I concur: check the battery.  My bet's that's the problem.  Get your
charging system checked while you're at it.

T.

On 7-Jan-07, at 8:08 PM, Daniel L. Katz wrote:

> pete:
>
> starting battery is almost surely at fault. acid can be tested with
> hydrometer; excessive internal resistance by monitoring terminal
> volatge
> with load. at 60 months, any ordinary battery is suspect.
>
> dan
>
> On Sun, 7 Jan 2007 21:00:13 -0500, Peter T. Owsianowski
> <pnoceanwesty@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
>> Hello, Listees:
>>
>> Hope this isn't to simple of a question for the list:
>>
>>
>> Have had no starting issues in 5 years with our '87 Westy, "Joe's
>> Van".  Last weekend,  I drove it on the weekend around town all day
>> and left the radio on after parking it in the barn.  Dead, naturally,
>> so I trickle charged the battery (5 Year old battery) and it popped
>> right off, started all day.    This weekend, we took it down to
>> Potato
>> Creek State park this weekend (again, no problems) and this morning,
>> temps dipped to the 20's at night and everything was frosted when we
>> woke up.  Really wet out.   Went to fire it it up and turned over
>> maybe 1.5X, then, nothing.  The dash lights come on and you can hear
>> the fuel pump buzzing, but no crank.
>>
>> I tried to jump start off another vehicle, but again nothing.  The
>> battery light on the kitchen shows green and all the lights seem
>> bright.  Got under and banged on the starter and solenoid to no
>> avail.
>>
>> Had it flatbedded home (Thanks, AAA) and it's back in the barn.  Can
>> the starter or solenoid go out from one start to the next?  Do I not
>> have enough cranking power?   I found a similar related issues
>> slogging thru the archive.  I pasted it below.  Looking the Muir
>> right
>> now for any hints.
>>
>> Thanks for any info!
>>
>> Pete
>> '79 Westy "Aardvark"
>> '87 Westy "Joe's Van"
>> '02 Audi A6 Avant
>> WWW. Busesbythebeach.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Date:         Thu, 20 Apr 1995 11:58:16 -0700 (PDT)
>> Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
>> From:         "Tobin T. Copley" <tobin@freenet.vancouver.bc.ca>
>> Subject:      Re: New starter?+wierd noise (help!)
>>
>> On Thu, 20 Apr 1995, Eugene C. Palmer wrote:
>>
>>
>>>> I know that sometimes, if your van won't start, (as in nothing
>>>> at all
>>>> happens when you turn the key) you can bang on the
>>>> starter and solenoid a bit, and get it to start. This usually
>>>> happens
>>>> when parked on hills. My question is, since this is happening,
>>>> is a new
>>>> starter in order?  [snip]
>>>>
>>> You could try crossing the selenoid and B+ terminals with a
>>> screwdriver
> to
>>> be sure it isn't some other gremlin.  The parked on hills thing
>>> makes me
>>> think there is something loose, either the engine mounts, trans
>>> mounts,
> or
>>> starter bolts themselves.
>>
>> --
>