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> Question: Is it practical for me to just rebuild the solenoid myself? Or > should I just get a new (rebuilt) one and turn the old one in as a core? Stop! It's almost certainly not the solenoid. Before you spend dollars on a replacement, take a look at the page on my website dealing with this problem. It's one of the most baffling perennial problems suffered by all air-cooled VWs, but it is usually fairly simple to sort out, at least with a few years respite. I first had this happen to me in the mid-70s (year!) in a 6V '64 Variant. It becomes bad after long hot journeys, but can then be fine for months after, until the next long journey. In most cases a good clean of the starter motor brush/commutator area will solve the problem for several years. Hitting (tapping) with a hammer shakes the brushes in their holders and makes a better contact. Since the brushes are part of the initial circuit to make the starter motor pre-engage, a bad contact in that circuit stops anything happening. You may find doing a quick restart immediately after stopping will be enough to re-set the brushes and ensure it starts next time. Jim found that worked coming back from Parma, but then so did Russe shorting the terminals with a quarter! http://www.hallvw.clara.co.uk/starter.htm Dave. UK VW Type 3 & 4 Club http://www.hallvw.clara.co.uk/ ------ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org