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Date:         Fri, 23 Jul 2010 18:35:42 -0700
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: Symptoms of a bad starter?
Comments: To: craig cowan <phishman068@GMAIL.COM>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
              reply-type=original

if the symptom is slow hard cranking ... and it was always fine 'before' .. and the starter is a known to be very old .. it's not hard to look inside them. the come apart pretty cleverly actually.

I can just 'see' the rear cover, over the brushes... about a few spoonfuls of old brush material laying in there.

and if you are going to upgrade battery cables ..like the main one .. you can just add another in parallel, and keep the old one in place.

the starter main terminal, the alternator main terminal, and battery positive post are all in common of course. on my 85...I was missing a whole volt of charging voltage at the battery .. I ran a cable from alternator main terminal to battery positive ..and that sure helped - fixed it totally.

my thoughts are you old starter is 'too tired' .

Scott www.turbovans.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "craig cowan" <phishman068@GMAIL.COM> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> Sent: Friday, July 23, 2010 5:49 PM Subject: Re: Symptoms of a bad starter?

> So if you run a new cable, you just run it strait from the battery to the > starter? > Do you remove the old one? Does the old one go exclusively from the > battery > strait to the charger? > > So, you would get a piece of wire, with the same battery post clamp on one > end? (And the eye on the other). > > -Craig > > > > On Fri, Jul 23, 2010 at 12:07 PM, Ry <rylincoln@gmail.com> wrote: > >> I had similar problems on my 2.1. My solution, which may or may not work >> for you, was to run parallel cables at the following locations. >> Battery <----------------------------> starter ~ 11 feet >> Front Transmission <---------> Body ~ 8 inches (make sure not to >> connect >> just to the transmission mount bolts as this is electrically insulated >> from >> the rest of the engine/transmission assembly by the rubber mount) >> Alternator <---------> Starter ~2.5 feet >> >> All cables made from 2/0 purchased from welding supply and crimp >> connected >> to closed ring connectors found in the same supply store. >> >> My van starts with ZERO hesitation now and turns over super quick. >> Before >> I couldn't get it to turn over and jumping it would barely work. >> >> MIGHT be your whole problem or just PART of the problem. The other >> things >> mentioned about the brushes wearing out are also a likely culprit. >> >> -Ry >> http://www.google.com/profiles/rylincoln >> >> >> On Fri, Jul 23, 2010 at 10:13 AM, craig cowan <phishman068@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> >> > So, my starter is a randomly picked, untested 1.9 starter that was in a >> > pile >> > of them some years ago. >> > >> > Lately, the bus simply won't start. I get great power to all the >> > accessories, the battery appears to be holding and charging just fine, >> but >> > the thing just won't turn over fast enough to be of any value. I've >> cleaned >> > all my grounds, I've tightened all my leads, and yet.... no dice. >> > Jumping the battery off another car no longer has any effect. >> > >> > I'm starting to think my starter is a bad egg. Any thoughts? >> > What type of symptoms would be expected from a failing starter....if >> other >> > than what I described? >> > >> > -Craig >> > >>


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