The thing that looks like a starter solenoid is probably the cover for the starting capacitor. On some motors these are external. Check this post
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthr...0447#post30447
as it shows the back end of my Hayward. The black thing to the left is the starting cap and you can see the contacts I'm referring to. They are the inverted V things. When the motor comes up to speed a set of weights on the armature spring out and open the switch. Hope this claritifies things a little.
Al