I have an intermittant problem which is getting worse. When I turn the switch to start the car there is a click from what I think is the solenoid but the engine is not turned. Switching on and off for anything up to 20 times usually starts the engine. I have replaced the 5 year old battery and this is fully charged. Possible causes I can think of is faulty solenoid or faulty starter. Then again the car has only done less than 7000 miles since new. Other possibilities are a bad earth connection or a sticking starter cog. My problem is that at 75 I find modern car components difficult to get to and work on so if anyone has had anything similar happen i would appreciate knowing what was found to be the cause.

I have an intermittant problem which is getting worse. When I turn the switch to start the car there is a click from what I think is the solenoid but the engine is not turned. Switching on and off for anything up to 20 times usually starts the engine. I have replaced the 5 year old battery and this is fully charged. Possible causes I can think of is faulty solenoid or faulty starter. Then again the car has only done less than 7000 miles since new. Other possibilities are a bad earth connection or a sticking starter cog. My problem is that at 75 I find modern car components difficult to get to and work on so if anyone has had anything similar happen i would appreciate knowing what was found to be the cause.

Since writing the above I have, with the help of our neighbour , tracked things down to the starter solenoid being the problem. Bridging the terminals spins the starter. Bridging the terminals with the key switch turned to starting starts the engine. The question now is where does one obtain a new solenoid. Google does not help. The engine is a 1.2 BMD 40KW petrol SOHC first registered 2005. Any help in sourcing this part would be appreciated.