1989 Ford Festiva L manual won’t crank

[graphxnerd33]

I have a 1989 Ford Festiva L 4 speed that was running great. One morning I started the car and was talking to my girlfriend when all of the sudden the car lost all power and shut down. I tried to start it right away and again no power. I let it sit for a few seconds and tried to start it again and it had power again and tried to crank it but it won’t start. It won’t crank over. Any one have an suggestions? Thanks.

[WmWatt]

I'm assuming when you put the key in the ignition the usual instrument panel lights come on. If not there are two fuse boxes to check, one under the dash on the driver's side and another on the driver's side fender under the hood. You can also check the battery terminals. There is a trick where you reach down and lay a long screwdriver across the terminals on the starting motor to see if it's getting power. I can't remember the details but it's generic so you can probably see how to do it by searching the Internet. If you have a volt meter you can also use that to check for power to the starting motor. That should get you, um, started.