Gunner writes:


Some assistance is required in defining terms.

The black round thingy on the fenderwell with a battery lead coming
in, a cable going out to the starter and a wire to operate it , is
called a what? Starter Relay? Solenoid?
Big honking relay?


Part of the problem is the language. To greasemonkeys, solenoid
means 1+ things.

On most cars, the big wire goes to the starter case, and so does
the small wire. The solenoid within is two things: a relay to
switch the current, and means to push the gear into the ring
gear.

Traditionally, Ford did not do that; they put the relay on the
fender, and used a spiral-threaded gadget called a Bendix to
automagically extend the output shaft to engage the ring gear.
Those starters may not have a small wire. And then some people
also call that fender relay a solenoid......

I have no idea if your vehicle has both or... but that
should help you grok the issue.

Take a voltmeter, put on the starter stud, and measure while
{not}cranking. That's clue #1.




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