Starter Booster, I hate to revisit this topic, but... Options

[black914]

I have found this topic through a search but my question remains unanswered! I went down to the Queen City yesterday to do a repair on my son's 924S. The trip is essentially 85 miles of 65 miles per hour non-stop driving. When I arrived and rested for about thrity minutes, we decided to go get something to eat first, got in the 914, turned the ignition switch and no turnover. The fuel pump was operating but the starter was not getting the signal. I let it cool for a while, attempted to crank it again and it fired right away. We ran a few errands and made about three stops requiring the engine to be turned off and restarted and I encountered no problems. Went home later in the day around 6:30PM, traveled the miles at 65 steady for about one hour, stopped to get a cola, got back in, attempted to crank it, but again, nothing. Fortunately a good samaritan help me push it off and I got it cranked okay. I got home safely.

I notice that Bosch has encountered this problem before and they have offered a starter booster kit that cures the hot starter problem by boosting the voltage to the starter. My 914 has a remanufactured starter (don't know the age because it was installed by the previous owner).

Would this cure my problem? Apparently it has been a problem in the past or Bosch would not have offered a cure.

Comments?

[Spoke]

QUOTE (Mark Henry @ Sep 5 2005, 07:06 AM)

I also don't care if people call it a band-aid...beats cutting and hacking the OEM wiring.

The relay isn't a bandaid here. It is simply a better design than the one that VW engineers came up with in 1969. Running the solenoid current through all the wiring to and from the ignition key and through the relay board connectors is a suspect design.

I've had a problem with my solenoid where the rubber boot around the solenoid piston is a bit gummy and causes the solenoid not to pull in causing the starter not to start. Some WD40 on the rubber boot and piston cures the problem - for a while at least. I have taken the starter out twice now in the last 1 1/2 years and currently it starts up very nicely all the time. (until the next time the solenoid sticks) I'll add a relay at some point.

Spoke