Brian, the problem is probably the old electrical system.  Bosch makes a
starter relay (about $10) that solves this problem.

John

----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian brian" <jackstraw723@YAHOO.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, June 20, 2003 12:44 PM
Subject: starters

> The day before I left for my winter, southern job last
> fall I went to the junkyard to retrieve the starter
> off my extra van. But, they had temporarily stacked
> cars on top of it and I couldn't get to the starter
> that day. Sure enough, the next day on the Ohio
> Turnpike I turned the key and got absolutely nothing
> from the starter. I went over everything I could think
> of and remained convinced it was the starter. Having
> no other choice I gave in and called a tow-truck. The
> driver suggested trying a trick first, before towing
> it away. He crawled under the van and beat on the
> starter with a hammer while I turned the key. It
> worked like a charm; I thought that was a quirk of GM
> starters (and fuel pumps) only, but it is true of VW
> as well.
>
> So this winter I was having some suspension work done
> at an excellent shop in Wilmington, NC and I asked the
> guy doing it to pull the starter and have it
> completely rebuilt, not just a new solenoid. He said
> this wouldn't be a problem, and for $90 a local
> auto-electric shop did the work. A mere three weeks
> later the starter was seizing up again. I wasn't too
> thrilled, but by this time I was 1500 miles away and
> SOL. So I finally get the starter from the junkyard in
> mid-May and take it to a local auto-electric shop here
> in Michigan, tell him I need it on June 9th for a long
> trip, and I want it rebuilt down to the brushes. I
> stop in the first week of June and tell him my starter
> is really getting bad, I have to hit it with a hammer
> every day, I really need this starter. So on June 11th
> I come back and the m-f hadn't even ordered any parts
> yet.
>
> So I get home from a 2K miles trip, sometimes banging
> on the starter twice a day, and discover that the
> other starter isn't rebuildable, the parts add up to
> more than the cost of an already rebuilt one. (rotten
> field coil among other problems). So I give in and
> order a factory rebuilt one, which I am picking up
> today.
>
> This post does lead to a couple questions. I'm so
> disgusted with the world of auto-service that I want
> to learn to re-build the starter myself. Is this
> exceptionally difficult? Where could I get internal
> starter parts?
>
> I've never changed the starter on my bus myself and it
> looks a bit tricky to wiggle out of there - would it
> be easier to set the left rear on a jack stand? Would
> I need to put both sides up on stands? Are there any
> hidded tricks to changing a starter?
>
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