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well happy new year to everyone on mx-3!!!!!!!!!so today i was cleaning the snow and i decided to start my car for a while.......well guess what it wont turn over it cranks cranks cranks but dosent turn over........any suggestions?????

I am having the same problem right now. I am going to tow my car to Mazda tomorrow because I can't find any solution and it is making my brain hurt everytime I think about it. The only solution that I could think of is that the new battery I installed ,the day prior to the breakdown, fried my starter. I don't know. Once the problem is diagnosed, I will let you know.

OK if you can here it and feel it goin "ung ung ung ung ung" as in, the starter is turning the motor that the starters FINE. It just won't actually start running on it's own.

If this happens you have a few things to check...

1) Spark! Without spark your screwed. Check your batterie for power (it should do anything when you put the key in and try to crank if the batterie is at fault here) then check each plug to see if it's sparking...just turn off the fuel and take each plug out, crank it, and see if it sparks or not.

2) Fuel.

As you crank the motor, is there any exhaust comming out the back? If there is your burning something...hopefully fuel!

3) Maybe it's just to cold. Plug your car in if you have a block heater, and take a hair dryer and stick it in the valve cover for a bit. Make sure your coolant lines aren't frozen, and put some gas line antrifreeze in incase your gas is frozen.

blackknight wrote:well happy new year to everyone on mx-3!!!!!!!!!so today i was cleaning the snow and i decided to start my car for a while.......well guess what it wont turn over it cranks cranks cranks but dosent turn over........any suggestions?????

how cold was it?

Agree w/Vanished. Assuming the starter is cranking the motor over but it just won't run on it's own, couple things come to mind. Moisture in fuel lines can precipitate out at coldazz temps and freeze solid, blocking fuel delivery. Or, in general, on high mileage 130,000+ mile motors, disty can go bad = no spark. In both situ's, the starter is fine but lack of fuel or spark means no firing up... Need more info...

wow thanks alot for all the help.......it hasn't been to cold lately but the car has been sitting for a while....about it being the distributor that rings a bell i think im gonna try getting a 2.5 7 nipple and run the external coil on it as well.....thanks alot for all the help and please let me know what mazda says.....

Neutral, your a genius. I was thinking that I just wasn't getting fuel to the spark but I ruled out that situation from the fact that my friend was able to smell gasoline fumes coming from my exhaust. My engine is cranking but it just isn't starting, so it can't be the starter. The only thing that possibly makes sense to me is some part of the distributor. Anyways, I am dropping it off at Mazda tomorrow morning and will see what they have to say... Afterall, they are the professionals. Lol.