huh? thats ridiculious! i've never had any bad luck with them and ive had them do quite a bit to my car! I've heard a few other things about them but so far so good for me! but i guess from now on im gonna check everything after I leave. the only reason I go there is because they are the cheapest and seem to do a good job.

Thanks James, other than this initial glitch I am still positive that this car has lots of miles left in it. I think the price more reflects the cosmetic state of the car (crappy paint repair, busted tailight, but very little to no rust) as it runs and drives like a lower mileage car. All in all should be a decent DD for a teenager.

When you say big or early starter what exactly am I looking for? I was under the impression that Volvo used the same starter from the 60's to the end of the RWD era (source vlvworld.com). Also as you mentioned the battery, this car has the puniest battery I have ever seen in a 7xx car. It's an Interstate MT-47 rated at 590 CCA and 740 CA but is at least a couple of inches shy of filling the tray like the battery I bought recently for the blue beater. Having said that it looks to be in good condition testing 12.64 V static and 11.83 V with lights, fan, defroster etc. turned on.

Those voltages are with the car off, and not having run for at least an hour I hope!

yes and yes (stone cold actually). Why, what were you thinking??

Good. just that it would be bad if that was while the car was running!

measure the voltage at battery, then measure voltage at starter. what is the drop? with car off, sure.

if there is a significant drop, you may have a problem.

OK test results as follows (while cranking): +'ve post on battery to +'ve lead on starter was 0.11V; -'ve post on battery to ground on starter case was 0.18V. From what I have been reading anything below 0.2V is good so this sounds normal? All of the connections look clean and tight, starter bolts look snug, basically everything looks and test's OK.

So everything looks fine and now the starter is turning over and sounds normal?? Now I don't feel so bad for not noticing it when we test drove the car but it was definitely sounding noisy after we picked it up and the next day when we brought it home??

could just be a sticky ignition switch like was mentioned before, sometimes they cause the starter to stay on, just wiggle the key a lil, it should stop

When it was making noise it was a growling sound as it was cranking, once it fired and I released the key it was fine? It has never sounded like it wasn't disengaging. Like I said it's fine for now so I'm not sure what to think.

When starters get a flat spot where they stick in one spot and need a rap to get moving, do they ever start out growling when they hit that spot until it's worn enough to stick??