need help with starting

when i try to start my truck after its been sittn for awhile it takes a few cranks to start and stay running and sometimes when i put it in drive/reverse it stalls. i have brought it to a garage after getting fed up with tryin to find and fix the problem. they told me the coolant temp sensor was bad so i bought and put in a new one. its still doin the same thing. what could it be? timing? idle speed?

HEEEELLLPPP!

These old trucks are notoriously cold natured and hard to start.Make sure u have good plugs,wires and dist cap/rotor button.Timing should be set a 6 degrees BTDC.When u r ready to start,turn switch on and depress accel. about 1/2 way down.This sets choke (if ur choke is working).Truck should start and rev to about 1500-1800 rpm (and sound like hail on a tin roof-lol).Let truck warm up until temp needle starts to move up and it should run ok after that.One other thing-Mazdas have a 2 stage thermostat.Stage one opens at 160 degrees,stage two at 180 degrees.If u dont have the correct thermo,truck will take longer to warm up and cabin heat will be weak. BJ

what he said is good info but also there is 2 coolant temp sensor one has a copper nipple the other has a green plug. If you changed out the one with the copper nipple then that is just for the gauge. the green one is for the (if you wont to call it one) computer

Right on about the "computer".About all they compute is fuel /air mix and not much else. BJ

so what do u figure? check the green sensor? or could it be timing/idle speed like i said before?

As above,timing should be 6%BTDC.Idle speed when warm should be 750-850RPM.Before u spend any more $,check timing and idle speed and then follow start up procedure as outlined above and see what happens.Let us know if it still doesnt start right and we will go to plan B.BJ

iight thats what i will do. i like the part about no spending money