[Vwdiesel] RE: Vanagon Diesel Starter replacement

[Maynard Southard]

Jon:
I have done this twice on my Vanagon diesels.  A royal PITA to remove, but
both times cleaning up the solenoid solved my problem.

The Vanagon Diesel starter is different from the waterboxer starter and the
rabbit/jetta diesels. It has the bushing built into a cone that is part of
the starter housing. Unlike the waterboxers, the clutch slave cylinder
bracket is mounted to one of the starter mounting bolts.  After you remove
the starter mounting bolts, you have to pivot the slave cylinder bracket out
of the way in order to pull the starter straight out.  You can't rotate the
starter to get its mounting flange to clear the slave cylinder bracket
because the nose cone interferes with the flywheel and only lets you rotate
it about 10 degrees, not enough to clear. On both of mine, the slave
cylinder bracket was rusted to the pivot arm on the tranny, making it very
difficult to get out of the way. Sorry I don't have any pictures.

Certainly do-able, just wasn't as straight forward as I had allowed time
for!

Maynard
'86 DoubleCab Diesel
'82 Vanagon GL Diesel

> -----Original Message-----
> It has comes time to replace my starter on a 1.6D Westy 
> Vanagon. For awhile, it has taken 5 to 10 tries to get it to 
> engauge, and this is
> *after* installing a "hot start" relay.
> 
> So, I've read Bentley, etc, but I always like to get a second 
> (and third, and so on) opinion. Anyone have any spiffy tips 
> on replacing a starter?
> 
> I imagine all I need to do is cleanup/replace the solenoid 
> once I get it out. Again, any experience on this?
> 
> (And, in other news, I just experienced the dreaded headlight 
> switch meltdown. Ask me about how I used test leads to 
> temporarily bypass the switch so we could get 75 miles to 
> home, in the middle of the night. And, how on the same trip, 
> the fuel filter clogged so quickly the engine died on the 
> freeway. Good thing I *always* carry a spare. :-I )
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Jon