I pulled the Metro out of storage yesterday. It started right up... the first time.
Then, SNAFU: no more start.
No click, no whir, no crank.
I checked the battery voltage (low after sitting, so I put it on the charger). Checked the terminals, and while not pristine, they were OK. I cleaned & re-tightened them anyway.
Still nada.
So I pulled the starter off & immediately found the problem... the flexible braided wire going from the solenoid to the starter motor was badly corroded and falling apart:
The wire even had evidence of high resistance -- blobs of metal on the ends of some broken strands!
This had obviously been in poor shape ever since I got the car, and it had been affecting starter performance from day 1: there was often a very slight but noticeable delay between turning the key and the starter activating. And now we know why!
A call to Crappy Tire revealed a new/remanufactured starter here in frozen Canuckistan is $180 taxes in, thus I was motivated to attempt a fix.
I pulled the end cap off the motor, cut the corroded wire back to good metal, and soldered this extension wire on it:
(No way was I going to be able to reproduce a 2" wire with the connector in exactly the right spot, so I went overboard. An extra long loop so as not to stress the solder job.
And now it works like a charm! It has never sprung to life so convincingly in the 2 years I've had the car.