Help-Car will not start

L

lab-rat

Registered User
Messages
84
Hi There, With the cold spell my car would not start this morning. I could not conatact good old reliable Da to give me advise on how to get it going.
I have a mazda 121, yr1998.
I guess it is the cold spell, but was there anything I could have done, I pressed the accelerator but I heard you can flood the car.
As you probably guessed I have not got a clue. I really have to do a night course. I hope it will start when I get home
I had to get a taxi into work today!
Any Ideas?
 
sabrina said:
Anti-freeze levels!!!!
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Hmm, I will get the manual out tonight. I do not know how much is in it. I guess I could buy it in the garage?!
 
Give it a push start. The problem is probably due to the battery being so cold that it can't generate enough electricity to turn the engine over.
Wouldn't worry about it.
 
When was it last serviced ? ?
Cold snap will highlight knackered sparkplugs, HT leads & battery etc. Shouldn't cost much to put right but will only get worse if you ignore.
 
Anti freeze levewls will not stop the car from starting.
Did the engine turnover as normal, slowly or not at all.
As suggested the cold weather can be a fecker for killing Batteries.
 
sabrina said:
i was only guessing anti- freeze!!! Relax!
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No-one is getting excited, so no need for the 'relax' remark.

As Frank suggested, the cold weather could have affected the battery, especially in a seven year old car.
 
probably is the battery. my battery is half dead and it's awful to try and get started on a cold morning or if left without being used for a few days.
just get a jump start from somebody to get it ticking over again.
 
MaceFace said:
Give it a push start. The problem is probably due to the battery being so cold that it can't generate enough electricity to turn the engine over.
Wouldn't worry about it.
Click to expand...
Thanks all for the advise.
I have not tried to start it yet. I would like to get it sorted without getting ''the family'' involved. (bought the car off the brother)
I thought about pushing but it would be too much by myself.(the better half is off callavanting for a few days). Do you think I need to jump start it?
I was going to join AA, can you join them and call them out on the same day?
 
Hi Lab-rat,

Great to hear you have a Mazda. Best cars on the road IMHO. Have been driving them since 1979

Mazdas are notoriously hard to start and there is a bit of a knack to them. If it does not have a choke then turn the key one notch just until you get the red light appearing on the screen without the engine ticking over. Then press the accelerator pedal to the floor twice and this will pump some juice into it hopefully without flooding it. When you have done this, without the car in gear try starting the engine, it usually works a treat.

If this does not do the trick you might well need a new battery. Cold weather is the worst culprit when it comes to cars.

Sueellen.
 
Thanks Sueellen, I have just been surfing the web to find this info- no joy. Thanks for the tip. I though chokes were just in very old cars??
I will give it a go. fingers crossed.
 
any Kwick fit style place will do a free battery test for you ,
this will tell you if you need a new battery.50 euro for a new battery.
 
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