Q: Ford Solenoid Switch in Lieu of Mopar Starter Relay?

archlab said

Also, from pulling apart a Mopar SR, I was 'aghast' (as Thurston J. Howell would say) at the skimpy construction of the relay - i.e.: One copper 'strand', abt 0.2mm diam connecting the posts). Perhaps the Ford Switch is no better inside, but certainly looks heftier from the outside.

Curious to see some of your thoughts.

Click to expand...

I assume you are talking about the solenoid wire? The small wire is not any issue at all. The wire needs to be just large enough to carry the solenoid current reliably but is made small on purpose to have high enough resistance when wound to keep current low with a 12v system. Only the contact leads need to be heavier, but even then, the Mopar starter relay carries just a few amps; the Ford relay carries the full starter current (up to a few hundreds of amps).