Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 22:59:22 -0500
Reply-To: craig cowan <phishman068@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: craig cowan <phishman068@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: 91 Vanagon Manual - slow cranking....
In-Reply-To: <4cf862ad.4bfde50a.3584.3a6d@mx.google.com>
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Here are bits and pieces of what I typed out a few weeks ago. It seems
fitting:
Take a volt meter, and some spare wire which I assume everyone just has
lying around (right?). Perhaps even throw some terminals on the wire if
needed (ALLIGATOR CLIPS!?). Attach it to the positive of the starter and the
other too ground. Use these to extend the useable range of the voltmeter so
that the voltmeter is visible outside the car (so you're not under the car).
Now have someone crank it over (or if your extension cables are really long,
and your voltmeter is in the car near the driver, do it yourself).
Are you getting volts?
If you're not getting at least 10 volts or so at the starter when you're
turning the key, it's not a starter issue at all (or at least not entirely
a starter issue). It could be ignition switch, it could be the neutral
safety switch, etc. If you are getting volts, this can help to determine the
quality of the volts getting to the starter. If you measure 10 volts at the
starter while cranking and 11volts at the battery while cranking, you have a
problem in your circuit (either coroded Battery Cable, bad ground on the
battery, or bad ground at the starter). Expect "some" loss over the course
of 12 feet of wiring, but a 1 volt or so loss (i've seen a 2 volt loss
before on bad wiring and grounds!) is huge.
This can at least be a start to testing.
Taking the starter out is easy. It is however, one of those jobs that will
likely take you a whole lot longer than you estimate; especially if you
haven't done it before. I've done it plenty of times, and it can still
easily take me an hour or even two. There's just something about limited
throw on a hex wrench, terrible angles for your arms, poor lighting, and
corrosion/rust to really slow you down. I'm sure I could do it in 15 minutes
if I tried.....
but it always just seems to inspire me to work slowly.
I have a Bostig zetec engine, but.... it uses the stock vanagon starter in
the stock location, so half of what i'm going to say applies to you. The
other half, not so much.
I went and purchased a few feet of 4guage copper wire at a marine store, as
well as ring terminals for both ends (and big heat shrink tubing). It wasn't
cheap, but not unreasonable. Maybe $20-30 total. by a few feet, I'd say buy
4 feet and be prepared to shorten it if needed. I probably used between 2.5
and 3 feet total, but again, you're goign to have to mount it a bit
differently than I did.
The starter is grounded through it's casing. So....take one of the bolts out
of the starter (I can't remember which I took off, but I believe it was not
the allen head one), put your ring terminal on the bolt, and put the bolt
back in. Attach the other end of your ground cable to "something" on the
frame. I used the Bostig engine carrier bar which mounts into the existing
diesel vanagon frame holes on the chassis. I imagine you could use these
holes as well if you just get a bolt and nut (perhaps a washer as well). The
key to any good ground though is that you make the metal on the frame SHINY!
This means remove any undercoating from this small area with a wire brush on
a drill, spakle some Dielectric grease on the entire setup, and tighten it
up.
-Craig
On Thu, Dec 2, 2010 at 10:22 PM, David Beierl <dbeierl@attglobal.net> wrote:
> Forgot to say that's a 2.1l WBX with A/T that sounds a little tired
> cranking unless the battery is actually full, in which case it's
> quite snappy in non-winter temps.
>
>
> At 09:22 PM 12/2/2010, brett rueff wrote:
>
>> Battery at Rest - 12.57V (after an overnight charge to make sure its full)
>>
>
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