Date:         Sat, 6 Oct 2007 14:03:23 -0400
Reply-To:     Mike S <mikes@FLATSURFACE.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Mike S <mikes@FLATSURFACE.COM>
Subject:      Re: No start when hot
Comments: To: JM060356@AOL.COM
In-Reply-To:  <c3a.1ed844b0.34391b92@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

At 01:10 PM 10/6/2007, Jim Morgan wrote...
>Greeting All.
>
>I have a 1980 aircooled federal vanagon 4 speed that will not re-start
>when
>hot. Battery is new and good as
>well as the alternator and starter. It has the original
>point/condenser
>distributor and cpu. Ti will start like a champ cold but not re-start
>hot .
>Sounds like it will almost catch but won't.

Possibly a bad coil. When they go bad, you notice it first when they're
warm, especially starting and at idle.

Check the spark when you're having trouble - pull a plug wire, put it
on a spare spark plug (doesn't matter if it's for a Vanagon), ground
the plug against some engine metal, and have someone else try to start
the engine. You should see a good bright spark, which should make a
"snap" each time it sparks. You might first do the same with a cold
engine to get an idea of what it should be like.