More 86 5KCS Sudden Death

[Steve Sherman]

Thanks to all for the suggestions...

Good news is the timing belt is fine with good compression all around,
so no bent valves.  Although there is a small leak from the water pump,
so that will need to be replaced. It does seem (fortunately) that the
leaky water pump was coincidental with some other problem(s) that are
keeping the engine from starting/running.  However more immediate things
first, figuring out why the thing does not start/run...

The engine does not start (typically), but will start and run if I feed
it starting ether... so looks like a  fuel problem/vacuum leak.  I have
gone thru all the hoses and think I can eliminate the vacuum leak
possibility.  But while I had the air filter out I did notice something
funny:

The air mass sensor plate was very hard to move, in fact it felt like it
had a spring pushing it back down with 4-8oz of force.  If I bled the
fuel pressure (loosen the banjo at the fuel filter) then this downward
pressure went away, and the air mass plate was free to move up and down
(although it did seem like the plunger would not follow it down right
away?).  I tried starting the car (with air intake hoses off) and
manually pushing the air mass sensor up while the throttle plate was
worked.  That seemed to help but did not get to a working/running
engine.

My question for those who are more familiar with the CIS system is, what
does this mean?  Is the fuel distrib gone?  Is the Control pressure
regulator gone?  Is the fuel pump supposed to be self regulating
pressure-wise?

Is there anything else I can so without the Shop pressure test
equipment, or is it take it to the shop time?

TIA