Date:         Tue, 28 Jan 2003 16:14:11 -0800
Reply-To:     TinkerMan <tinkerman007@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         TinkerMan <tinkerman007@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      starter solenoid buzzing and overehating? (long)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Hello Volks!

A few days ago I had an alarming scenario on my 1990
GL: After turning on the motor, it turned off (as it
does often) due to it being cold (well, not really
cold, as it's 25deg Celsius here...
I usually give it another kick of the starter with a
foot on the gas pedal to get it a bit warmer and then
let the idle stabilizer to keep it running.
Only this time after it turned off (and before I hit
the starter again) I heard a loud buzz from the back
so didn't push the starter just yet and went to the
back to see what was going on.
The noise was coming somewhere from the motor at the
back, only I couldn't find what it was. I thought it
was the injection system pressure regulator or the gas
pump but no, the noise came from the starter area.
Since I couldn't find the source and the buzz was
rather alarming (I didn't want a short circuit cause a
fire in there with gasoline around!) I ran to the fuse
box and started pulling the fuses out one by one to
see if I could stop it. Hell, I couldn't!
So I ran (still quit worried of a fire...the smell of
overheating electrical devices was quite noticeable!)
to the battery and disconnected the negative lead, and
sure enough, the buzzing stopped, but then my alarm
started yelling (due to the anti-theft feature of
alerting in case of battery disconnection, what some
thieves do to disable the alarm, but mine has battery
backup...).
So I reconnected the battery and off I ran to get the
disable key for the alarm, and after shutting it up I
finally disconnected the battery and went to see
what's going on in the back.
Indeed, the starter (or solenoid, hard to tell since
they're bolted together) was very hot. And an
electrical overheating smell was noticeable.
Also, my battery seemed to be hot too.
My conclusion? The starter solenoid stuck in the "on"
position, causing the starter to suck big amps from
the battery. Since the starter has a direct connection
to the battery, no fuse removal could stop it.

I must mention that for several years I had a delay
from turn of ignition switch until starter revolving,
and sometimes it wouldn't turn at all (usually with a
weak battery). My conclusion at the time was that the
solenoid was somewhat "sticky" causing a delay until
it moved, and with a weak battery it wouldn't turn at
all (i.e. weak battery + voltage drop from switch to
solenoid + sticky solenoid caused that). That would
also explain the solenoid getting stuck in the on
position now.
What I don't get is why the starter wasn't turning
too. Maybe the solenoid was stuck somewhere midway.
Looking in my wiring diagrams, indeed the solenoid has
an unfused connection through the ignition switch
(which if stuck could cause this), but the drawing
seems to indicate that it also gets power from the
starter's direct connection to the battery (a wire
going to the motor "+" - actually it looks like a
latching circuit, which makes no sense here as it
would make the starter turn constantly).

To make a long story short, has anyone encountered
similar behaviour and can recommend something to check
before I drag it to the garage (I'm not equiped to
replace a starter in my parking lot...).
Also,
1. Can the solenoid be easily removed from the starter
for testing, without removing the starter which seems
more involved?
2. Is the solenoid available as a spare part or only
installed on a starter?
TIA for any help offered.


=====
Cheers, T-man.

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