Itinerant Air-Cooled

This one kept me in a Walmart parking lot in Missoula, MT for six hours two days into a two week trip. After checking fuses and having the sweatshop-mart check my battery (which was on its way out...that victory dance didn't last long ) banging on the starter to see if it had jammed up and going through the steps in the bentley....basically exhausting my mechnical abilities........some little birdy in Fargo told me to (auto bus so I couldn't do the obvious..) pop the solenoid with a metal devise....vroom....worked for two weeks and just added to the charm of every place we pulled into along the 2300 mile schlep.

Spiffy, or anybody else that this ever happens to. I use a simple push button with looong leads for turning the engine over when working on it. Helpful for trouble shooting or tuning, you don't have to keep going up front to start and stop it. you can hear that funny start up noise it makes that you can't figure out from the driver's seat etc... All you need is long enough wire for it to reach where you want it, a fuse holder a female spade connecter for the solinoid and a hefty alligator clip for the positive battery cable. The wires will push right through the engine bay seal. Wrap some extra tape around it for protection against chaffing. Then you don't have to crawl under it to start it. you could even run it up front so you can start it from inside. I did that with an old bug for a permanant fix instead of a hot start relay. Just turn on the key and hit the button. Bet you wish you'd a thunk of that two days out into your vacation 'eh Spiffy

Oh forgot to mention I use a 25 amp fuse, and to shut it off while working on it just pull off the coil+ lead. Whats it terminal 15?

Bill

Thats just the point. In a pinch you don't need a relay. The key has nothing to do with turning it over. The button is its own live circuit. You can turn the engine over with the key off to diagnose start problems. To let the engine get the oil moving on a bitter cold morning. just a handy little thing to have.

Bill

I had this no start thing in my wife's bus. Turned out that it had 2 problems that each, on their own would cause this.
1. bad ign sw
2. the wire from ign sw to the starter sol had an open in it.
Best Regards,
John

vdubyah73 wrote:Spiffy, or anybody else that this ever happens to. I use a simple push button with looong leads for turning the engine over when working on it. Helpful for trouble shooting or tuning, you don't have to keep going up front to start and stop it. you can hear that funny start up noise it makes that you can't figure out from the driver's seat etc... All you need is long enough wire for it to reach where you want it, a fuse holder a female spade connecter for the solinoid and a hefty alligator clip for the positive battery cable. The wires will push right through the engine bay seal. Wrap some extra tape around it for protection against chaffing. Then you don't have to crawl under it to start it. you could even run it up front so you can start it from inside. I did that with an old bug for a permanant fix instead of a hot start relay. Just turn on the key and hit the button. Bet you wish you'd a thunk of that two days out into your vacation 'eh Spiffy

Oh forgot to mention I use a 25 amp fuse, and to shut it off while working on it just pull off the coil+ lead. Whats it terminal 15?

Bill

I install two of these buttons in my busses. One in the engine compartment to troubleshoot and another under the drivers seat to start the bus.. I unplug the factory lead from the ignition to the starter and plug on my 2 new leads ( there's usually 2 spade connectors on the starter) This gives me an anti-theft ignition for my bus. You still have to have the key to turn on the ignition, but you have to know where the starter button is to start the bus. I mount mine just where the Gas heater controlls are put on the drivers seat pedestal.
HTH.