1987 B2000 wont start.

I just recently bought a 1987 B2000. The truck ran when I bought it but it would be hard to start and would die as I'm driving. The guy I bought it from said it just needed a new fuel pump. Changed the fuel pump and problem still exists. Now the truck won't start. Any help would be worth it. New to the Mazda scene.

The stock carburetor on these trucks can cause all kinds of running issues when they are worn out and/or not working properly.

Are you in a area where they do emission checks on this old of a vehicle? If so, then you may have to stick with a stock carb........if not, I would install a new Weber carb on the truck.......IF......the problem is indeed the stock carb.

Your symptoms you describe could be caused by many different things, but the stock carb is probably the most common culprit when it comes to driveability issues.

Do you have any pictures that you can post of the engine compartment?

And where are you located? There are members on here from all over the US & Canada......even outside the US........if your near another member, some of us would be willing to help you out in person.

I'm located in Abilene, TX. We don't have emissions here. Anything specific on the engine bay for pics?

If you can pull the air cleaner and take a few pics of the carb and it's 1000 vacuum hoses, we might be able to see if some of them are connected wrong, or disconnected.

The passenger inner fender area would help also......lots of hoses & wires there. A lot of times, previous owners will tinker with these carbs and their vacuum hoses and actually make things worse........not saying we can fix it, but it just might help if we see something that is out of place or connected wrong.

Welcome to the forum also!

This is what I got. It's getting dark and I can get some better pictures in the morning.
Thank you for the welcome.

Have you tested your ignition coil?

Ignition coil has a strong arc.

Actually, I meant remove the whole air cleaner.......so you can see if all of the vacuum hoses are where they should be......and connected. It's just too hard to tell if all those hoses are connected with the air cleaner in the way. Be careful when removing the two 10mm nuts inside the throat of the carb......you don't want to drop them into the carb.

Actually, the first thing to check when a vehicle won't start is: make sure that the engine is spinning at a decent rate (can tell by listening or watching).

A second thing might be to pull the distributor cap off and ensure that the distributor rotor actually turns when the engine is cranked, to check on whether the timing belt is intact.

After that, the most important thing is to determine whether the issue is spark-related or fuel-related. Put the distributor cap back on. Spray some aerosol starting fluid (safer than using gasoline) into the carb air intake, floor the pedal, crank and try to start. If it runs or runs a few seconds - do the test several times - then the issue is fuel related.

If it never starts doing this, then issue is spark related.

Compression, fuel, and spark at the correct timing are the keys to starting an engine. The test above will isolate whether fuel or spark, and then you can logically troubleshoot, such as with a spark checker or test with spark wire if it's spark-related issue.

Is yours 5-speed with the mechanical fuel pump? If so, that's under that air cleaner assembly on passenger side; and so is the fuel filter, which could be clogged, like from rust from the tank, don't overlook that filter.

Sorry I forgot to post. I figured out why but wouldn't start. The new mechanical fuel pump broke. Therefore no fuel. Replaced it and now she runs. I also figured out why the truck dies sometimes as well. Where the key inserts in the ignition is a little loose. But other than that, the motor runs extremely well with no problems. The carb could use a rebuild. But gonna take some money away from the 240 project and get a Weber carb.