Date: Sun, 26 Jun 2016 15:32:28 -0400
Reply-To: Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Is something killing my starters?
In-Reply-To: <CAE_mVa0bkaVthFW5atOqCtPxQQW2_RSpKBRUu1G8AynTXSgKpA@mail.gmail.com>
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As I mentioned in the past if you're going to do your own diagnostics you need to develop some skills and get some test equipment and learn how to use them when things work normally. There are many variables that can effect proper starter operation. For slow cranking the correct diagnoses includes getting the actual voltage available at the starter motor and the current it is trying to draw. Normal operation is for there to still be at least 10 volts at the starter motor and usual amp draw is ~ 175 amps. If the starter is drawing much more current than the voltage will fall. If it is not drawing more current and the voltage still falls you have a restriction either in the cable or the battery. If not drawing current and voltage stays high then you have a problem in the starter.
Dennis
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Michael McSwain
Sent: Sunday, June 26, 2016 3:25 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Is something killing my starters?
I did read somewhere that low voltage could ruin starters and I suspected my + cable from the battery. It doesn't look great either so that's probably a decent assumption. And by the way, I did have the battery tested under load with one of those fancy battery testing gadgets. Any way to test this thing more thoroughly to make sure I'm not just throwing parts at it? Any way to test the long battery cable?
On Sun, Jun 26, 2016 at 2:09 PM John Rodgers <jrodgers113@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hmmmm! Had the same problem on my 2.1 WBX a while back. Went thru two
> REBUILT staeters fairly quickly. The third one got fried related to a
> harness fire. I replaced it with an adapter available from VC and put
> a late model high torque diesel starter on it. Works fine so far. BTW,
> that diesel starter was brand new, in the box, and cost under $100
> delivered to my front door. Worth looking in to. But be sure the
> starter killing problem is solved first!
>
> John
> On Jun 26, 2016 13:10, "Michael McSwain" <michaelmcswain@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I replaced my unknown age starter on my 1.9 about a year ago with a
>> brand new Bosch. Recently it started displaying the same symptoms as
>> the previous one. Turning the engine over seemed to get more and
>> more laborious and eventually it stopped doing anything at all. The
>> last hand full of times it actually started, I turned the key and it
>> turned over once, then a 2 second or so silent pause then it turned
>> over again and cranked up. Pretty much the same exact symptoms as the previous starter.
>>
>> So far I've jumpered around my ignition switch. Nothing. I cleaned
>> my battery/body and transmission grounds. Nothing. I bridged the
>> starter and solenoid posts with a screw driver and got a little
>> spark, but nothing at all from the starter motor. Silence on all
>> counts except for the fuel pump priming which has been happening all
>> along. Does this just sound like bad luck and it's a bad starter or
>> is there something else that could be causing a premature failure of
>> the starter?
>>
>> I also had my battery checked and it checked out fine. I have one of
>> those cigarette lighter volt meters that consistently shows 13.9
>> volts at speed.
>> If it weren't a 1 year old Bosch starter I would have immediately
>> assumed that to be the problem. Am I just in denial?
>>
>> Any thoughts would be much appreciated
>>
>
