I spent 4 hours putting a new starter in "ol blue" yesterday and was elated to have resurrected my ol' brick. I took the car for a 25 minute test drive - and she drove like a dream. This morning my wife took the car to work and broke down a mile from our house. My wife said she lost power and all the dashboard lights went on and the car sputtered to a stop. Luckily I was just a few minutes behind so I was able to pick her up and move the car to the side of the road by pushing. I was able to turn over the engine - my new starter works!, but the car just won't start.

My first thought is voltage regulater. But we had this replaced 6 mos ago. Any other thoughts? The connections to the starter seem fine but maybe they are causing a short.

I've put $1500 into this car in the past year and and the car is probably worth half of that at this point. This could be the end of the road for ol' blue unless I can fix this on my own.

Also check for a broken/stripped Timing Belt, by watching the camshaft thru the Oil Fill hole to see if it turns while someone cranks the starter.

Even if it does turn, make sure it hasn't jumped out of time by positioning the Crank Pulley at 0° TDC for #1, then verify that the Cam Pulley 0° marks line up, and the distributor rotor points at the #1 wire position.

You could also remove and reset the AMM connector plug. I had a sudden death like that on a '86 once or twice, which responded to the AMM plug manipulation. But that was LH 2.2 not 2.4 like yours. Still, it's easy to try.

If that easy stuff checks out, you can force the pumps to run with a fuse-jumper (Left side of #6 to Left side of #4. Pumps run immediately.) . If it starts with pumps running, you have verified that:
1 - The ignition is OK
2 - Your problem is in the Fuel Injection

If it still won't start, suspect Ignition, Crank Position sensor, etc.
--
Bruce Young
'93 940-NA (current) — 240s (one V8) — 140s — 122s — since '63.

Thanks for your replies.

I'll keep you posted on what I find...

~Ben
90 244DL
99 V70AWD

Check for fuel and spark. If you've got spark but no fuel, first thing to check would be the LH Fuel Injection main fuse; it's located in a holder near the ignition coil. Take it out and check for corrosion on the contacts.
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85 245 DL - 91 Mazda MX6 Turbo

A sudden no-go condition is not likely the voltage regulator. You said you were able to turn the engine over (and you didn't say it turned over slowly) so that suggests the battery is still charging.

For that year my first guess would be the ECU, but certainly many, many other things are possible as well. The ECU on my '90 died without warning on a similar test drive after doing unrelated repairs. The battery had been disconnected for about two weeks prior. I'm not sure if that was the trigger or not, but it could be a coincidence that you had disconnected your battery as well. But it sure is a drag to fix one thing and then have something else break right after.

Try to retrieve the ECU codes if possible to begin the investigation. Another likely culprit for that model year is the fuel pump relay. The pump should run for a second when you first turn the ignition on. Pop the cover off the relay and resolder all the connections if that hasn't already been done. If you're lucky it's a zero-dollar fix, whereas a replacement ECU is anything but.