Car will not start (Winter Time)

[SSR Mx-3]

My car was driving perfectly fine all day today untill I parked it at one of my buddies house for a few hours while getting some dinner. When I came back, I got into my car and tried to start it but.... It would not start. It sounds like it was trying to start but it wasn't turning over all of the way. I did drive it fairly hard last night, but like I said, it ran perfectly fine all day today. (Note: The weather has been below 30 degrees F all day today. Could the cold weather be a problem?)

Yesterday, I installed an Optima Yellow Top battery. Could this be the source of the problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[mitmaks]

it could be that your battery just needs to be charged. I guess you bought it from parts store. Well, they sit a while on the shelf so it probably didn't get charged enough while you were driving.

[SSR Mx-3]

That might be the problem, but all of my electrical (Radio, headlights, dash lights, and interrior map lights) work just fine. I started it up probably 6-7 times after I installed the battery without a problem. Then all of this happened. Anyways, I will try it tonight when I get back from work and update you. Thanks for the response.

[mitmaks]

ya, just hook up a charger to it and see how low/high it reads.

[SSR Mx-3]

The charge on the battery was full. The battery is in perfectly new condition without any defects. Could it be my starter? I am figuring that my new battery had a much higher voltage level that my previous stock battery (From '92) and literally fried my starter (seeing how it isn't used to that much power). The starter is the original from 1992, and could it be that it finally crapped out 175,000 miles later?

[mitmaks]

175,000 miles is a lot for a starter. Id take it to your local parts store, they should be able to test it for you for free. I didn't think it gets too cold in TN in the winter. It's not WA state afterall we had -20 F a few winters ago. Most cars would not start cause pistons get frozen inside the block at temp that low

[SSR Mx-3]

Yeah, that is what I was thinking. I am getting one of my buddies to throw my car on a trailor and tow it to Mazda. The only problem is that they aren't open untill tomorrow. Blah. O well. Anyways, Tennessee weather is highly akward. One day it will be in the teens and then the next day it will be up in the 50 degrees mark. It kind of sucks. I would be pissed if it got so cold where my pistons wouldn't even move.

[SSR Mx-3]

Ok. My starter was shorted out which further resulted in my coil and distributer to crap out. But I don't understand how the starter could short out in the first place. The new battery wouldn't short that out would it?