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Hey Paul, you're already into summer down there.
Lots of folks carry a stick to whack their starter solenoids;)
I've had a lot of experience with solenoid contact problems in the past, but fortunately, with Bosch on Volvo, very little. When I say contacts, I mean the internal copper, where a spring loaded disk is thrown by the solenoid against the special copper bolts that comprise both the contacts and the external terminals.
Not surprisingly, most of the troubles I've had to fix were on mass-market rebuilt starters, where the contacts were not addressed (not renewed) by the rebuilder. Those things they hand you over the counter in the chain stores are hit and miss, costing you plenty in labor down the road. In lieu of disassembling the thing and fixing it myself, I would recommend to someone not interested in doing that, to find a local auto electrics shop for a proper rebuild.
But with the Bosch in Volvo, my little experience I blame on a much better product to begin with, and fully trust my fortune to get good service from a part pulled in the yard.
One way the contacts can get into trouble happens when the external terminals are twisted during the replacement of battery cables or checking of the connections to them. The stud must maintain its place, or a worn, arc-damaged portion of the internal contact may be given favor to the disk as it moves to complete the circuit. The inner nut is supposed to hold it in place, but rarely is it counterheld while the outer nuts are tightened during a repair.
Conversely it may be possible to make it work better (or worse) simply by tweaking that stud a little with your 13 wrench, obviating the need to remove and dissect the starter.
To sum up, my approach would be to find a JY starter, and then attempt to cure the old solenoid to have a backup on the "shelf". I haven't tried using any of the rebuilts offered by our trusty Volvo parts suppliers.
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Art Benstein near Baltimore
You spend the first two years of their life teaching them to walk and talk. Then you spend the next sixteen telling them to sit down and shut up.
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