I was beginning to have issues with my starter motor disengaging almost instantaneously on turning the ignition key. The starter motor was brand new along with a new ring gear on the flywheel at the end of the previous season. The wiring integrity appeared sound and the ignition switch was also relatively new.

The result was having to turn the ignition key four or five times before the starter motor would fully engage.

Although this might not turn out to be the ultimate solution, I decided to replace the starter solenoid as they’re not hugely expensive and the old one looked worse for wear. It also didn’t have the rubber booted override button at the bottom of the solenoid to allow you to crank the starter and start the engine if the system was energised.

The new solenoid looked very similar but the installation required a simple modification as the body of the unit provides the earth (rather than a separate negative terminal on the original unit). This required replacement of the spade terminal to a ring terminal and attaching it under the bulkhead mounting screw of the solenoid.

The replacement seems to have improved the issue if not in fact solved it but we shall see.