Just my observation, bought a starter at Advanced Auto parts, don't know if it's a national chain, in Cincy, OH. Lasted about 8 months, burned up as a result of a no-start problem I had. They replaced it, but it's not the quality of the one on my 85 740, (original).
jc
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1985 740gle na, 1990 740gle 16 valve

Hi dick,

My Volvo mechanic just about always replaces the 'newer', smaller starters with the bigger 'older' style. He says the older style starters are much more robust. I believe the smaller starter was originally a Mitsubishi, and the one you got was probably rebuilt by Bosch. The older starters are originally Bosch. They even make a totally different sound. My 745 NA has the Mitsu starter and it sounds quite different starting then my 745T which has the Bosch starter. You can tell the Bosch one is much stronger just by the way it starts. The Mitsu ones aren't junk though, I'm pretty sure the Mitsu starter on my 745T was original when we replaced it at ~260K km (~162K mi), and it was still working. We replaced it because when my mechanic was rebuilding the engine he noticed the starter had a lot of play in the shaft. We replaced it with a used Bosch one.
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Chris. Halifax N.S. '91 745Ti, 287K km and '91 745 NA, 359K km.

I had my original 1990 starter rebuilt a few months ago and that improved the starting speed somewhat but not by two or three times. Where did you buy this newer, smaller type starter, at the dealer or somewhere else?
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1990 740GL Wagon 223k AW70L B230F 8 Valve Non-Turbo Regina