I had the same issues on one of my vans. I think the original spade connector has a little plastic bit that locks on to the starter. Mine had broken off and hence the female side of the spade would eventually work its way loose. First, get a remote start switch and keep it in the van. Then you can at least start it from the back. After it happened a few times I eventually had it solved by having a shop crimp a new connector on when some other work was being done. Good luck. Aaron
On Mar 11, 2012, at 6:46 PM, craig cowan wrote: > My '90 Automatic left me stranded today. Luckily it's in a safe place. > Here's the story.... > > Last week I ran into an issue with the bus not cranking or even clicking > when the key was in. It turned out to be the solenoid wire had fallen off. > Reconnected it, and it ran great. > > Today I drove down a rough road to a friend's farm. That's where the bus > now sits. When i realized it wouldn't start again I climbed under and sure > enough, the wire was off. I tightened up the connector a bit with a pair of > pliars and in putting it onto the spade, bent the spade. Youch. > Anyway, now the spade wiggles. I think there may be an internal break as I > still get no cranking at all. > > I checked and there is 11.8 volts coming through that wire when the starter > is meant to be engaged. So clearly eveything up stream of the starter is > working. > This was a used starter and It may be time for a replacement. Does anyone > have one they're tripping over? : ) > > Curiously.... > There is a second wire on the opposite side of the solenoid. It is > white/Red and thin guage, coming out of the same loom as the Big Red wire > going to the solenoid. What does this wire do? > Are these two spades interconnected and interchangeable for putting the > thick red wire on? > > Thanks! > > -Craig > '87 Sunroof Syncro > '85 Residence > '90 GL Automatic |
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Vanagon mail messages have been archived.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.