Hey first time long time....

So a few weeks ago I was driving my 244 down the highway when the engine cut out and refused to re-start. I replaced the fuel pressure regulator, fuel pump relay, and fuel filter and still get no start.

Funny thing though, when I replaced (what I thought was) the fuel injector relay my parking lights came on and stayed on until I changed the relay back to the old one.

Has anyone ever had that happen before?

I'm going to check the MAF and do some voltage tests tonight, just curious about that relay though.

 

Check the Hall Effect Sensor in the distributor, I believe the '89 still has that... Or, the Crankshaft Position Sensor and associated wiring: your car has either. The Hall is in the distributor, the CPS is attached to and sits on top of the bell housing behind the engine.
Go easy on the parts swapping.

 

an engine requires fuel, spark, and has to be mechanically working properly.

was there a specific reason you replaced all fuel system parts?

one mechanical thing that stops a 240 cold is a broken timing belt. a compression test would show this in a hurry (at least 2 cylinders likely would read zero compression since their valves are not closing)

if it IS an electrical sort of problem with the fuel or ignition system, its possible there's a code or 3 stores in the ODB-I diagnostic system (your 89 is the first year for LH2.4 injection, which has this onboard diagnostic). These require nothing to read but following hte procedure and counting blink codes on the built-in diagnostic module under the hood. See Engine and OBD Diagnostic Codes for the details on how to read this (you want to perform "DTM 1" on both the injection (pin 6) and ignition (pin 2) subsystems). if you get codes 1-1-1 on each side, then this at least says both the ICU and ECU are 'alive' (they both have microprocessors embedded in them), and they haven't detected any abnormality they can signal.

re: the MAF, ignition switch off, and unplug it entirely, then try starting... the car should run, poorly, without a MAF (and it will throw a ECU OBD code, heh). if it does start, that could be a clue that the MAF is bad.

Warning, budget rebuilt MAF's are notoriously flaky. You can use the -016 MAF (thats the last 3 digits of the Bosch PN) from any 1989+ Bosch LH2.4 equipped 240/740/940 including Turbo's after 1990. If at all possible, I'd suggest swapping MAFs' with a working compatible car rather than just buying expensive parts.

 

1989 is the first year for LH2.4, so no hall sensor.

if you have spark, your CPS (crank position sensor) is working. pull a spark plug, plug it back into its wire, hold the metal side of the plug firmly against a good ground with insulated pliers or gloves, and have a friend crank the car, you should see a strong hot blue spark every second or two (2 full turns of the motor per spark). the plug ideally is medium grey. if you've done some test cranks before pulling the plug, it would be wet if you're getting fuel injected. I'd probably pull all 4 plugs and compare to see if 1 or more are funky.

but, first, do that compression test (oh yeah, that requires removing the plugs too, hah!)

 

thanks for the quick advice.

the car had been running rich which is why I replaced the regulator. I actually had that ordered the day before it stopped working.