Hi Peter,

Please elaborate about what you found binding and what you lubed in your starter. I went down this road with Volvo starters in my 740 and had recurring no starts that would be solved for varying amounts of time by starting by shorting the solenoid terminals with a big screwdriver. This was with two starters.

I looked at one of those starters yesterday and found very little wrong and now I am starting to believe that the ignition switch may be unable to provide
enough current to run the starter solenoid ALL the time. I'm guessing you still
have that bug. The solenoid gags because not enough current from a worn ignition
switch contact #50.

I haven't done this yet, but it would be easy to see how much current the solenoid draws by starting with the service port with an ammeter in series.

It's notable that the starter circuit is unfused, and perhaps the ignition switch is the fuse?

The starter solenoid may need it's own relay to be more reliable?

Whatsay? Bill