Car Problems In the Cold

I have a 2006 Mazda 3 with a little under 40,000 miles on it and it won’t start. The temps here in Southern Colorado have been between -16F and 10F… The car had been running great and I just had the oil changed as I do every 3months. I first thought the battery had died, but the lights on the dash still turn on… there is this clickingish sound when I turn the key in the ignition to start it up, but nothing else happens. It also is a manual transmission. Wondering if anyone has any helpful ideas as to what may be going on…



Thanks!

It doesn’t require a lot of current for the dash lights to come on. But it does require a lot of current to operate the starter. Check the battery to see if it’s fully charged.

Tester

Sounds like battery to me.

Lights will maybe draw 30 amps from the battery…A starter will draw a few hundred amps from the battery.

This is probably the fifth winter for your battery. That’s about what’s expected for the life of a battery these days.