Date:         Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:56:16 -0800
Reply-To:     Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject:      Re: starter
Comments: To: Alan Felder <dieseldoofus@GMAIL.COM>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
              reply-type=original

what pops into my mind is ....
if it's making a bad noise, it could be doing damage to the flywheel teeth -
not a good thing at all.

Engine compression causes the engine to stop in the same 2 or 4 places....so
wear is concentrated on the teeth that are already the most worn.
Diesel vanagon flywheels can be hard to find when you need a good one. I
have not found that the 'ring gear' ...the outer ring of teeth that is a
separate part of the flywheel ( I think ) is available - point is, you
really want to take good care  of your flywheel teeth,
just like your regular teeth.

re
"I know the bushing is a PITA to remove and the starter is too in
> general.

the diesel vanagon starter is completely self-supporting,  so there isn't a
bushing in the transaxle as on an air-cooled or waterboxer vanagon, so no
bushing worries there.
And a diesel vanagon starter isn't hard to get out at all, especially
compared to some cars.
Once you are under there ....
one slave cylinder bracket bolt, one main 12 volt terminal, one pull-off
trigger wire, and two main starter mounting bolts.
Not bad at all as far as starters go.

once in a while I'll have a starter that doesn't engage properly every time
....usually a new bendix drive fixes those just fine.

Scott
www.turbovans.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Alan Felder" <dieseldoofus@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Sunday, January 24, 2010 4:48 PM
Subject: starter


> On my diesel Westy, the starter has been making a noise.  This sounds like
> a
> dry bushing but could instead be a hanging solenoid.  Either way it sounds
> bad, but what are the most likely candidates for starter failure.  It
> seems
> to turn very well and strong and will start my diesel in way less than a
> revolution, since I cleaned all the glow plug connections :)  It just
> makes
> this awful noise for about half a second.  A ranking of possible
> causes/probabilities?
>
> Also, if the motor is good how difficult and/or expensive to rebuild the
> solenoid?  I know the bushing is a PITA to remove and the starter is too
> in
> general.
>
> --
> Alan Felder
> Austin TX
> 82 Diesel Westy