AM I a NOOB OR BOOB Oh yeah its a question about my starter

So i'm new at this but by everything I'm looking at I wired my starter up right. But when I go to land my battery it tries to crank, with out the key being turned. I got it from auto zone and I was wondering if others had a issue with this or just me? Kale don't respond to this thread!!!!

Ok when you fine out what you are count me in to cause I'm lost on this one to.

Solenoid bad? maybe switch is jacked up?
Disconnect the starter wiring, then reconnect battery and ground (I assume that's what "land" means) and test for any voltage on the power wire with a multimeter, if there is voltage then test everything else up to the ignition switch until you find something that is powering it.....

might be the solenoid. i had the something like that happen to me

Did the new starter have one or two small flat male spades on the solenoid?
Do you have a test light? If so remove the large battery wire from the starter. Put the test light on the small female wire and have someone turn the ignition switch to the crank position The test light should come on. If it comes on when you hook the battery up then it could be your ignition switch. If it does not come on when you have the battery hooked up and the ignition switched is turned might be a fuse. Either wrong wire is on the solenoid or starter or ignition switch.

I keep forgetting that the test light works fine for these old cars.... Yeah, use that like he said.

I haven't owned a test light in ten years or so. Where I used to work, anyone would have been fired for even having one sitting inside or near a newer car. Test lights can and have been known to fry newer on-board computers even when just testing ignition wires for remote starts and alarms.
And everyone knows that smoke is what makes electronics work. If you release it or let the smoke escape, then you're screwed.

You do not need a key to start your car... whoever told you that? I actually cannot even start my car with a key... nor can I start it without a key... basically you have two things to look at... One... you have to have the battery connected to the ignition... this is what happens when you turn the key to on, and where you should never leave it with the car not running. Two, you need to connect the battery to the starter... briefly... so that the starter will turn the engine over to get it going.

What all is connected to your battery terminal wires? I am guessing that you have some extra wires here that are connecting to the starter... I am also guessing that it is just turning the starter over and not actually causing the car to start and run? This would be because the ignition is not turned on and you are not getting any spark.

Are you trying to steal one of my cars? Don't ask me why I know how to wire an ignition system in a VW so that there is no key needed... or ask me how many years I have driven one that way... I guess I am going to have to take a trip to FL to count all of my VW's now

Seriously though... you have an extra wire touching somewhere it shouldn't... and it is connecting the starter directly to the battery.

So, if someone strolled up to your house holding a wire with alligator clips attached on both ends you would think he was taking one of your VWs?




Ummm..... Wait a minute.....(cold chill) I think tomorrow I'll put mine on blocks and take the wheels off. At least until I get the tag....

i figured out my problem. I was given bad advice by my teacher. I got a wiring diagram and figured it out someone had removed a wire that needs to be there tying the altenator/generator to the hot circuit to the front but my teacher was convinced it was the starter. I won't say his name cause I'm not in the clear yet. Thanks for your help everyone

cylops80 wrote:i figured out my problem. I was given bad advice by my teacher. I got a wiring diagram and figured it out someone had removed a wire that needs to be there tying the altenator/generator to the hot circuit to the front but my teacher was convinced it was the starter. I won't say his name cause I'm not in the clear yet. Thanks for your help everyone

well I'm not saying his name either but I'm surprise that auto zone sold starters. That's good to know. What's the brand of the starter.

56HAVOC wrote:

cylops80 wrote:i figured out my problem. I was given bad advice by my teacher. I got a wiring diagram and figured it out someone had removed a wire that needs to be there tying the altenator/generator to the hot circuit to the front but my teacher was convinced it was the starter. I won't say his name cause I'm not in the clear yet. Thanks for your help everyone

well I'm not saying his name either but I'm surprise that auto zone sold starters. That's good to know. What's the brand of the starter.

Where else would you buy a starter? Autozone has great quality duralast trters, which are reman bosch starters. They are uber cheap and have a lifetime warranty. I have one on all of myvws ive rwplaced the strter in except my bus... Ive never had to replace one... Except that one in my bus that i got from advance that i have had to replace four times... But honestly they are the same part and i just had a run of bad luck in the begining

exactly. the same company makes all the parts for most of the parts stores. just different lables. infact most of the stores have the same part numbers. for example. a one wire type 1 alternator has the same part number for advance, autozone, and orilies. also batteries. the same company makes diehard, interstate, energizer, duracell, autocraft, duralast, and most of the dealer batteries that come with brand new cars.

now i'm not saying that the cheapest part is petter either. don't expect the $20 reman starter to last as long as the $300 bosch starter. your lucky if the $20 starter works at all, let alone last. also the other day i bought a distributor for my 95 safari van. i ordered the new distributor for $150, and the reman was $95 but we had it instock. comparing the two was night and day. the reman had MUCH more slop and play in it then the new one. the new one was MUCH tigher, and just looked a lot better. infact, the reman had MORE play in it, then my old one with 185K miles on it. so when you go to a parts store and they give you the option of new VS reman, GET THE NEW. Even if the new store brand won't last as long as the new bosch (or whatever), chances are it will last a hell of a lot longer then the reman part.

Well, usually I just get mind from a VW parts store but if auto zone starters are so great, why go 4 times to advance auto for a starter. And why change it in 20 something dubs but not the bus? Just asking but that's good to know auto zone sells them there's one by my house.

Auto Zone Gen Link <-----

71_georgia_beetle wrote:Auto Zone Gen Link <-----

wow you learn something every day don't you. I just didn't no that auto zone carry that much VW parts. If I knew this I could have save alot of gas driving all over town looking parts

I have worked for autozone, advance and pep boys throughout the years... autozone was my primary parts source if I did not buy from the local import store or VW dealer direct when I lived in FL. I had accounts at the VW dealer and at the import store. I got great deals on some of the water cooled stuff from the dealer on parts that were not mechanical, and the import store would deliver to my house for me. Honestly even when I worked at advance I had issues with their parts... really it's only been one alternator, one starter and one master cylinder, but I have had so many issues with those three items which are the only items I think I have purchased from them that I'd just rather have autozone get the part from them and then sell it to me so I don't have to deal with them... and yeah... auto parts stores do that.

Now... As far as NEW parts go... I did have a problem with a new bosch alternator for my 87 cabriolet. It would never put out above 13 v. I got a second one under warranty and it did the same thing. Before my one year warranty on this new part was up I returned it for a full refund and took half of that money and went to autozone and bought a reman with a lifetime warranty, and I got full voltage out of it and still have it in there years later. New is not always better and Bosch is unfortunately not what it use to be.

As far as my replacing starters, I only replace parts when they are bad. As I said, i replace the starter in the bus 4 times, the first was when I got it because it didn't work, the second was because the first one they gave me actually wasn't the correct starter which is why it didn't work, the 3rd was the one to replace the wrong one, and it didn't work but 1 in 5 times, so I replaced it with #4 which worked fine for a few years, but I actually just replaced it with #5. I've never replaced a starter in any of my other cars more than once because the autozone starters work great... advance should too because again they are the same part.

Since moving up here I have found that O'Reilly's actually has more parts available (like my brake caliper rebuild kit and my brake lines that even marietta foreign auto didn't have). They also seem to carry a better warranty... like lifetime on almost everything including those brake lines. I still go to autozone sometimes because they list my 98 sedan and no one else does.

It doesn't seem like anywhere actually keeps the stuff in stock anymore, you pretty much have to order it wherever you go. If it's your daily driver I would suggest to keep the necessities on hand...