel pressure.
The fact that the engine seemed like it was turning backwards and the way
that the starter sounded, brought me to conclude that the timing was being
effected. The next time it happened, I disconnected the 2 leads from the
idle stabilizer & connected them together & the bus started right up. I
replaced the idle stabilizer with a used one and have not had the starting
problem since. You might want to give it a try if you have an 83.5 through
85 Vanagon. The stabilizer is the little green box on the left side of the
engine compartment. It has 2 plugs entering the bottom. One is male & 1 is
female. You squeeze the plastic to unplug, then you plug them together like
you would do when you want to set the timing.
Walt Spak
Pittsburgh, PA.
wnsopc3@3rdm.net
----- Original Message -----
From: Dan Eggert <deggert@NEW.RR.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2001 5:20 PM
Subject: Starting Problem
Hello Volks,
Thought I would pass this one by everyone to see if anyone had any
suggestions as to where I should start looking for a problem.
Both yesterday and today my van would not want to start after I drove it and
parked. Yesterday, I went Christmas shopping for about a half hour and when
I came out it would not start. It went through all the motions but would
not catch. The only thing that seemed wrong was that it acted like the
battery was not fully charged and would hesitate a bit, but then turn over
just like normal. During the whole ordeal, I think I flooded it out so I
left it sit while I got a bite to eat. 45minutes later I jumped in and it
started up with no problem. Today, I ran to the bank and was only in for
maybe five minutes and when I came back out, same thing, would not start.
Same symptoms as yesterday, except this time it almost sounded and felt like
the starter was binding a bit. I thought that maybe the battery was low
from the previous day even after running it on the highway for 20 miles
after I got it started. I ran home and grabbed my skateboard and went back
to the van and once again it started up with no problem. I got it home and
pulled the battery out and put it on the charger. According to the meter,
it is about 85% charged.
I put new plugs in just over 4,000 miles ago. The coil, points, condenser,
distributor, and rotor are all under 2,000miles old.
I thought that maybe with the outside temp dropping that it may have
something to do with it, but it is in the 40's right now and has been colder
on other nights with no problem starting. Any Suggestions? I'm going to be
putting her away as soon as the salt hits the road and I would like to take
care of any problems before I do put her to rest for the winter.
Thanks everyone for your help.
Eggz
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