Is there a cure for sticky starter solenoid?

[Timmo]

its a super common problem on psa cars of that era, my old 309 gti used to eat through starters, the 16v bx suffered the clicking as the original starter got older, the relay gave it a couple more years but had to replace it in the end (Not an easy job on the 16v!) , my brothers and several of his friends 205 gti's all suffered too, my Xantia has the relay mod after the starter kept finding a dead spot.
Realistically, the quality of the wiring in psa cars has never been the best, and the cars were never really aimed to last This long, most have mildly fallen apart over the years instead!

[CitroJim]

I got through two starters on my 205GTi and those were a git to change too. Could just do it without removing the inlet manifold, just...

[Timmo]

It was possible without taking the inlet off but My Word was it a PITA!
Once I did it that way, scraped knuckles and fingers wedged between the starter and gearbox housing/block/inlet/oil filter....

[Axa]

Old thread but maybe you appreciate my deep dive into this annoying "non repairable" throwaway part.
I opened up the intermittently (probably when warm) clicking Valeo solenoid on our 2008 Renault Espace IV 2.0 dci (M9R)
Luckily not very hard to remove with the starter still on the engine..
It looked like new after cleaning out a bit of dust mixed grease. The contact was intermittently giving good lead when cycling manually. It also has a "click" close to fully pressed in wich suddenly disappeared after cycling the contact for about ~20 times. After that I got 100% good contact ever time.
I suspect what happened was that the contact itself wich I belive is a round cobber plate, did turn a bit as I kept cycling the contact inside the solenoid. I used a pliers and turned the plastic pin on the contact carefully about 45 degrees such should make the old contact surface correspondingly move so new fresh cobber are making contact instead.
I also sprayed in some oxide cleaner in the gap between the electro magnet and the stainless liner on the inside.
I might order an spare solenoid just in case as I suspected it might be low battery voltage the causes the contact to burn. Hard to avoid as we do a lot of short journeys and sometimes have down below -40celcius during winter.

[Stewart(oily)]

On one of my BX diesels I discovered I was only getting 5 volts to the small tag on the solenoid, as a quick and dirty test get a length of wire with a suitable connector on it, and bare on the other, pop it onto the small tag on solenoid, touch bare end to battery positive, if the starter spins your problem lies elsewhere.

[wurlycorner]

Yep, cleaning solenoids can restore them to normal operation.

The short term fix to a sticking one, is to whack it with a heavy spanner

[Axa]

Yep, cleaning solenoids can restore them to normal operation.

The short term fix to a sticking one, is to whack it with a heavy spanner

And to summarize: On ("modern"?) solenoids that are not put to together to be able to repair: -> Twist the solenoid contact shaft ~90degrees to refresh the contact surfaces..