intermittent starting problems

Today i tried to start my vehicle and nothing happened. The radio and blower turned on but when i tried to start not even a click out of the starter. So several hours later i came back from class and tested the battery. 12.2V I then tried to start it and it fired right up. I then made a couple stops which included 3 starts. At my 4th stop it would not start again. I grabbed a wrench to hit the solenoid thinking it may be the culprit and it started after that.

My questions are, Is the solenoid replaceable or do i have to buy a whole starter? I havent checked the connections but they havent been giving me issues for the 5 years i have owned it. If the solenoid is replaceable should i get a new starter anyway, its been cranking slow lately. Thanks

p.s. and this happened just in time to work in the snow, but doesnt it always

edit; and btw i have a manual so its not the NSS

yeah im pretty sure you can just replace the solenoid, but i would personally just replace the entire starter. thats what i decided to just do for my manual trans 2001 when i had those problems. there is always the option of cleaning the contacts, etc of the starter as well as the battery contacts

1. Freshen connections on battery and starter. Simple cheap stuff first. Visualizing connections is of no value; they can look good. A very high percentage of electrical problems are related to poor electrical contact. And they can give you intermittent problems like you're seeing; it's not all or nothing.

People would be very surprised to know how many times that when they replaced hardware, it did fix the problems they were having but not because the hardware was bad, it was because the electrical contact was restored during the process of replacing!!!

If freshening connections doesn't work, then testing (sometimes not conclusive) for intermittent problems and or replacement of the starter is probably in order.

Hallo Jeeper. They are right often the electric connectors are failing.
To test the ignition switch and the starterrelay and the fuse ,with all their connectors (bypassing),
you can jumpwirering by the starterrelayholder pin#30 and #87.
If you contact that with a bridge (piece of wire), the startmotor will turn. :wave:

thanks everyone. ill give the connections a cleaning and see what happens. and ill prob clean my battery terminal connections too. they need it.