Dead Hot

Ok, so Oz is a lot hotter in Summer than Germany but any ideas on what
happened to Verna the 78 Kombi the other day?

She was parked in the driveway at home all day and the temp maxed out
at 39.5 Deg C (103 Deg F) around 3 pm. At about 4.30 pm I arrived
home jumped in and started her up as normal, she always fires 1st go,
and then drove off. I was going about 10 minutes up the road to visit
my Mum in the Nursing Home and was there just over an hour. When I
came out to not much cooler temps there was a resounding silence from
Verna when I tried to start her.

Now we're talking no crank, no click of a solenoid, no clatter of a
starter not engaging properly, just nothing. The Battery and Oil
lights on the dash came on and dimed slightly when I pressed that
starter indicating load.

The previous owner never replaced anything that broke so when the
ignition switch wouldn't operate past the "on" position he had a
starter button wired in on the dash. I even pulled this out and
shorted it in case it had gone U/S.

I waited and tried a couple more times then tried clutch-starting it
by rolling it across the carpark but still no luck so I left it there
and got a cab home.

Next morning in the cool at about 6.30 am I went back ready to have it
towed to my mechanic, but suspecting it would start to spite me and
sure enough she fired first go and each time since ( about 3 days
now).

So is this typical of air-cooled engines (as a friend claims or is he
just a water cooled ******) not liking extreme heat or could it be a
sign of something more serious?

To me it has to be electrical, and having worked in electronics I
figure it will probably turn out to be "Intermittant" the scurge of
every service technician in every industry because it will never fail
during business hours, close to help, of in front of witnesses.

Any suggestions or forcasts of doom appreciated.

John (Smegggg)
The Bay from OZ

(Verna 1978 Bay)