Car doesn't start.

[denious]

This started happening several weeks ago and reached its peak tonight... When I turn the key, there's 1 click, the lights come on and then nothing. So it would occasionally happen once or twice, but then the engine would crank all's good. Now, nothing. What would be the most probably causes for that?

It's a stock '93 Festiva, manual tranny. And so there's no confusion, I know for a fact the battery is fine. The engine mostly idles smoothly just sometimes loses power but in an acceptable way, so engine wise all seems to be fine, hence it must be somewhere in the beginning, like a bad contact or the starter just died... I don't know how to troubleshoot though, and it's -20C outside which is why I'm asking for slight help on troubleshooting!

[David88]

Check for corrosion on the main fuse links. There are three of the on a block behind the battery on the drivers side strut tower. A loose connection on the starter could also cause this.

[WmWatt]

Check the starter by putting the key in the ignition and turning to ON position, then connect starter relay terminal to positive end of battery and see if it works. To do same without starting engine disconnect (thin) wire from ignition coil to distributor. Instructions for my hand-held starter switch say to make sure ignition key is ON to prevent damage to ignition system. I find the remote switch handy when working under the hood to, say, crank engine to measure compression. On older cars you could just hold a long screwdriver with an insulated handle across the starter terminals, a quick and easy way to check the starter on a freezing day.

[denious]

It started from the first crank today, and did so 3 more times while I was driving places... How does this sound, the old lube inside the starter got hard at -20 hence the moor wouldn't turn? And if there's no lube to start with, then it must be something else that has to do with the starter and the fact that it was -20...

[WmWatt]

When you write "the lights come on" you mean the lights on the dashboard? Could be a deteriorating relay (the "click") shorting out power supply?