Commuter car problems

[Monty35]

I've got a 94 mazda 626 with a 2.5L and a 5-speed. Driving down the road today the engine cut out in 4th gear at 2000rpm, started right back up, cut out again 15 minutes later, started after sitting on the side of the road for a bit. Half way home it cut out again and hasn't started since. No sputtering it just shuts off.

Cranks fine, can't hear pump over the damn retracting antennae in the back, checked for spark with a screwdriver and couldn't see/hear anything. What's the method to pull the codes by watching flashing dash lights on this car? I cannot afford to take it to a shop. I'm trying to investigate between no spark (my method might not have been perfect) and fuel pump issues, it seems very similar to when my old ranger had the fuel pump relay crap out.

 

[Earl43P]

Does it have a distributor?

Those things were notorious for bad distributors, acting just like that (I'm recalling working on an MX6?)

Even if you can't hear the FP run, it'll spray out of the valve on the fuel rail (depress the center like a tire stem- do not confuse this with air conditioning ports). Watch your eyes, use a rag. Bleed off all the pressure, turn the key to Run and see if it recharges pressure = FP ok.

 

[Monty35]

It does have a distributor mounted horizontally on the engine on the frontmost cylinder bank. I took a long look around and couldn't find the pressure relief valve on the fuel rail. Tips for where else it would be located? Searching on the internet has definately been leaning me more towards spark issues, I am going to pull a plug and retest later tonight when I have some help. If spark is the issue I am not sure how to test further components in the line.

 

[rboyer]

If you can't hear the fuel pump over the sound of the power antenna then you can either unplug the power harness going to the antenna or pull the radio fuse.

 

[Monty35]

Checked again for spark by pulling 3 different plugs and grounding to a bracket on the engine block, no spark visible on any of them while cranking, fuel could be smelled when the plugs were removed. Going to look a little further tomorrow

 

[Danger06Ranger]

check here, they can help.
http://www.mx6.com/forums/