86 DX backfires thru carburetor, no start

[touring 1]

Wonderful site, first time poster. Got a puzzling problem since it is decades since I worked on a carb car. Shoulda held out for a LXi. It's my commuter.
Got weaker and weaker idle, till now it won't start. Pump throttel furiously, it sputters, tries to catch, the spits up thru the carb.

d/c'd fuel line to carb, aimed it into bucket. key on, no fuel flow. Crank motor, fuel pulses out strongly. simply leaving key on per manual, no fuel flow.
Manual says topull fuel cutoff relay, and put a jumper in slots 1&2. Problem is I can't find relay to really test the key on fuel flow.
It's my POS commuter box that I've become attached to, so I don't want to give up yet, nor spene a lot of coin.
I have looked at a lot of the carb helps on this great site. Probly missed the key one.
Thanks for any help.

[A20A1]

the fuel cut off relay is one of two things... there is a box like relay attatched to the rear or front of the fuse pannel inside the car under the steering wheel (left side).

there is also a cutoff solenoid at the rear of the carburetor which has only one wire on it.

I would check for your ignition timing being right as well as your valve timing and valve lash... may want to double check the timing belt and camgear crank TDC allignment.
http://www.3geez.com/showthread.php?t=39319

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[POS carb]

the car will stop pumping if the engine is not running, most likely the carb is junk, get another at the u-pull-it for $30

[FyreDaug]

Or you could rebuild yoursa, but for a cheap fix get a junked carb. Chances are thats your problem. You got 2 votes for it now.

[touring 1]

OK, I'm off to budget auto recking in Seattle tomorrow after work. I was dreading buying a carb, but if that's the ticket and for cheap,I'm 4 it. Thanks, fellas. Will keep pursuing the fuel pump, since i kjust learned from the board where the cutoff relay is. DOH! I never thought to look on the underside of the fuse block. other posts of immense help here.

[touring 1]

well, thanks to the guy who scanned and posted the service manual, I was able to figure out how to dismount the fusepanel, find the fuel cutoff relay, do the jumper wire, and NO FUEL!! .so, now I;'m pretty confident it is the fuel pump. and it behaved like somebody else said, it was inconsistent, then quit altogether. so off to the pick and pull tomorrow.

[shepherd79]

i would really suggest you to recheck the timing belt. make sure it didn't slip a tooth, and make sure you have your spark plug wires connected in right order.