I have a friend with starting problems, and it sounds like it might be the
solenoid. Haven't actually climbed under and done any testing yet, as like
for many of us, I am afraid of freezing my butt to the garage floor, but I
would like to know the options for him when the time comes.

I don't see any solenoids on the vendor web pages, just titanic prices on
starters! Yikes :-)

What do we do when the solenoid is bad? Rebuild. Find a junk yard? Buy a
big hammer?

On a related, but somewhat different topic:

I tried searching the archives for past threads on starter problems, but
you know what? There are so many repetitions of the same paragraphs from
not snipping the replies, that the flow of the threads is not there, and
its really quite difficult to find your way through the real info, as you
find yourself reading the same paragraphs/text dozen times.

I know asking for editing the replies is just usually just ignored, or
excused. I makes me crazy because I read the digest mode,  but the real
reason we ought to snip the replies lies in the archvies. They are huge,
and a treasure filled with priceless information, but its getting harder
and harder to use it because of the redundant text.

Just my opinion. Hope no one minds me saying it 'out loud'

Thanks for any solenoid advice.

John