T5 Starter motor

[mallard]

1996 850 T5 Estate (198000 miles !)

I have posted a sort of question on this before, but after some experiments, I think I need to replace the starter motor

Starts no problem first thing in the morning and after several hours standing
intermittent but pretty frequent problem, turn the key, might fire up after a short-ish stop, but more often a sort of wheezing, a clunk or even a half hearted attempt to fire. Usually does after about 4-8 minutes approx.

I have changed the fuel pump relay which I first suspected but I am more drawn now to a failing Starter. Are there any other check before doing this?the cables to battery etc seem to be in good order

Apart from a noisy alternator, a new MoT last week all is still great