Problem Starting

[boneman01]

I've done some searches and haven't come up with anything on my problem. A few weeks ago, my 97 Limited began having problems starting. Intermittently, when starting, it sounds like power is going to everything but the starter. I don't know if it's related, but I would try jiggling the gear shift thinking I had a park/neutral position sensor problem. Sometimes it will start when I do that, sometimes not. After I finally found the switch, it was in adjustment. I thought maybe I had a battery problem and, since I still had the original, went ahead and invested in a new one. Same problem occurs, but still just intermittent. Then one time when it did start, I shut it down and the starter began to run with the key in "off" position. When I turned the key back to "on" the engine started and the starter stopped as it should. It did the same thing when I went to the "off" position again, but hasn't done that again since. I thought that was a little wild. Sorry for the length of this, but I'm scratching my head. Anyone out there familiar with a problem like this? Any ideas? BTW, the dealer charged me $50 to tell me it could be the starter. Before I delve into taking that off, I thought I would ask some of you guys with much more experience. Thanks in advance for any help.