Topic: Starting Issue Solution
My 2000 Mexi began giving my wife the random "no start" problem this summer, while she would be out running errands. I went to check it, and found indeed there was no "click" or attempt to engage the starter, but the dash lights would dim when the key was turned to "start." That meant the key was making contact and closing a circuit that drew more current - so it was likely a sticking solenoid on the 10 yr old starter.
This is a common problem, which is why some VW owners carry a piece of 2x4 to whack the starter when it won't start. The jar unsticks the solenoid. It can also mean low voltage to the starter, either from a burned ignition switch or bad contact at wiring connections, or weak battery. It also tends to show up with "heat soak" on hot days, after the starter gets very hot.
All of these might have contributed, because we have driven and started this Beetle a bunch over the last 10 years, and my wife runs the A/C all the time. The A/C does make the engine run hotter, and this Mexi A/C mounts the condensor behind the back seat, taking in air from the engine compartment and dumping out thought a hole in the parcel shelf, near where the starter is located. The battery also runs lower voltage in these conditions, because the voltage regulator drops voltage as it gets hotter (internal in the alternator), and the A/C load also pulls the voltage down, so my voltmeter even reads a bit below 12V with A/C and lights on. So the battery doesn't run at full charge in the summer.
Anyway, my wife deserves a sure fix, so I put in a gear-reduction starter (also called high-torque) after some years positive experience with one on my 91 Vanagon (with a Golf-type engine). These starters use a smaller, higher rpm motor that draws less current, and cranks through reduction gears to the Bendix. I found on my Vanagon that it always cranks and starts, even when the battery is almost dead.
Installing this starter should be easy, as it is shorter and a bit lighter - but that is theory! First off, the Mexi A/C mounts the filter-dryer and tubing in front of the fan housing, making it impossible to reach down to the top-right engine mount bolt that also holds the top of the starter. I've had the engine out before, so I knew to un-mount the dryer from the firewall to let if pull to the rear, which lets you get an arm in front of it and reach the nut on the starter bolt. The Mexi uses the later style round-head-with-flat bolt that keys to a lug on the starter, so you don't need to hold the bolt head when removing or installing the bolt.
That led to problem 2: the IMI starter doesn't have the lug to hold this bolt so it won't turn. Instead of getting a standard hex bolt, I used JB Weld and putty to "cast" a lug on the starter to catch the special head bolt. Works great.
This starter also moves the wire terminals across the starter nearer the trans housing. That meant the wire from the alternator wouldn't reach. The Mexi engine has a fancy wire harness that includes this wire, so I didn't want to run another, or cut and splice. So I got a 5" length of #10 stranded and some matching crimp-on ring terminals for 6mm studs, and a short bolt and nut to bolt this wire to the alternator wire to lengthen it, encasing the bolted splice in a couple layers of shrink-wrap tubing, with a wire tie to hold it to the starter so it wouldn't vibrate around and fail.
I thought the alternator wire would reach the new position easily, but this starter is shorter, so it came up 1/2" short. Luckily the battery hold-down key also fit with the battery shifted towards the center of the car a bit, which gave enough slack in the wire to reach the starter and still not be taut. Then had to remove the insulator from the spade-connector on the ingition switch wire to get it to fit the plastic block on the new starter.
So all seemed great, until I tried to start it. No fuel pump sound with the ignition on (Fuel injection), and nice crank, but no firing. Thinking about this over dinner, I remembered that I had the rear seat bottom lifted up, and had it canted and resting on the left end while I shifted the battery. That meant the left end was sitting on... the fuel injection computer under the left side of the rear seat. Sure enough, the seat had knocked the connector off the computer, so I snapped it back on and all has been great since then.
This gears in this starter give it a higher-pitched whine when cranking, but the engine cranks more positively in these summer conditions that it has in years. If you want reliable starting in spite of heat and aging electrics, I recommend these.
