Club 80-90 Forums

Hi - am enjoying usual saga of starter woes, intermittent starting etc. 1.9 petrol DG...

Getting a click but starter doenst always turn

Over last couple of months replaced starter & bush (spins much faster), then today the ignition switch. Battery has 12.95 volts.

checked resistance of thick cable to starter - 0 ohms all good i hope

Checked voltage at starter end of trigger wire (one that goes to the spade connector on the solenoid) 9.8 V.... aha.............

Question is how do i replace this cable - does it run from the ignition switch (must do in my simple mind)?

my best idea is to cut the wire at ignition switch and solder new cable to this (problem my soldering skills are at 5 year old level) and run to the solenoid. Harder than it sounds as van is fully campered and running cable from front to back will not be easy

thanks for replies

Fit a " hot start relay"( Google it ) close to the starter ( waterproof the relay )

forgot to say i cleaned all the earths, battery and gearbox straps also.
Davefriday - will check out hot start relay option - will this work with low voltage on the end of trigger wire or does the relay by pass this problem? thanks anyway but my question still stands - how do i replace trigger wire?

If you've got a relay try it!(9.6 volts does seem a bit low )
Regarding fitting a new trigger wire,just run it under the van ( with extra insulation/ sleeveing )

I had a similar problem & it just turned out to be a poor connection between the spade connector & trigger cable (at the solenoid end). Looked fine visually but electrically it was high resistance. Not uncommon it seems.

windy - just done that, starts everytime so far. I'm not 100% convinced its fixed as was intermittent before but worth a try. Thanks!

Sounds familiar. My intermittent starter problem was eventually solved by a new solenoid, but along the way I discovered, like you, that I had really low voltage at the starter end of the trigger wire. I've since replaced/upgraded the main wiring to starter, and the front to back cabling to a he fuse board, and the trigger wire, as per the article in the wiki. Renewing the cabling did not sort my intermittent starting problem, but has given me much better voltage everywhere, and much better lighting output.

Wiki article is

https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/VW ... ain_cables" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And
https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/VW ... ry_to_dash" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There's quite a few threads recently where this is mentioned, Covkid is (quite rightly) a major advocate for this.

Yup, 30 years takes its toll, particularly when salt, water and mud get thrown underneath. Plus the fact the original cables were bare minimum really. I know some prefer to crimp every cable but anything underneath I seal with solder to help reduce the wick effect from moisture.

A few on here have upgraded all the main cables and will vouch for the marked increase in voltage, particularly with headlights. I'm sure VW would have done the same had the model continued until today with all the upgrades we demand.

Returning to the OP, I'd recommend the additional relay. Your trigger wire has enough oomph to switch a relay, which in turn closes a circuit between the main battery live post and the trigger wire terminal on the solenoid. No need to replace the cable from the ignition switch to starter.

Just ordered one - thanks for all the advice