Trev29, you're right. I did look at the engagement gear while it was on the bench and at least 3/4 of the leading edge of each tooth was worn down from the front heading to the back. I know that lack of proper engagement is making the noise, but why did a starter that sounded very quiet and worked great at the beginning degenerate in just one month? I'm trying to figure out if it's the flywheel (of which I could feel no evidence) or if it wasn't the proper used starter to have in the car.
Is it possible that it was a model for a different Volvo and as such didn't engage properly from day one? Are starters generally interchangeable over certain years?
I'm up to $425cdn so far on starters in the last 2 years, so I really want to nail this down. Thanks for all thoughts.