1998 engine taking a while to start despite new fuel pump

[93_Clubman]

There was a similar issue with the 1989 NA6 (1.6 motor) which was eventually identified in the very early '90s, however it didn't involve an imobilizer, but did cause the slightly delayed start. Over the period of about a year Mazda tried replacing my ECU, O2 sensor etc & eventually fixed it, but all they could tell me was that it wasn't the ECU or O2 sensor, but was fixed as a result of a Technical Service Bulletin in 1991 that eventually identified the problem more widely. Btw, it took the dispatch of Mazda Australia Technicians to my local Mazda dealer to implement the fix.

While there's 9 years difference, 1.8 versus 1.6 motor, & a bunch of other different stuff, it might be worth having a look at the Tech Bulletin or advising Mazda same to see if it could possibly be the same problem. From the following link it would appear to have been the EGI Control Unit that was the problem back then (scroll down to April 1991):
http://www.tsbdata.com/tsb/1991-mazda-m ... -dohc.html

Here's some more info:
search.php?keywords=egi&terms=all&author=&sc=1&sf=all&sk=t&sd=d&sr=posts&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search