I have a 1992 Honda Accord LX with 220k. Everytime winter hits I have problems starting the car in the morning. When I turn the ignition to the start position it does nothing, no crank or anything. I have figured out that if I apply pressure in certain directions it will start, sometimes. Most of the time though it will just start making a buzzing or clicking noise from underneath the dashboard to the left of the steering wheel.
I have googled the heck out of this and have not run across anyone else with a similiar problem, at least not the buzzing part, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

The car has a brand new battery installed, new main relay. The starter seems to be very strong, as it starts very well in warm weather. The problem only seems to occur when the weather is cold.

 

Look for dirty/loose/corroded connections at the OTHER ends of all the battery cables.

If you can make it better or worse by twisting the key in funny ways, then I'd also suspect a flaky ignition switch.

 

Could it still be a bad connection if the instrument panel and stereo all come on without even a hitch?

I thought the same thing but what about the cold weather? How would that effect the ignition switch?

 

It could be cold enough inside your car where the ignition switch doesn't make contact when you turn the key to the start position. I don't know how the contacts are set up in the ignition switch to rule it out by your instrument panel lights staying lit.

I would clean and tighten the connections at the starter. There are two. One from the + battery terminal and a smaller black/white wire to the other side of the solenoid.

If you have a volt meter, touch one lead to the smaller wire on the starter and the other lead to any ground (like a bolt on the valve cover). Have someone try to start the car. There should be 12V on that smaller wire when the key is held in the start position. Let us know what you find.

Is your car an automatic or manual transmission?

 

A dirty or corroded connection can be good enough to carry the current for all the lights & bells & whistles in the cluster & interior of the car. But the starter takes many times more current.

Cold inside the car might affect the ignition switch. Not real likely to be the switch, but it's so easy to check that it seemed like a good idea.

 

Ok, I finally gave up and decided to try and replace the ignition switch. Now after I got everything off and put the new ignition switch in, I can't get it to work. Here is the problem, new ignition switch will not turn starter over at all when installed in the actual ignition cylinder...But will when its not. Now the old ignition will turn the car over but only if I push the bottom of the switch in the direction of the firewall, basically turning it clockwise. Now, does anybody have any idea what the heck is going on? Also, to answer an earlier question, it is a manual transmission.

 

replace the cylinder.....