right, took the starter out yesterday, and the ring gear looks like its been chewed slightly. Its always been ok though to be honest. i think its where the starter has given up and just spun the pinion on the outside of the teeth.
also, i had 4 leads going onto the starter. 1 was from the battery, 2 of them went onto the alternator (dunno why), and there was another red one that went into to loom. is that right?
today im going to go and buy a load of new ring connectors, and change the power lead from the battery. see what happens.