Thanks. I'm tapping right on the terminal on the solenoid, the same terminal that the purple wire is connected to, which is still in place.

Results of test are described in post #9.

Remanufactured from O'Reilly's.

 

Once the starter was removed, I could see that the heavy + terminal on the solenoid-- the one that is 12 V hot at all times -- was actually somewhat loose. The nut holding it in place-- the nut underneath the wire connections that go to the battery -- was loose. Maybe it was never torqued down properly during the rebuild process, or --??

That probably explains my intermittent symptoms.

I probably could have torqued it down and put the unit back on the car, but since it had a lifetime warranty as a rebuilt part, it's going back to the store. I'm going to opt for a new one this time around.

 

 

Got the new part on and the car cranks fine. Took about 2 hours to put it on, not counting the time to raise the car up, take off the old one. Also not counting lowering the car back down and clean up afterwards. Having a good assortment of socket extensions was key. One of those wheel-type handles was also very helpful in spinning nuts on before the torque started to increase. A mirror on a stick (lighted no less) was helpful. All the work was from below, usually lying parallel to the car centerline, head forward feet aft, sometimes with one arm reaching up on each side of the exhaust pipe. Really the required extortions weren't all that extreme (relates to comments here https://www.saturnforum.com/forum/sa...947/#post13799 ), just took a lot of patience and trial and error to get that upper bolt started since you are working by feel only. Using some good electrical tape to wrap around the end of the deep socket to tape the bolt into the socket helped in getting it started.

An odd thing I didn't remember encountering last time (but probably did)-- I couldn't torque down the 10mm nut that holds down the purple wire until I undid the 13mm nut and removed the heavy connectors that carry the voltage from the battery and also connect to the alternator. Because the square corners of the connectors on the ends of those wires interfere with seating a socket over the 10mm nut. No matter, once I figured out the source of the interference it was a quick fix to deal with it.

Thank goodness didn't have the problems with extreme resistance when putting the main bolts in (probably due to crud accumulated in threads) that had last time changed starter; that was really an ordeal (see https://www.saturnforum.com/forum/sa...ut-back-13653/ ). I scrubbed the bolts down good while submerged in gasoline but they looked pretty clean last time too; it must have been stuff remaining in the recieving threads that caused the problem. Guess if I keep changing the starter every three months I really shouldn't have problems with corrosion on the main bolts, should I (joke!)

 

Nope.

That should be your expectation if you buy a lifetime warranty starter from AutoZone advance or O'Reilly's. It's warrantied for the life of your car so you can replace it as many times as you need to, which will be many. All for one low price

 

What would be your choice instead?