I took the '87 745 for a 1k-plus-mile run to Florida and back this past week, with daytime temperatures in the 90's. The wagon has been used almost exclusively for a parts-run car, so it has not seen high-speed, summer drives for a couple of years. It has 375k miles on it (yes...Yikes!), not too many mechanical or electrical system parts that are not relatively new, and an AW auto.

The problem: After shutting off the car during this past week's trip for gas, it would not restart until being allowed to sit for 5 to 10 minutes (to cool off?). This happened twice out of the seven fill-up stops. The starter relay and the starter solenoid will both "click," but the starter would not turn over during these two instances. It cranked and started normally during the other five stops, and cranks right up this morning.

All of my major tools, shop manuals and diagnostic equipment are currently in storage in another state, so I only have "normal" handtools to use, and before I start trouble-shooting, I thought I'd ask the knowledgeable Board members if they are familiar with this apparent thermal starting problem.

My first thought was the neutral safety switch or its connectors (it gets hot below the radio and at the gear shift on these cars). During those shut-downs, it wouldn't start after rowing through the gears and trying to start in park or neutral, or allowing the care to drift a few feet in neutral, then "locking" the tranny back up. [These are tricks my son uses when his 850 won't start one out of 50 times, and I think he needs a new neutral safety switch to cure.] Did the heat cause a loose electrical connector to gap or the contactor not engage at the neutral safety switch? If so, I'll take the console apart and check.

I've never seen a starter solenoid act that way in the past (on any of the ten Volvo 240s and 740s I've owned with the B230F), but could it be a failing starter solenoid? I don't see how the starter could have gotten any hotter on the trip, but it was a lot hotter and more sustained driving than the car has seen for the past couple of years.

I'm loath to start disassembling a 25-year-old plastic Volvo interior or buy expensive replacement parts if this is a simple-to-correct problem.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance.