thx oldeng! ill have to try that.

so i dropped by the garage and checked/cleaned off all ground terminals, checked all my fuses and pulled out/replaced my spark plugs. they were black/sooty... but i believe those must of been the ones that came with the replacement engine. i still had the ones i bought last year which were light/tan so i switched em out.
i tried again to start the engine but same thing... crank and not catch.

there is something else... i found out that while they dropped in the replacement engine, they broke the nipple which connected a hose to a sensor top left of engine. (please refer to picture) it has a green connector on it.
they had super glued it back on and used some blue sealant to seal it up. i noticed today that the seal had broken near the back...when? i dont know. does anyone know what that sensor is and could it possibly be the culprit for my "no start" issue?

btw: that is not my engine bay



thx again for your replies.

 

Don't know; looks like an intake manifold vacuum pickoff they broke; make them fix it properly or replace whatever it broke off of. You'd better watch it too. The foul condition of those plugs could be because they loaded the cylinders with oil to make the compression look good.

 

thx again for the heads up and swift response!

so this is where i'm at... last couple of things im going to try. head to the junk and pick up a replacement sensor for whatever it was they broke. siphon out the possible "contaminated" fuel in the tank and fill up with new gas with a "new" jerry can! lol.
also get my battery tested and fully charged, replaced if neccesary.

if those fail, i'm afraid i'll just have to get my baby towed to mazda and get a diagnostic done. i tried to rent a code reader yesterday... but can't find a place that rents them. auto value does free readings but req's my vehicle to be there and they say they might not even be able to retrieve a code without the vehicle running.

i guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

it might be a couple of weeks before i have any new results... but i will definately keep all of you posted! thx again!

"even after the worst of storms... the sun is bound to shine!" =)

have a great weekend!