I have been in Barcelona for the last 3 months studying abroad for a semester of college, and my maxima has been sitting outside in New York in the cold since January. It has a 6 month old Optima Yellow Top battery but for some reason it always had to crank a lot before it started.

I told my parents to take the car out for a ride last week and it was completely dead, no lights even work. They tried jumping it and Im actually not sure what happened, but they said it wouldnt start and they are calling AAA to tow it. What is the most likely thing that could go wrong by leaving the car outside? Is this abnormal that it wont start?

 

get a multimeter and test the voltage on the battery. See if it reads about 12 volts. If so the battery is not the issue. The battery may need a charge not just a jumpstart

 

nah, it's perfectly normal that a car won't start after three months of not being driven. sorry, dude. i've never experience this so i really don't have advice. hope you can find a way to start the max.

 

That statement is completely false. The last used car I purchased had sat for over 6 years. A jump is all it needed to crank and start. Even with a tank full of bad gas, it still started and ran, poorly, but it ran.

Three months isn't long at all, most new and used cars sit on the lot much longer at dealerships before they are purchased or simply started for a test drive.

 

maybe you had a bad starter... and (sticking) and now it just got a little worst... and since the battery could be drained, the car simply won't start....try recharing the battery....

 

that would make sense being in a cold new york environment. the motorvate.ca site has a quick write-up on how to renew the starter grease. you could always try swapping out the battery from your parents car. that would at least eliminate the battery problem for you.

 

Wrong, my 96 was in storage for 5 months while I was in Iraq, flipped the switch and it started right up.

 

Have you tried push-starting it? No need for a damn battery in a 5 speed

 

jump the battery and see what happens