Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:56:15 -0400
Reply-To: Marc Perdue <mcperdue@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Marc Perdue <mcperdue@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Help! '87 Westy won't start...
In-Reply-To: <49E8A014.6000504@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Thank you all for the good tips. I could have tried all this stuff
last night, were it not dark and if my multimeter was in the van,
where it usually lives, but it was and it wasn't, so, oh well . . .
Now, it's stupid question time: Keep in mind that I'm at work and
don't have my Bentley handy, please. I have never actually had the
opportunity to find out where the starter is on a Vanagon. It seems
odd, I know, as much as I've worked on it, but where IS the starter?
I looked around for it a little last night in the dark, but, for
obvious reasons, couldn't see it . . .
Thanks again,
Marc
On Fri, Apr 17, 2009 at 11:28 AM, Rocket J Squirrel
<camping.elliott@gmail.com> wrote:
> As Ken says, the place the start is to find out whether you're getting power
> to the starter solenoid. This divides the problem into a. it's a funky
> starter, or b. the stuff between the solenoid and the battery has a problem.
> --
> Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
> 84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
> 74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
> Bend, OR
> KG6RCR
>
>
>
> On 4/17/2009 7:18 AM Marc Perdue wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I'm constantly amazed at how many ways my van can leave me stranded,
>> in spite of all I do to try to keep it in top shape.
>>
>> I got in my van to leave my daughters' house last night, and when I
>> turned the key, the fuel pump came on, but there was no click for the
>> starter. This has actually happened on occasion before. When it has,
>> I usually moved the shifter out of Park and back. If that didn't do
>> it, trying another time or two always would.
>>
>> So, I'm thinking that there's a starter relay somewhere, but when it
>> happened, it was 10 PM, my tools were in my other car, and my Bentley
>> was on the kitchen counter back home, where I had been researching
>> what I need to look at for the rough running problem that I had been
>> having. Incidentally, it's running WAY smoother since I had the shop
>> adjust the valve last to 0, cold, according to Bob Donalds' specs.
>> And it hasn't been stalling.
>>
>> Asides aside, I pulled the cover off the gear selector (auto tranny,
>> in case you hadn't gotten that yet) and cleaned the switch. In case
>> anybody out there didn't realize it, the shifter needs to be either in
>> Neutral or Park to start, and there's a switch in the gear selector
>> enclosure. You can pry off the top cover of the enclosure to get to
>> it. Cleaning the contacts didn't change my results. Thinking maybe
>> the Park contact only was affected, I tried starting in Neutral to no
>> avail.
>>
>> At this point, not knowing whether there was a starter relay or
>> whether I could do anything about it if I found it, I had to seek out
>> a ride home.
>>
>> Am I on the right track? Does this sound like a bad starter relay to
>> you all? Oh, and before you all suggest I go start chasing ground
>> connection gremlins, the shop that was trying to fix my van checked,
>> cleaned, and in some cases put new connectors on, ALL of my ground
>> connections that they could find. :^) Um, come to think of it, they
>> wouldn't have cleaned the contacts on the gear selector switch . . .
>>
>> If this does sound like a bad starter relay, does anyone have a part
>> number for it? I'd like to get my van back up and running sooner than
>> later...
>>
>> Thanks all,
>> Marc
>>
>
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