kinda OT (same engine) - the passat starter delema

[gatesj at mailblocks.com (John Gates)]

Personally I would buy a reman starter, VR6 starters seem to wear out 
fast, and there is more complexity there because of that gear reduction 
bit.  As far as I can remember, B+ and trigger go to the solenoid, and 
ground to the starter body.  The trigger pulls the solenoid over and 
only then does the contact get madefrom B+ to the other big terminal on 
the solenoid (to that crappy bare copper wire)  to run the starter.  I 
think it's almost impossible for the starter motor to get current to 
run unless the solenoid is over all the way.  So either a. there is a 
short through the solenoid somehow or more likely b. there is something 
wrong with the mechanism that is allowing the solenoid to pull over all 
the way and not push the pinion into the flywheel.  The fact that it 
got wet and the fact that it seems to be spinning freely and not 
grinding really leads me to belive it's nothing to do with the flywheel.

Usually what happens is you either have the solenoid contacts get 
crappy or the bare copper braided wire from the solenoid to the starter 
motor corrodes and pops, with the same result, the solenoid will give a 
nice healthy strong clunk and engage the pinion, but the starter motor 
doesn't turn the motor.  Just the opposite of what you are seeing..

Locate a Bosch reman starter....

John Gates
--
'97 Jetta GLX
'85 Scirocco

-----Original Message-----
From: Allyn <amalventano1@tds.net>
To: scirocco list <scirocco-l@scirocco.org>
Sent: Sat, 15 Oct 2005 19:40:07 -0400
Subject: kinda OT (same engine) - the passat starter delema

Ok, so some of you may have remembered me posting looking for a starter 
a
few days back. Heres the situation:



We had some high water around here a week ago when the storm passed by 
us.
The wife's Passat started doing weird starter things, where the starter
would spin free and 'not catch', but then after a few tries it would 
start
fine and she would be on her way. A few days later it wouldn't start 
(still
spinning free), and nothing would make it work. I removed the starter 
and
cleaned out the throw out portion of it, lubricating it a bit as well. I
reinstalled it, same result (spins free, does not engage). I figure the
solenoid is toast, so I get a replacement. I put it in part way, 
checking
for movement (to ensure the old bushing had a tight tolerance - it 
did). I
install it fully, jump in, and it does the same freggin thing - spinning
free. I figure a couple of teeth could be missing from the flywheel, so 
I
put it in gear and roll it a foot, attempt to crank again, still 
spinning
free. It doesn't seem to be jamming or anything, as it coasts down 
smoothly
when the cranking is stopped. Tomorrow morning I'm pulling the starter 
again
and looking in the hole to check it out, but in the meantime, any 
ideas???



- 2 bad starters in a row?

- all teeth missing on a flywheel? (I've never seen anything close to 
that
on an older 16v setup)

- something up with the tranny housing that prevents the pinion from
throwing out?



I'm at a loss.



Thanks in advance for suggestions

Al





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