I have a 87 t2. When my car was warm, my starter would click a lot before turning over. Without really trying to diagnose things, I wanted to refresh a few things.

I redid all the grounds, the power wire to the starter, and I went with a new battery to fit my intercooler piping better. I also saw the s5 automatic starter was stronger, so I just went ahead and bought a reman bosch starter. It cranks like a champ when it cranks.

Now I want to exchange the starter before the warranty is over, in case the starter I got has problems.

The problem I get now is that sometimes when I crank, it will crank very very sluggish, then after 3 seconds of holding the key in crank mode, it seems like it gets full power and cranks like it should.

I figured before that since my starter would click that maybe it was about time it might be going out. Now I have this reman bosch one that has barely been used a few times and I'm getting this issue. Maybe a relay going out? suggestions?

 

Relay probably

 

Could also be the interlock switch if you have one. The wire going to the starter solenoid is Black/White. This wire is found at the starter cut relay. If you jumperd voltage to the B/W wire from the battery and the starter has no problem turning over then the problem is not the starter itself.

 

if the motor turns slowly randomly then it is either the battery/ground connections to the starter or the starter itself. a faulty crank circuit wouldn't cause the motor to turn slowly unless it burned out the solenoid with a poor signal, in which case the solenoid is already cooked.

 

Thanks, that is what I was thinking also.

 

This sounds just like the issue I was having.

it's most likely caused by the starter signal wire loosing voltage as it travels from the key cylinder through the clutch switch and the stock alarm system. it's also probably loosing voltage in the key cylinder itself from being old a corroded.

I fixed it by adding a relay near my starter. I turned the stock signal wire (the one on the spade connecter) as the relay switch and grounded the other end on the starter mount bolt. I then used the other side of the relay to jump the battery 12V (from the big starter lug) to the signal spade connector.

it works great.

measure how much voltage you're actually getting at the starter from the signal wire.

 

yeah i make a kit for this issue, however in this case it doesn't sound to me to be the real problem.