Date:         Thu, 19 Jun 2008 09:37:47 -0400
Reply-To:     William Greenamyer <greenamyer@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         William Greenamyer <greenamyer@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Starter won't engage ring gear WHEN COLD

Well, here I am again.  Weather turned hot and sure enough, the starter is
working fine now.  Because of the weather changes occurring in California,
it is sometimes hard to identify an actual problem associated with
temperature because things change from day to day.  Now I would say it is
definite.

At present, I can only guess that the most likely cause has something to do
with the solenoid not popping the pinion out far enough to engage the ring
gear because I don't hear a grind.  I do hear the starter motor.

Now the questions for all of you starter experts.

Assuming the solenoid (which is only a couple years old on either starter
that exhibits the same problem), is it better to recondition the existing
solenoid or just buy a new (rebuilt) one?  The reason I ask is because both
of the starters I have were rebuilt and had the solenoids replaced.  They
are totally different types of starters but there was no telling how long
the solenoids were sitting on the shelf before they were installed on my
starters.

Does anyone have good instructions on rebuilding the solenoid?
What is the best type of lubrication to use?  (Moly grease or something else?)

William