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I have a 88 ford van and a 89 volvo 74), both have similar alarms and I believe they may have been aftermarked devices that were added, maybe it was an option, not sure. they have key fobs that look similar.
The starter motor has a solenoid that pulls in the armature, causing the ring gear to engage and that also makes the large set of contacts which run the motor.If You have replaced the starter, you have already effectively replaced that "solenoid" - on some cars this was a separate item, outboard motors tend to be like that. some cars had a bendix on the starter which tended to be problematic , the volvo starter is pretty reliable.
i'd put a small indictator lamp to ground and to the hot wire ( basically from key to starter) if the lamp lights the starter is getting the power to the relay.
how about hooking up an indicator permanently, at least until you resolve the real problem so you can monitor if there is power there right at the wire to the starter when you have the issue. if you can sort out which key wire gets hot in position 3 then you could also monitor there at the wire from the key, if it's intermittent sometimes lamps like this can help see what's going on at the time of failure.
check your battery connections out properly just in case it's anything that obvious.
you can make a simple alarm system with 3, 3 position toggle switches. wire it so if each switch is in a certain position ( like up , middle , down ) you get power through to the starter. I'd instead switch the fuel pump.. then run every other possible connection to the horn. take power from key position 1 or 2 , then if someone gets in and tries to start it, SO long as you have switched at least one of the switches, it wont start, If he manages to turn the key somehow he wont get further that way.
instead of the car starting it just sounds the horn. a then if wont think his way through all the possibilities before he leaves after he honks the horn he's likely going to leave unless he's particularly determined.
you could put the three switches where you like , they dont need to be near each other. you could use a siren if you wanted.
this is a cheap way, all you need is 3 switches, it could be done with 1 switch or many, once you get the rather simplistic idea you could choose how complex or simple to wire that up.
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