Patrick wrote:
> In news:Z_b0i.8263$HR1.3032@trnddc01,
> JimC <res8rwal@verizon.net> wrote:
>
>> Okay...the solenoid....and starter cable connections. I should have
>> known to check these -- my pappy taught me better than that.
>
> There's a small copper contact plate in the solenoid/starter assembly that
> gets corroded after some time, and will produce exactly the symptoms you
> describe -- intermittent cranking ability.

-------------------------------

His symptoms aren't really the same. When the copper contact inside the
solenoid goes bad, you get the loud 'click' all the time, but sometimes
the starter just doesn't go. When the ignition switch isn't firing the
solenoid at all, there's no 'click'. He didn't say that it was clicking
but not spinning the starter.
The third scenario is when the armature / brushes aren't connecting so
there's no click because the solenoid has no path to ground, but that
one can be dismissed because he said that just torqueing on the key a
few times made the starter fire up. If it was the brushes / armature, he
would have needed to tap on the starter or slam a door to make the
connection work better. Take a look at the thread (and its links) I
provided. The schematic really made sense to me once I saw this problem
in real life. There's two windings in the solenoid, one to suck it in
and another to HOLD it in. Cool.

http://www.hondasuv.com/members/showthread.php?t=20252&

'Curly'