Starting-Handle for Engines with Carburettors or Fuel Injection

[NASkeet]

Since the advent of reliable electric starter-motors, few if any modern vehicles are now equipped with a starting handle (i.e. crank handle in USA parlance!?! | andrehkurbel in German), although the iconic Citroën CV was still so equipped right up to the end of production in the early-1990s. However, there are occasionally circumstances when the possession of a starting-handle facility would be invaluable; such as when the battery is “flat” (i.e. heavily discharged) or the electric starter systems fails for some reason.

In the case of vehicles with automatic transmission (common in North America but relatively rare in Great Britain & Europe!), tow, push, bump or other rolling starts are not available options, so if the battery is “flat”, the only viable options are either a jump / booster start from another fully-charged battery or the simpler expedient of a manually cranked starting handle.

Unless one carries a second starter-battery, the first option is only available if one is carrying suitable jump / booster start cables and there is another vehicle in the vicinity, which is relatively unlikely in sparsely populated or unpopulated areas; especially in regions of the World where motor-vehicle ownership & use is rare. If the electric starter systems fails (said to be relatively common on rear-engined VWs), then a jump / booster start would not be possible and hence a manually cranked starting handle would be the only viable option!

Electrical, Electronic & Fuel-Supply Considerations

On relatively old vehicles which have carburettors, installing a starting-handle facility is usually very straightforward, provided one can gain unrestricted access to the crankshaft pulley; requiring little if any modification to the fuel or ignition system. In the case of some carburettors, it might be desirable to temporarily disconnect the power supply to the automatic choke.

For vehicles fitted with electronic fuel injection, some modifications might be necessary; which is believed to be the case for Bosch D-Jetronic or L-Jetronic systems, fitted to some air-cooled VWs (including those of North American & Swedish specification), dating from the late-1970s to early-1980s. To enable the use of a starting handle on fuel-injected vehicles, some form of starting-handle-use control module needs to be developed, which has the following characteristics:

1) A manual push-button switch (ideally with a tell-tale light) to implement the starting-handle mode of operation;

2) Assuming a minimum voltage of 9V is available from the battery, the fuel pump will operate if either the starter motor (more specifically, the starter-motor solenoid) is operating, or the engine is running at more than 100 rpm (i.e. > 1½ revs per second). Few if any can turn an engine over with a starting handle at this speed, even for a moment, and if it were possible to use the starter motor, one wouldn’t need to use a starting handle! Thus when using a starting handle, it is necessary to provide the fuel-injection ECU with a voltage signal, mimicking the signal from an operating starter motor.

3) Under cold-start conditions, the voltage signal from the starter solenoid activates the cold-start fuel injector, providing a continuous flow of additional petrol, resulting in a richer mixture for starting, whilst the engine is being cranked. However, if the cold-start injector operates continuously, activated by the voltage signal mimicking the starter solenoid, to facilitate use of the starting handle, then the engine will be flooded with excessive fuel. Consequently, the cold-start injector must either be disabled or synchronised with the main fuel injectors, when the starting handle is being used. This operating regime is likely to need fine tuning, to ensure that just sufficient extra petrol is supplied!

4) To aid cold starting and maintain a fast idle whilst the engine is cold, the auxiliary air valve provides additional air, which bypasses the throttle body. Electrical power supplied via the fuel-injection pump relay, to a bi-metallic heating element in the auxiliary air valve, progressively diminishes this additional air. Given that it might take some time to start the engine and to minimise the load on the battery, the electrical supply from the fuel-pump relay, to the auxiliary air valve should be disconnected, when the starting handle is being used.

5) Once the engine has been started using the starting handle, most drivers would be liable to forget to reset the starting-handle-use control module, back to normal operational mode. Consequently, it would be desirable if the starting-handle-use control module were able to automatically reset the system parameters, once the engine is running at or above idling speed (e.g. > 500 rpm).

Note that with a 4-cylinder, 4-stroke engine, the ignition coil discharges twice for every crankshaft revolution. It is specified for some electronic ignition systems (including my late-1980s vintage Microdynamics Formula 1, FCD – frequency controlled dwell system), that tachometers (i.e. engine-rev counters), should be RVC type voltage-impulse units, rather than RVI current-impulse, units against which one is advised. Dependent upon which fuel injection system is fitted, either all four fuel-injectors discharge fuel simultaneously or two groups of two fuel-injectors discharge together.

Microdynamics - Catalogue, Price List, and other Pamphlets

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/lit/microdynamics.php

Microdynamics - Spring 1982 Ignition Products

Microdynamics - Formula 1 FCD Ignition

Microdynamics - Formula 1 FCD Ignition, Installation Instructions

Microdynamics - Macro Spark Coil and Cold Start Adapter

Microdynamics - Macro Spark Coil

_________________
Regards.

Nigel A. Skeet

Independent tutor (semi-retired) of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.

Much modified, RHD 1973 VW "1600" Type 2 Westfalia Continental campervan, with the World's only decent, cross-over-arm, SWF pantograph rear-window wiper

Onetime member, plus former Technical Editor & Editor of Transporter Talk magazine
Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club (Great Britain)

http://www.vwt2oc.net

[NASkeet]

According to an old technical article in a post-1995 issue of Transporter Talk (bi-monthly magazine of the national VWT2OC – Volkswagen Type 2 Owners’ Club in Great Britain), the phenomenon of “dead starter-motor syndrome”, whereby the starter-solenoid clicks but the starter-motor fails to turn, has been a common occurrence with rear-engined VW Transporters and possibly other VWs; including my own 1973 VW 1600 Type 2 Westfalia Continental motor-caravan, which has been part of my life since the age of 19, from January 1975 onward.

This happened on more than a few occasions during the mid-1970s to early-1980s without prior warning, under very inconvenient or potentially hazardous circumstances, which included the following:

• Attempting to restart the engine after refuelling at a British petrol station during a journey to the English ferry-port of the English-Channel ferry service to Europe. We had to push the vehicle to the end of the petrol-station forecourt, away from the petrol pumps, and wait until the starter-motor system chose to co-operate, which it did about half an hour later.

• Attempting to restart the engine after stalling at traffic lights in a French town. We had to push the vehicle into a nearby car park (i.e. parking lot in USA parlance!), and wait until the starter-motor system chose to co-operate, which it did about half an hour later.

• Attempting to start the engine, in order to disembark from a cross-channel ferry-ship or large hovercraft (i.e. SRN4 – Mountbatten Class). We were instructed by the loadmaster to wait until the other vehicles had disembarked, at which time we would be towed off by a tractor-unit, if our vehicle’s engine still failed to start! Fortunately, the starter-motor system chose to co-operate before we were subjected to the indignity (and possible expense) of being towed off.

Being fed up with the increasingly regular but sporadic occurrences of unreliable starter-motor operation (the cause of which was still a mystery to me), I resorted at some time in the early-1980s, to disassembling much of the starter-motor and associated electrical-circuitry, which I cleaned with solvent and an abrasive (probably fine “wet & dry” tungsten carbide abrasive-paper or fine wire-wool) and then reassembled & lubricated everything.

This seemed to cure the problem, of which there was no subsequent reoccurrence, but my father (then the vehicle’s official owner & “registered keeper”) and I continued to be wary that this might again reoccur in the future without warning. Hence, during circa 1988 or 1989, following a discussion my father had with one of his patients (my father was a GP – general medical practitioner for 25 years), arrangements were made to adapt our 1973 VW 1600 Type 2 and its AD-Series, VW Type 1 Beetle style twin-port air-cooled engine, so that a bespoke home-made starting-handle facility could be retro-fitted.

During a touring holiday in Sweden during the summer of 1982, my family’s 1973 VW 1600 Type 2 Westfalia Continental motor-caravan, suffered a “flat” battery owing to a second failure of the charging system (electrical generator – 38A Bosch dynamo & voltage regulator) within a period of three days! On this second occasion, the first hint of something amiss, was when the engine started to misfire and losing power when ascending a long, steep hill.

Forum Index > Bay Window Bus > 41+ Years with a VW Kombi: There's Never Been a Dull Moment!

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=651954

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8036557#8036557

I had previously experienced this type of misfire a few years earlier, when the rotor-arm’s centrifugal ignition cut-out had developed a fault, so I stopped the vehicle on the hill, so that I could inspect the rotor-arm and replace it with a spare from my emergency touring spares kit. However, the rotor arm appeared to be in perfect working order, but when I attempted to restart the engine, the starter-motor turned sluggishly at too low a speed and the engine failed to start, indicating that the battery was heavily discharged, but at NO juncture had the ignition warning-light illuminated to alert me to a charging-system fault.

Being in a sparsely-populated rural area somewhere between Kalmar and Vetlanda in southern Sweden, with no easy access to a telephone and few if any passing vehicles, I resorted to attempting a rolling-start by rolling backwards down the hill in reverse gear and then gently & progressively engaging the clutch, once the vehicle had reached a speed of about 10 mph. To my surprise, the engine started at the first attempt, after which we gingerly resumed our journey to Vetlanda without further mishap; with all non-essential electrical systems switched off, including the legally-required dipped headlamps.

A rolling-start downhill in reverse is quite hazardous and not something I would generally recommend, so on that occasion, a manually-cranked starting-handle would have been very useful, as it would similarly have been on those earlier occasions when we had experienced unreliable starter-motor operation; later referred to as “dead starter-motor syndrome”!

Having a heavily discharged battery, continuing to drive with the dipped headlights switched on, would both reduce the battery’s available supply voltage (the suspected cause of the engine misfire) and more rapidly discharge the battery to the point where the engine would no longer run. By limiting the electrical-load to just the ignition system, there was presumably sufficient battery voltage and residual charge, to run the engine without any hint of misfire, for the remainder of our journey. I didn’t then have an accessory VDO Cockpit 8~16V voltmeter, but have since retro-fitted one.

I have also acquired an accessory VDO Cockpit -30~0~30A ammeter, which I first need to convert from internal-shunt to remote-shunt operation, so that I can monitor the charging & discharging of the battery using light-duty electrical-cables. This will avoid the need to have circa 10 metres of heavy-duty electrical-cables, running forward from the rear engine compartment to the front cab and back to the rear engine compartment, via a conventional internal-shunt ammeter on the dashboard.

I chose to risk the wrath of the Swedish traffic police (whom I hoped would be sympathetic to my plight), by continuing to drive without dipped headlights to Vetlanda, that was our destination to visit friends (a German family we had met in December 1978, whilst on holiday in Mombasa, Kenya; where a hired “1973~78 VW 1600 Type 2 also featured), which coincidently happened to be the next large town, where there would probably be a franchised Volkswagen workshop, where they would have the facilities and required parts to diagnose and rectify our charging-system failure.

Being in Sweden, I had been obliged to drive on dipped headlights (a requirement introduced in Sweden in 1977 and in Norway in 1980), not having the alternative option of accessory, yellow-lensed “daytime running lights” (i.e. “varselljus” in Swedish) that were common on locally-registered cars in Sweden (including the VW Golf belonging to my Swedish university-friend who lived in Södertälje) unless they were factory-fitted, as on the locally-manufactured SAAB and Volvo models.

Swedish specification, Hella accessory, daytime running light kit, dating from 1982/83

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=476725

Swedish specification, 1974~79 VW Type 2 with accessory daytime running lights

_________________
Regards.

Nigel A. Skeet

Independent tutor (semi-retired) of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.

Much modified, RHD 1973 VW "1600" Type 2 Westfalia Continental campervan, with the World's only decent, cross-over-arm, SWF pantograph rear-window wiper

Onetime member, plus former Technical Editor & Editor of Transporter Talk magazine
Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club (Great Britain)

http://www.vwt2oc.net

[NASkeet]

One of the weaknesses of the 1968~79 VW Type 2 starter-solenoid electrical-circuit, is the total length of cables (estimated to be about 10 metres) from rear to front & front to rear, via the ignition switch, various intermediate electrical connections and starter-solenoid, between the rear mounted battery’s positive and negative terminal-posts; resulting in cumulative voltage losses along the electricity flow path, especially as connections and contacts oxidise with age.

David Hall, “Starter Problems Sorted”, VW Type 3 & 3 Club, 2nd September 2001

http://www.hallvw.clara.co.uk/starter.htm

A modification recommended in the VWT2OC’s technical-information sheets, is to mount a heavy-duty accessory relay as close as practical (preferably in the engine compartment, protected from dirt, water, salt and other contaminants) to the starter solenoid, conveying current by a very much shorter path from the battery to the starter-solenoid. This is something which is part of my on-going refurbishment & upgrade programme.

Dennis Wright, "The Dead Starter Phenomena and What to Do About it", Transporter Talk, Issue 19, October 1995, Page 19. Also later published as Technical Information Sheet Topic 13: Starting & Starter Motors, Pages 3~4.

Alan Godhard, "Starter Motors: How They Work or Why They Don't", Transporter Talk, Issue 21, February 1996, Pages 19~22. Also later published as part of Technical Information Sheet Topic 13: Starting & Starter Motors, Pages 4~9.

Dennis Wright, "Starter Solenoid Device (fitting a supplementary starter-solenoid relay)", Transporter Talk, Issue 20, December 1995, Page 26. Also later published as part of Technical Information Sheet Topic 13: Starting & Starter Motors, Page 1.

Dennis Wright, "Starter Cable & Wire System Checks for Type 2 T2 VW Transporter 1973, With Bosch Starter 0 001 211 993", Transporter Talk, Issue 23, June 1996, Page 17. Also later published as part of Technical Information Sheet Topic 13: Starting & Starter Motors, Pages 2~3.

Bob Wallace, "Jump Starting Made Easy", Transporter Talk, Issue 26, December 1996, Pages 34~35. Also published as Technical Information Sheet Topic 4: Jump Starting Made Easy.

Bob Appleyard, "Letter to the Technical Editor (starter motor problems, possibly related to clutch housing bronze bush, having worn oval)", Transporter Talk, Issue 28, April 1997, Page 25.

Charles Norton, "Dead Starter Syndrome: Another Solution (starter solenoid, replacement contact set)", Transporter Talk, Issue 31, October 1997, Page 32. Also later published as part of Technical Information Sheet Topic 13: Starting & Starter Motors, Page 12.

Peter Veryan, "Letter to the Editor (starting problems associated with ignition switch voltage loss, plus alternative non-damaging ignition system checks on models with factory-fitted electronic ignition)", Transporter Talk, Issue 32, December 1997, Page 44.

Peter J. Good, "Letter to the Editor (service & repair components for starter motors and alternators)", Transporter Talk, Issue 37, October 1998, Page 31.

Robin Taylor (JITNY), "Some Electrickery (leisure battery, split charging relay, starter-motor assist relay & remote-starting push button)", Transporter Talk, Issue 37, October 1998, Pages 21~26 & 28. Also later published as Technical Information Sheet Topic 17: Auxiliary Electrical Circuits.

Paul McCarty, "Replacing Starter Solenoid on VW Type 2", Transporter Talk, Issue 80, December 2005, Pages 18~19.

Dennis Wright, "Starter and Wire System Checks", Transporter Talk, Issue 99, February 2009, Pages 38~43.

Nigel A. Skeet, "Mitigating Dead Starter Motor Syndrome or Discharged Battery", Transporter Talk, Issue 113, June 2011, Pages 32~36.
_________________
Regards.

Nigel A. Skeet

Independent tutor (semi-retired) of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.

Much modified, RHD 1973 VW "1600" Type 2 Westfalia Continental campervan, with the World's only decent, cross-over-arm, SWF pantograph rear-window wiper

Onetime member, plus former Technical Editor & Editor of Transporter Talk magazine
Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club (Great Britain)

http://www.vwt2oc.net

[NASkeet]

Fabricating a substitute starting-handle “dog-nut/bolt” for the VW 1600 Type 1 Beetle style engine’s crankshaft pulley, was relatively easy, but creating holes of appropriate shapes & sizes in the large, 1972~79 VW 1600 Type 2 pattern, engine rear cover-plate, double-skinned rear bodywork and rear bumper, was rather more challenging.

According to a link at Thingparts.com in New York, USA, the appropriate “dog-nut/bolt” for the VW Type 1 Beetle style engine, fitted to the VW 181/182 (i.e. VW Thing in USA, VW Safari in Mexico & VW Trekker in Great Britain), is of VW part No. 122 105 261.

https://www.thingparts.com/starting-dog-nut-for-crank-handle-nos-vw/

VW 181 / 182 starting-handle dog-nut/bolt

One needed to trace a path through the cover-plates, bodywork & bumper, which deviated as little as practical from the projected axis of the engine crankshaft, which was assumed to be almost horizontal (i.e. level; as determined by eye or spirit-level), which could be roughly determined by vertically-downward measurement from the engine-compartment’s ceiling, using a tape-measure.

The design of the 1972~79 VW 1600 Type 2 rear cover-plate, having vertical & sloping sections along the projected axis of the engine crankshaft. The vertical section required a large circular hole, which needed to be linked by a circular cross-section tunnel / duct, to an elliptical hole in the sloping section. The purpose of the tunnel, was to prevent recirculation of the engine cooling system’s hot exhaust-air, back into engine cooling system’s fan intake.

1972~79 VW Type 2 engine rear cover-plate

Lacking any expertise in sheet-metal fabrication, welding or brazing, I resorted to moulding a GRP – glass reinforced plastic tunnel, which I bonded to the steel cover-plate using glass-strand mat & resin. Smaller in-line holes (oval in shape to accommodate the starting-handle’s dog-nut engagement lugs) were created in the double-skinned bodywork and bumper, after which the paintwork was made good and waxoyled (i.e. treated with Finnigan’s Waxoyl) to inhibit corrosion.

My 1973 VW 1600 Type 2 engine compartment & rear bumper, showing starting-handle facility conversion and other upgrades

My father later commissioned the fabrication of a bolt-on starting-handle dog, with three bolt-holes, for use with the crankshaft-mounted, centrifugal cooling-fan (the type with flat face), of our substitute 1911 cm³ displacement, VW Type 4 style air-cooled engine. Fortunately, the configuration of the 1972~79 VW 17/18/2000 Type 2 rear engine cover-plates, does not necessitate any holes to be made in them for the starting-handle.

The starting-handle facility appears to have been a factory-fitted option on some air-cooled VWs, including the early-model VW Type 1 Beetle, VW 181/182 (i.e. Thing or Trekker etc), 1949~67 VW Type 2 and the 1968~79 VW Type 2.

VW 181 / 182 engine compartment & rear bumper showing starting-handle & dog-nut/bolt

1959 VW Type 2 rear “apron” and starting-handle

Forum Index > Beetle - Split-Window/1938-53 VWs > Crank-start hole in apron - how?

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Forum Index > Beetle - Split-Window/1938-53 VWs > Reproduction split bug hand cranks

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Forum Index > Beetle - Split-Window/1938-53 VWs > What year engines came with hand crank nut on lower pully?

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Forum Index > Thing/Type 181 > Hand Crank Tin? [3 pages]

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8318710


Forum Index > Thing/Type 181 > "What did you do with your Thing today"? [Page 75 of 87 pages]

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=290168&start=1480

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7645862#7645862


Forum Index > Thing/Type 181 > Questions about Hand Crank Pully Nut & Tin

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=277607


Forum Index > Split Bus > Is this a "correct" 1959 Bus Crank Handle?

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=377444

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4178595#4178595


Forum Index > Split Bus - Barndoor > Barn Door Hand Crank Question

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=410288


Forum Index > Split Bus > crank start handle

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=54225


Forum Index > Split Bus > Picture of rear valance for 59 split bus?

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Forum Index > Split Bus > Early apron & later breast plate tin fitment

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=573657
_________________
Regards.

Nigel A. Skeet

Independent tutor (semi-retired) of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.

Much modified, RHD 1973 VW "1600" Type 2 Westfalia Continental campervan, with the World's only decent, cross-over-arm, SWF pantograph rear-window wiper

Onetime member, plus former Technical Editor & Editor of Transporter Talk magazine
Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club (Great Britain)

http://www.vwt2oc.net

[NASkeet]

This is the late-1940s vintage Morris-8, Series-E saloon (i.e. sedan in USA parlance!) which immediately preceded the 1964 VW 1200 Type 1 Beetle, which my father bought from new in Dundee, Scotland.

My father's Morris-8, Series-E beside a river in Scotland, prior to mid-1964

It was this elderly Morris, whose engine starting-handle I cranked as a child, which inspired my father and I to retro-fit this facility to our 1973 VW 1600 Type 2 Kombi, as a back-up when and if the battery was "flat" or we again experienced "dead starter-motor syndrome".

My father's 1964 VW 1200 Type 1 Beetle outside our home in Canvey Island, Essex, England in circa late-1967 or early-1968

_________________
Regards.

Nigel A. Skeet

Independent tutor (semi-retired) of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.

Much modified, RHD 1973 VW "1600" Type 2 Westfalia Continental campervan, with the World's only decent, cross-over-arm, SWF pantograph rear-window wiper

Onetime member, plus former Technical Editor & Editor of Transporter Talk magazine
Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club (Great Britain)

http://www.vwt2oc.net

[wheel607]

Less is more!