1997 Mazda protégé purchased about a month ago from a Private Owner. I was told he has around 88,000 miles. But I cannot be positive on that because of the electrical issue. I’m dealing with and at this point I do not believe the person in any way. I have tried to contact them to see if they could tell me anything else about the car or it’s history and I’m not getting any response. So here’s what I’m facing.

I was told it only needed a battery and a fuel pump. I put those in and then when I went to try to start it, I have no current to anything. There are no door chimes, dash lights, key chime, and the starter doesn’t even click.

I have put in the fuel pump, starter, battery, terminals, everything looks good under the hood. The wire harness seems to be intact and in original condition. Everything is clean under the hood. All of the fluids look brand new. They're not cloudy or dirty in anyway. The overall condition of the car seems to be in great shape. There’s no rust, no dents, no damage from an accident. The interior is not ripped or stained up. There’s no cracks in the dash there’s and no broken windows. It seems that the car was taken care of. I did look the car over before buying it. I know the appearance is not something you would go by for purchasing a car. Mechanically it appeared to be in great shape. I do know the gentleman I bought the car from, not real well. Enough to think that he wouldn’t of done me wrong. I could be mistaken. He had asked $900 for the car and I talked him down to $650.When he brought me the car, I gave him $250 and told him I’d give him the difference once I got the car running. I have tried to contact him and ask him a little bit about the history of the car, where he got it from, what he knew about it, and I have not been able to get a hold of him.

I forgot to mention, I have put all new fuses under the hood and in the car fuse box. I also replaced the main fuse and main relay under the hood. I purchased everything new, I did not take something from another car and use it. I don’t do that if I don’t have to. I’ve been doing my own mechanic work for the last 40 years. I just get aggravated with electrical issues on these new computerized systems. There’s so many different things it could be. I have not checked to see if the ground wires are secure or not. I’ve never had to deal with those, so I’m not really sure what to look for.

I was going to order an ignition switch for it tomorrow, Thinking, maybe I could be that. I will also check the neutral switch on the transmission to see if that might’ve gotten tripped somehow or the emergency shut off. I don’t see how that would kill all power though. It usually only kills the fuel delivery in case of any accident.

I bought the car in sort of a hurry, and I have no one to blame but myself if I got stuck with a lemon. My car motor blew up in February. I needed something quick and I knew this guy that I bought the car from. I thought it would be easy quick fix battery and fuel pump and I’d be on the road. I wasn’t that lycky.

I work for myself as a contractor and my vehicle I need for work. It has been 10 months and I’m still here with no vehicle and have not worked since February. I cannot go on like this any longer. I couldn’t afford much for a new vehicle. This car was in my price range. My work is seasonal and February is a very dead month for my kind of work. I’ve gone through my savings. I cannot go another 30 days without a car. I have to get back to work before the slow season starts again. I’m gonna lose my home if I don’t. My funds are very limited as to what I can fix on the car. So if there’s anything that you can help me with or tell me what to look for, I would be very appreciative. If I hadn’t spent all my savings in the PT cruiser prior to buying this car, I probably would be OK. I had had that car for so long, I put alot of money into trying to fix it. I even bought a second one, so I can take the two cars and make one good one. In the end, and a couple thousand dollars later, it just didn’t work out.

Please help or should I just get 5 gallons of diesel and have a bonfire.