Ken, Put a volt meter across the length of the cable. In other words, from ground on the battery to the ground point of the cable. You should measure 0 volts. Try cranking the engine, and see if the meter still reads 0. If not the cable is bad. You can do this with any cable. The battery cable should also be tested. Cables this old gain resistance, and grow green crud inside, witch causes this problem. GM cars are the worst.
Kenneth Wilford wrote: >I am having a strange electrical problem with an 84 Vanagon GL with manual >transmission. The van came in with a "not starting when hot" problem and >also a slow spinning over starter. I found a problem with the temp II >sensor wiring and fixed that easily. However the slow spinning starter has >me stumped at the moment. I thought the problem was just that the old >starter was hurt because the woman kept spinning the thing over when it >wouldn't start. I tried putting in new ground straps on the engine and also >a new one on the transmission but this didn't help at all. Next I tried >replacing the starter with a new one and this did not fix the problem. The >strange thing that I have noticed is that as I am trying to crank the van >over the ground wire on the battery gets extremely hot. At one point it was >smoking hot. > >Anyone have a clue on this one? It seems like something is shorting out, >but I can't figure out what that would be. I would appreciate any advice >you have on this one as it is causing me much head stratching. > >Thanks, >Ken Wilford >John 3:16 >http://www.vanagain.com >http://www.strictlyvwauctions.com >http://www.eurovan.org >http://www.vwcabrio.org >Phone: (856)-327-4936 >Fax: (856)-327-2242 > > > > |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.