Hello all;
I don't post often but always seem to find what I'm looking for on these pages. Yesterday intermidently, my starter failed to engage. After two or three turns of the ignition, the engine roars to life with no hesitation. I've checked the bettery terminals and the wireing and it all looks clean and am beginning to feel the solenoid has failed, but the intermitent nature of the failure gives me pause. I'm not that mechanical, but what else can I check before having the solenoid replaced?

You have postd a typical failure of a solenoid! Usually they will pass current after a few tries.. that is typical of burnt contacts inside the solenoid.
Big JIm

I concur. Get a new solenoid.

And, as long as you're under the hood, clean up the battery terminals and the terminal ends on the battery cables.

Dealer reviewed and found the ignition switch to be defective. Having it replaced now.

Yep! That too.. If the solenoid doesn't click than one starts looking at the ignition key.
Big JIm

update...There is an "actuater" attached to the ignition switch tat was broken. Seems the only way to get replacement parts is to buy an entire new steering column ($500+). Any ideas besides the local "pull yard"?

Nope! No other ideas here.
Big JIm

If you are trying to avoid the cost, and don't mind it being a little rigged. Hot wire the starter solenoid with a generic starter button available at most autoparts stores. If you install it clean and semi hidden, it could even be an anti theft device. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

Yeah! What Sunder said times 10!
I'd eat a family of Dung Beetles before I'd spend five hundred bucks just to make the starter work.
Big JIm <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" />

I'd also vote for installing a separate starter button. Well over 10 years ago, the ignition switch on my CJ7 failed so that it would work in the ACC and OfF and RUN positions, but it wouldn't work in the START position. So I purchased a starter button switch for a couple of bucks, wired one side of it to a fused, constant-hot 12-volt source, and the other side of it to the starter solenoid.

Works fine. When I start the Jeep, I just turn the ignition switch to RUN and then momentarily press the new starter button to engage the starter.

This even has an advantage. If I leave the ignition switch in the OFF position and then press the starter button, I can use the starter to "bump" the engine around without worrying about it starting.