thank you for the input, yes , The solenoid is pulling and releasing properly, that is a great idea. I am going to go ahead do that - purchase the cheaper one and use the boot. I figured it was a shoddy aftermarket part, I’m glad you confirmed.
I've purchased a couple of different China parts for these units. My experience tells me that they're not good. It's better to stick with the OEM parts if at all possible. I found part# SA-3865 in the parts manual from the TM section on this forum. It's the same part for the MEP-802A and the MEP-803A. Appears to be a Woodward part. The boot is not listed as a separate number. Just out of curiosity, is your solenoid pulling in and releasing properly without binding? If you're just concerned with the boot condition you could buy the cheaper China one and just use the boot off of it. It looks like the OEM part is about 4X the cost, but again I'm a believer in OEM parts for these machines. Good luck!