I have a 2000 Mazda Protege with 71,000 miles on it. It won’t start. When I turn the key, I can hear the engine trying turn over, but it just won’t start. It has a full tank of gas. Any ideas?
How old is the battery and are the poles clean. If the battery is the original one, that would be the first suspect. Have it checked.
trying to turn over, or turns over well, but doesn’t start up or catch? Two different possible problems here. Trying to turn over weakly could be a battery problem, especially if the battery is still original.
turns over well but doesn’t catch
I have a 2000 Protege ES with 150K. Twice in the last year, I couldn’t get the car to start. My Mazda dealer told me I had corrosion inside the + battery cable. They stripped the cable down to repair it, and it’s been starting fine ever since. They do warn me that at some point, I’d have to replace the harness cable which is $500 + 6-8 labor hours. Hopefully, you’ve got a simple car battery problem.