Hi Paul

Just read both your posts. Sorry to hear about you frying your voltmeter. That should have been pretty hard to do using the volts part of the meter.

Did you look for a fuse on the inside? Some, not so cheap meters, will have one or two fuses protecting ampere settings. Was yours a digital or an analog meter?

Guess you having changed the starter is a surprise for me again like the ignition switch.

The tid bit about the phenomenon happening when the engine is hot does not rule out the starter. In fact, old starters and rebuilts can suffer the same symptoms. Heat causes excess resistance in coils and the starter is full of them.
A rebuilt motor could have been turned in after it was overheated and a rebuilder missed it. It would not be the first time even though it says Bosch.

The next time this happens try the broom stick trick! Tap the starter motor and the solenoid several times. Try starting it a again, to see if it kicks right over or not. New and old parts don't always get along with each other!

I have a neighbor that replaced a starter on his Ford diesel recently. He got it from O'Reilys.
He was connecting up the terminal on the solenoid when the stud just twisted off from the plastic it was molded into.
He had to pull it and return it.

He got it there and they were out of the same one but had another one in stock.
It was a lifetime warranty one and get this, it was only a few dollars more!

He was not happy with the clerk to say the least!

After a short time of discussion with him there was another thing that he remembered, The clerk put the broken, the non lifetime one, into the box the lifetime one came out of! Right at the counter.
He didn't pay attention to what happen to his core when he left the store the first time. All of this was only hours apart too!

In looking over studs and the plastic he said it was made different and so was the color of the plastic if that makes a difference? This one he didn't twist off. He said he made it on there tighter than his first attempt to bolting it up! Flat out defective was his conclusion.

We both were standing there talking and wondering why sell two separate rebuilts slow close in price but a brand new starter is so much more money. Also the new one was not in stock because it's an OEM one and is a special order!

Bottom line, there must be, a pig and a poke, story with stores and the rebuilders.

Remember the poking stick! :-)

Phil