# 2000 Mazda Protege won't start

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/2000-mazda-protege-wont-start/21347>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Created:** [October 28, 2008, 7:53pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2000-mazda-protege-wont-start/21347 "2008-10-28T19:53:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ALALIME](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e5b9ba/32.png) [@ALALIME](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ALALIME)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 7:53pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2000-mazda-protege-wont-start/21347/1 "2008-10-28T19:53:03Z")

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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?

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**Author:** ![wizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a87d85/32.png) [@wizard](https://community.cartalk.com/u/wizard)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 8:47pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2000-mazda-protege-wont-start/21347/2 "2008-10-28T20:47:15Z")

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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.

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**Author:** ![jayhawkroy](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/jayhawkroy/32/33_2.png) [@jayhawkroy](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jayhawkroy)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 8:49pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2000-mazda-protege-wont-start/21347/3 "2008-10-28T20:49:17Z")

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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.

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**Author:** ![ALALIME](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e5b9ba/32.png) [@ALALIME](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ALALIME)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2000-mazda-protege-wont-start/21347/4 "2008-10-29T15:40:10Z")

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turns over well but doesn’t catch

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**Author:** ![fla.recumbent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fla.recumbent](https://community.cartalk.com/u/fla.recumbent)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 12:39am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2000-mazda-protege-wont-start/21347/5 "2009-07-22T00:39:04Z")

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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.