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Sun Jul 24, 2005 10:56 am

HI All, Thought I would share this experience.

I was picking up my kid from work at 11:30PM Last night. She got held over, and was not out to the car for 1 hour. At 12:30 we go to leave, and the car will not start.
This was Very puzzling, because I had juice(Bright Headlights & interior).
I did exercise the shift a bit, up and down, but no luck.
Opened up the engine lid, and nothing seemed amiss.
Had my daughter attempt to crank it, while I listed, but all I could hear was the fuel pump.
I finally opened a call with AAA for a jump or tow.
While sitting there with my bentley I ran down the troubleshooting chart again, and followed a hunch. Went back up front and Slapped the right side of the shifter console twice. focusing on followthrough.
I asked my daughter to start the car, and it did! The look on her face was great!

So, can the Park/Neutral disable switch be cleaned and lubed, or should it be replaced?

thanks,
Matt

Wed Jul 27, 2005 9:48 am

There must have been something in the air. On Sunday we went camping at Crater Lake NP in our automatic '86 Westy. After 2 hours driving we stoped to walk the dog. Once back in the van it wouldn't start. I had a green light on the battery indicator and the dash was working so I assumed it wasn't fully in park. I put it in and out of gear a few times with no luck. I started to panic since we were at least 60 miles from any kind of cell phone coverage. I tried the gear shifter again and really "put" it into park this time. The van started right up. I assumed that the trany simply wasn't engaging. But perhaps my last effort was similar to your hitting the side. We had no further problems the remainder of the weekend. Once home I got on-line to troubleshoot the problem and I see that the very next day you had the same issue with the same model and year. Clearly there is nothing wrong with our vans; the planets were simply aligned against the '86s this week and we should never speak of it again.

-dk-

Wed Jul 27, 2005 10:13 am

Speak of what?

Wed Jul 27, 2005 10:15 am

I have the same problem right now went camping in the mountians and i will post some pics later and after a long drive my starter is not working. now this has happened to me before on my rebuilt schucks starter but i droped the bucks and got a bosch and have been going back and fourth from spokane to seattle, canada to seattle and its been great. but now it did it again. I know this relay thing bosch makes and i got one when i got my new used trany but if any one could tell me how to hook it up it would be great. havent checked the new sticky maybe its their. it would be a lot of help though because I hate having to park on hills

Wed Jul 27, 2005 10:25 am

Never speak of the problem--if you ignore it, it will just magically go away. Mattography, when you were having the problem before you replaced your starter would the engine make any noise when you tried to turn it over? With mine it was dead silent, not even the faintest grind of a engine trying to start on a low battery or the clicking you get from the electrical system. Because I didn't have any noise I assumed it was the trany override and not a starter issue. Do I need to look at replacing the starter?

-dk

Wed Jul 27, 2005 10:02 pm

It could also be the $10 plastic starter switch that plugs in the back of the key/steering wheel lock mechanism. They do wear out. Simple part, kind of a lot work to replace. Have to remove the steering wheel. Not too bad though. You can spend the $10, then just pull the plug out the back, plug in the switch and turn it with a screw driver.

Wed Jul 27, 2005 11:01 pm

when I turned the key nothing but lights and the fuel click in the back. No groaning or anything. riped out that starter in like ten minutes pushed started and drove it to schucks and tested it. FAILED
got a new one via warranty I think I will bolt it in tomorrow morning because I need to help my girlfriend pack cuz shes moving back to indonesia :( in 12 days. and no vanagons in indonesia or mattographys

89dk can you push start it?

Wed Jul 27, 2005 11:02 pm

if you push start your car with the starter out make sure you cover the live wire with tape :roll:

Thu Jul 28, 2005 12:32 am

Being that mine's an automatic it never occured to me to remove the starter to push start it. That seems like a very ingenious solution that you've come up with. If I end up trapped in the woods I've certainly try it. Is removing the starter, covering the wire and putting it in netrual all that is is required?

--dk

Thu Jul 28, 2005 6:42 am

Sorry but you can't push start an automatic, although i have had a few people tell me they did, I'm not so sure. It has to do with the fact that and automatic has a torque converter. the engine is "hooked" to the rear wheels different in an automatic then a manual.

I had the same problem with a rebuilt bosch, put in the hot start relay, then one night the fuses on the relay kit started blowing without cranking the engine. The one thing I did not do was replace the brass bushing, so I attributed this why it wouldn't work right, I ordered a new bosh rebuilt, and the tool to take out the bushing. But I still had to drive it (and did not feel like push starting it for a week) so I took out the starter took it apart, oiled and greased it all up, put it back in without the relay. Has worked everytime for the last 2-3 months, I also have a new(rebuilt) on in the box on standby. Now after I got the new starter I read this write-up: http://www.gowesty.com/starter_story.htm
I know Gowesty is trying to sell thier products, that just bussiness.
I would like to know if anyone has had any experiance with these "gear reduction starters.
I asked on the baywindow forums and nobody there had any comments.

Thu Jul 28, 2005 8:56 am

did not notice it was automatic problem thred just hovered towards starter.

Thu Jul 28, 2005 9:34 am

mattography wrote: did not notice it was automatic problem thred just hovered towards starter.

Well he was having trouble starting it. :lol:

Thu Jul 28, 2005 10:26 am

just put my starter in that i had gotten from schucks turned over fine. I think I might try and get one of those gear reduction starters. Someone shouldnt have to see there starter that often.