74 Ghia with a 95 2.2L engine. I am having troubles with the car starting after it has been driving for periods longer than 20 miutes. With the engine cold the car fires up with no troubles at all. After I drive it for a while and shut it off and try restart it the engine turns over very slowly. And if I do this for several times the engine will not turn over at all. Let it sit for 45+ minutes and it will fire right up everytime. All leads from the batters and new and not corrosive. All grounds staps are new and non corrosive. I did purchase a new starter from the local parts house and installed it last night and it is faulty. The starter kept runnning even with the engine running. I even read where some people were adding a relay before the starter. Almost forgot and it has a new battery. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

are u using the stock starter?
the NA EJ motors are pretty high compression, once they warm up a stock vw starter will struggle abit

i used to notice mine was slower when the engine was warm, swapped it for a brand new autostick starter, theyre higher HP and self supporting so no more bushing problems

Yeah, its a stock starter. In theory, if I unplug the ignitor I should be able to build the compression up in the engine. Plug the ignitor back up and be able to replicate the same problems I am having?

its more just as the engine heats up and expands all the tolerances change and its harder for the starter to turn it over
thats why u always compression test an engine when its hot

Joel, thanks for your help. The local autoparts has a autostick starter that I am going to pick up today. Its not a Bosch but I will give it a try.

also, when the starter and battery cables are hot, their conductivity is down too. This makes the effect work. try cleaning your earth straps as well.

did you know the history of your orignal one?

after decades of starting a 1.6 with 7.5CR its probably not surprising its struggling with a 2.2 that has a 9.7CR and double the amount of valves and cams
gotta love modern technology

Yeah, I am the 2nd owner of my ghia. So, it is definatly the original starter. Did purchase a auto starter and it did help. Not quite the zing I wanted to turn over with but it atleast turned over and started. I drove hte car for approx. 15-20 minutes and had the temps at 180 deg. So the car was heated up. Go home turned the car off and recranked it but it took 2 good chugs and it fired right up.

I was searching all the forums and ran across a guy who purchased an adapter from Westyventures. It was able to use an 1996-2003 TDI VW's - Bosch SR0408X starter. I am thinking of going this route.

Here in Aus the CrankyKits are pretty popular... lets you run an actual Subaru EJ starter with a standard Beetle or Bus trans.

http://www.crankykits.com.au/ 

I have one in my race bug that has 10.97:1 1916cc VW motor, and it turns it over just fine whether everything is hot, cold or whatever. Can't recommend 'em highly enough !!!

is the cranky kit taller than the stock VW starter? I ask this, coz if the starter is any taller it simply won't fit on my car.

also, are the teeth on the gear the same as VW teeth?

I'd say it's slightly larger dimensions than the normal starter, but don't think it's actually any "taller".... from memory it used more space diagonally towards the right rear of the car, since the starter was canted at more of an angle than stock. Someone might be able to answer more definitely, or else I'll try and take some measurements and pics under the car tonite.

On the gear thing, well I bought my starter and kit together, and just had to say what flywheel I was using to get the right gear on it.... so in my case, yeah - VW teeth.

OK, climbed under the car and tried to check as much as i could:

• My car is a 70 bug with IRS, trans soild mounted but still in the standard position.
  
• With the cranky kit, there's around 3cm clearance from the highest point of the starter to the underside of the parcel tray
  
• No point of the starter or mounting plate sits any higher than highest point of the trans... so if your trans fits under your shell, the starter should
  
• The EJ starter is rotated about 30 degrees compared to stock... so it DOES stick out slightly further to the RHS of the car, but as far as I can tell doesn't sit up any higher overall
  
• As you can see in the pic, I don't have a lot of room in there cos of the kafer brace, but I didn't have to change anything over the stock or hi-torque type starters to make it fit
  

the autostick on mine has the solenoid directly on top at 12oclock
its pretty close to my kafer bar though

theres a few cm gap at the top
i remember from david fitting the cranky kit to his Sbug theres a bit of room left above

cranky kit looks like a good investment......

how much is an autostick starter worth Joel??

I noticed that John sherman sells the "high torque" starters for about $450...

would depend where u got it if u could find one

mines not technically a semi auto, its from an 84-87 t25 vanagon auto but there the same as a semiauto

i paid $270 for mine new in the box but the price on it was $330,

u can see here how the solenoid sits on the top instead of the side like stock ones

its the factorys hightorque starters
higher HP than stock and self supporting
everything a $450 hi torque one is but with factory vw assmbled reliabilty

We've got a Hi-Torque starter from John Sherman and it cranks the V6 over really easily..

Was pricey though