As I said earlier, the terminology is used incorrectly or loosely many times. I am going from terminology I learned ~ 55 years ago in electronics 101.


And you probably remember the older Ford round relays that had the mechanical "button" that could be pushed manually to make contacts across the high current contacts. Everyone called them solenoids. And technically they probably were a solenoid as the mechanical activator probably made them technically a solenoid.
A relay is a switch. A solenoid is usually defined as an electro mechanical device that produces movement of an external mechanism.

Each industry has its own terminology and the auto industry has adopted its own.

 

Since you seem to be older than I (67), you may recall this ditty:

You say potato, I say potatoe, you say tomato, I say tomatoe, lets call the whole thing off...

 

Would a 65A Starter relay be enough for a 5.8L f250 starter motor? Or would you go with a 200A relay? Trying to find a good reliable relay that is not made in China. China's quality sucks!

 

A proper starter solenoid is likely rated at 600+ amps. Look at your battery's CCA (cold cranking amps) rating. That is the bare minimum rating I would look for. My Harley draws up to 300 CCA. If you are shopping for a "relay" online, you're looking at the wrong stuff.

 

you are corrrect, I meant it was a starter relay, that is a big mistake on my part. But the starter relay said it was 65A so what would that mean?

 

Some cars (and for that matter, my Harley) use a relay to trigger the actual solenoid. That's done when you have a GM-style starter, where a piston-type solenoid throws the gear out into the ring gear, and closes the contacts to the starter motor. They also do it when there are other things energized only during cranking. On a motorcycle, it's done because the starter button on the handlebar has to have really small wires to fit in the handlebar loom.

 

But the starter relay said it was 65A so what would that mean?what does it mean when a relay says it has a 65A ? Does it mean it can handle up to 65Amps or something else?

 

Yes, 65 amps. That would smoke off in about half a second if you tried to energize a starter motor.