Club 80-90 Forums

Sure this would have been covered previously!
last couple of times been in my van there have been occasions when had nothing on the key when i turn engine over.
happened today again but no matter how many times i tried turning it over nothing not even a click. 12.6 on the battery at the starter motor, the thin red wire to the solonoid only has 10.6 when ignition turned? any ideas folks??? took starter off and cleened all terminals to nice and shiny put back together and still nothing

markysparky71 wrote:Sure this would have been covered previously!
last couple of times been in my van there have been occasions when had nothing on the key when i turn engine over.
happened today again but no matter how many times i tried turning it over nothing not even a click. 12.6 on the battery at the starter motor, the thin red wire to the solonoid only has 10.6 when ignition turned? any ideas folks??? took starter off and cleened all terminals to nice and shiny put back together and still nothing

I've had this before and it was a failed/failing relay in the engine bay - i.e. the relay that thin red "exciter" wire is connected to. If I connected a wire straight from the solonoid to the battery, it started (AA bloke showed me what to do and saved an xmas holiday). Replaced the relay and it worked fine again.

markysparky71 wrote:Sure this would have been covered previously!
last couple of times been in my van there have been occasions when had nothing on the key when i turn engine over.
happened today again but no matter how many times i tried turning it over nothing not even a click. 12.6 on the battery at the starter motor, the thin red wire to the solonoid only has 10.6 when ignition turned? any ideas folks??? took starter off and cleened all terminals to nice and shiny put back together and still nothing

Give us a clue by telling us what van/engine/year
in fact add it to your signature so you dont need to remember next time you ask a question

ignition switch is often a problem, bad earth strap on the gearbox, corroded trigger wire to the solenoid ( the wire not the connection), if petrol corroded 12 v braided feed from solenoid to motor.......

look below

Cheers yea looked at a tutorial on youtube it said if your not getting full battery voltage on the thin red wire going to solonoid im getting only 10.5vcheck starter relay! which i dont know where it is. My solonoid red wire looks like it goes towards the front of the van through the rear of the engine bay.
Its an 81 westfalia may have a look from ignition switch maybe its in the front end.
cheers

markysparky71 wrote:Cheers yea looked at a tutorial on youtube it said if your not getting full battery voltage on the thin red wire going to solonoid im getting only 10.5vcheck starter relay! which i dont know where it is. My solonoid red wire looks like it goes towards the front of the van through the rear of the engine bay.
Its an 81 westfalia may have a look from ignition switch maybe its in the front end.
cheers

Mine goes to a relay in the engine bay, a few inches from the starter - held in with a cable tie, I suspect it's a modification from the original set-up

So Aircooled petrol then?, come on help us to help you

Dont think there is a relay just an ignition switch and an old corroded wire to the trigger of the solenoid

discipleofsketch wrote:

markysparky71 wrote:Cheers yea looked at a tutorial on youtube it said if your not getting full battery voltage on the thin red wire going to solonoid im getting only 10.5vcheck starter relay! which i dont know where it is. My solonoid red wire looks like it goes towards the front of the van through the rear of the engine bay.
Its an 81 westfalia may have a look from ignition switch maybe its in the front end.
cheers

Mine goes to a relay in the engine bay, a few inches from the starter - held in with a cable tie, I suspect it's a modification from the original set-up

Yeh when the trigger wire goes bad some people add a relay at the engine and use the triger wire to switch the relay, it works but is one day likely to fail, better to fix the bad wire imo

yea sorry folks should have mentioned first its a 81 westfalia 19 td with a late aaz engine found the relay above the fuse box under steering wheel changed that and still no joy. However what i did do this time was put headlights on as i cranked key over and they dimmed like hell! so thinking may be a battery fault, although reading 12.5 on the meter and even had jump leads from my peugeot on start battery with no joy!
anyway not doing nowt else tonight will check earth straps on gearbox all other earths should be ok as i only put engine in last july.

markysparky71 wrote:yea sorry folks should have mentioned first its a 81 westfalia 19 td with a late aaz engine found the relay above the fuse box under steering wheel changed that and still no joy. However what i did do this time was put headlights on as i cranked key over and they dimmed like hell! so thinking may be a battery fault, although reading 12.5 on the meter and even had jump leads from my peugeot on start battery with no joy!
anyway not doing nowt else tonight will check earth straps on gearbox all other earths should be ok as i only put engine in last july.

Could still be a bad connection or corroded wire running from the relay to the solenoid.

Try running a wire from the trigger wire terminal on the solenoid straight to the positive terminal on the battery, with the ignition on, (but make sure you haven't left it in gear!).

markysparky71 wrote:81 westfalia 19 td with a late aaz engine

Now stick that in your signature

Do this test with starter off. At least you can rule starter/solenoid in or out. Otherwise we can only guess:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAu94lYPkAk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Plus you can have fun trying to pin down his accent.....

Irish/Newcastle/Iceland is all I could come up with....