My recently-acquired '93 940GL had a starting problem a few days ago and I wanted to bring this before the people I trust most - the Brickboard family.

Circumstance: Car was driven ~10 miles. Shopping for 20 minutes. Drive of 2 miles. Wait for burgers to arrive at the car. Car would not crank. All other electricals were fine so it was not a low battery problem. Tried moving the shifter through a range of gears to see if the shifter switch needed to be jogged. After about 15 minutes of trying, it finally cranked and I was able to get home with the cold burgers. It has not happened since, but I am reluctant to drive anywhere that I might get stranded. The previous owner did not point out this as a problem when selling the car - but, of course, he wasn't trying to dissuade me from buying the car. I had put about 500 miles on it since purchasing it and before the problem occurred.

I'm not averse to changing the starter, but don't necessarily want assume that is the problem without exploring other options first. From what I know and can deduce, there are at least two interlocks on this vehicle which prevent cranking. One is the shifter switch. I've read the FAQs info on this. This vehicle also has a security device under the steering column. It is a 6-contact PC board which evidently is intended to be removed when wanting to prevent theft of the car. I don't have one of these on my '94 940. The removeable portion says "Electro Lock". I'm guessing this was installed by a previous owner since I have seen no references to it in the car's manual. I noted that after several minutes of trying to start the car that this device was warm-to-touch, even hot. I suppose I could also have a faulty ignition switch, but I believe I could hear subtle sounds from the engine compartment when I tried to crank the engine without success. These were not the typical click-click-click you might get with a declining battery.

Questions:
1. I can see three wires entering the starter - two heavy cables secured by nuts and a single light-weight wire. There is also another terminal which has nothing attached to it. I assume the heavy cables are the power and ground for the starter and that the light-weight wire is to trigger a solenoid for engaging the starter motor. Is this correct?
2. If I am correct, would it be acceptable to run another wire to the terminal where the light-weight wire is connected so that I could "hot-wire" the starter to the positive battery lead (?) in the case of another cranking failure. If this is acceptable and the starter still would not engage, then I could probably conclude it was a starter problem and replace it. If it did crank, I could conclude it was one of the interlock mechanisms or ignition switch.
3. Does anyone have any experience with this Electro-Lock interlock device? It is just a set of traces connected in a predetermined pattern (e.g. "passive" device) or does it contain an active component (e.g. chip).
4. A general description of the starter or pointer to a FAQ would be helpful so that I could get a better understanding of its operation.
5. Is this a typical mode of failure for Volvo 940 starters?

Best regards,
Ron