Ok, so forewarning, this is going to be long (kinda what she said). Going to give all of the details I can to try to get some better results on where to look next. . .

Bought a 98 Sport on saturday that had been sitting for 8 months. Owner said it started overheating and he turned if off and didn't have time to get to it. Upon getting it home, I installed a new thermostat to see how it would run. However, it wouldn't start. Being an older vehicle and new to me, and because of not starting, I wanted to tune it up and change out:

Spark Plugs
Plug Wires
Cap & Rotor
Air Filter
Changed the Oil
New fuel pump relay
New fuel pump assembly (Bosch Actual MFG)
New CPS (NAPA, as I heard the auto zone ones were junk)

So tonight, got the tank back in, and nothing, still won't start. Google searched and found a thread about the CPS diagnosis on sunday. In reply:
None of the gauges work, only odometer (CPS thread referenced the Volt and Fuel Gauge)
Will crank all day long, won't fire
When I turn the key over, I still don't hear the fuel pump priming

I checked all of the fuses, they are all good. Checked all of the connections. The 3 in the engine bay look great, no corrosion. Under the dash, all of the connections look good, no corrosion. All of the ground wires look good, no corrosion around them.

Anybody have an idea of where to look next?

 

Fuel filter?

Have you got fuel at the rail and good spark?

Remember... Fuel, air, spark.

 

Check for spark and verify you have proper fuel pressure at the fuel real using a fuel pressure gauge.

 

I'm familiar. It's getting Air and spark. Went out to check for fuel at the rail when cranking, but the battery died. Guess I'll have to get back to it tomorrow

 

Check your compression, friend of mine overheated his vehicle and it would crank all day and not start. Once I put some oil into the cylinders via removing the spark plugs it fired up after about 20 seconds of cranking. Had a cracked head and blowen head gasket though.

 

I don't mind changing the head if it's bad. Just want to find out why it's not starting. I'll try the adding some oil ad do a compression test

 

You should hear the pump run, only a couple of seconds when you first turn on the ign. After that's been done (a few times), or after cranking, it should spurt out a little fuel from the schrader valve, (pressure test port), on the fuel rail, when you depress the little thingy with a key or something. (into the rag you are holding there. It's like a tire valve. That's no substitute for a fuel pressure test, but if there is nothing, there is no fuel pressure to test anyway!

Try starting fluid?

 

^^This^^
our 98 should have 49psi +or- 5psi at the fuel rail with a mechanical pressure gauge.

 

Above, are you saying your gauges are inop? If the CPS (or CPS circuit) is bad and the engine won't start, try unplugging the CPS, key to RUN, and see if the gauges come back to life. If they do, the CPS is bad, or the CPS circuit is corrupted.

 

Already tried it. Even unplugged, the gauges are still inop.

 

Update.. . after troubleshooting, I replaced the ECM. Once the new one was in, it fired right up