cranking bad?
 

I just tried to start my car after easily a month of just sitting there under the snow, and obviously it didn't start. Tried to crank it a few times, just wondering if that's bad? Car never started so I'm hoping there was no flooding issues, don't want any surprises in spring. I guess it's just a frozen starter.

P.S. The electronics went on, so battery is still fine, but my hood froze shut so I couldn't take the battery out as planned lol

but i did put down the handbrake and put the car into 1st instead

Could be one of a many things.

The first and only time this happened to me was when the connection to the starter and rusted just enough to distrut the amount of juice flowing through. Had it sanded down and reattached and everything was fine. Other then that... could be starter, plugs, flood, battery, etc etc etc.

Sorry to disappoint you, if it wasn't flooded, it is flooded now. As long as you try to start the car and it doesn't start for whatever reason (battery/fuel pump/etc), too rich mix is already in the engine and you can only get it out by cranking it many times according to the manual.

I had to deflood mine at least twice. Takes a loot of cranking with intervals (so as not to overheat the starter), so you will definitely need battery charger or another car connected, as typical battery will not survive this. Typically, it takes me 10 times of this:

Try is 3 cranks of 10 secs, gas pedal floored, with some wait time between attemps, and finally, 10 sec crank without gas pedal. Repeat until it starts in a cloud of white smoke. Warn the neighbours not to call the fire dept

i just tried to crank it 2-3 times then i stopped, for like 3-4 seconds a time... ah well, we'll see in spring

yeah its prob flooded now should have just left it to spring. i advise you to not try to crank it again because you will just worsen the problem. btw it's not a frozen starter if the car turns over.

Did you have the battery connected the entire month?
If so, I would suspect the battery needs charged/jumped.
You may have enough voltage to power the interior lights, but not run the starter fully.
The starter requires a lot of juice.

I let my car sit for 3 weeks and when I tried to start it, the interior lights started dimming and it wouldn't start.
This is a visual indicator that the battery voltage is low.
I parked my truck next to the car and jump started it... started just fine.
So I would try to jump start it or remove the battery and hook it up to a charger.

And you should always remove/disconnect the battery if you are planning on storing the car for a long period of time.

Leave it till spring, worry about it when it's warm. You shouldn't be starting it up throughout the winter anyways, unless you want to keep driving it.

Rev and I have a small company which we come to your car and do a deflooding for a small fee ;) It's our new company...if it's flooded we guarantee up in running under 2 min or your money back...baahaha.

FYI - block your tires and take your car out of 1st gear, it should be left in neutral when storing. GL in the spring.

and leave the parking brake off!!

i had the parking brake up for about a month, but now i put it down and in 1st like i said

about keeping it in 1st, i posted it up in the general section and everyone pretty much said its fine leaving it in first, dunno

probably getting a new battery in spring for sure

i really hope its not flooded lol
i was just checking if itd start to warm it up a bit, dunno what I was thinking

It's best to cover it up and try to ignore it.... hard to do, but the best thing for the 8

lol i woke up to my stock mazda car alarm going off
no idea how it happened

not cool

being flooded isnt that big of a deal. i remember my first time i just followed the simple instructions that are in the manual and all was well. maybe mine wasnt flooded that bad. but was a simple fix with out pulling the plugs or anything extensive.

Cranking only 3 to 4 seconds is bad each time. From what I recall, it will stop dumping in fuel after 3 seconds to prevent flooding.
So if you only cranked it 3 seconds each time it will have just kept dumping fuel in and is likely flooded now, like most has indicated.
In the future, make sure you keep it cranking for at least 8 seconds. try not to go past 10 seconds to save your starter.

I'm happy to say that after changing the battery (which was obviously dead and I wanted to get a new one anyways), the car started up on first shot without cranking!

Took it around for a spin, runs very well. The DSC turned itself off and I almost crashed into a curb, TWICE lol

Not so great running bald tires...

At least I figured out how to turn the DSC back on which I'll do next time I take her out.