I don't know how much I have to offer, but, here are few points.
- To check to see if the fuel pump is running, turn the key to on but do not start the car. You should hear some whining in the back of the car. Have someone listen if you wish, the pump should be on the passenger side. If you hear nothing at all, your fuel pump is not operating. This could be a few reasons - broken or disconnected wire, bad fuel pump relay, or bad computer. I would *not* suggest just changing the computer because it is most likely not the case. I've only seen *one* occurance of a bad computer.
- If you truly had a short somewhere, you would blow a fuse or drain your battery so fast that the car would not crank whatsoever. There would be no lights anywhere and no sign of life if there was a short with no blown fuse.
- 0.00 on a continuity check means that there is continuity from where you are measuring from and to. It could also, depending on your multimeter, be caused by reading a circuit that is live. 0.00 does mean a short from where you are measuring from and to, but what two points are you checking? If you are checking a wire to ground (car body), that wire might supposed to be a ground. If you are checking a wire from its origin to its destination and get 0.00 then your wire goes where it is supposed to go. Always check continuity on dead circuits... disconnect the negative cable. Much less chance of false readings, and more importantly, injury.
- You say the car won't start. Does it at least crank? Sputter while trying to strart? Anything? An engine requires three things to run - air, fuel, and spark. To die that suddenly does lead me to believe it's electrical, as even with a fuel pump dropout there's typically at least a little sputtering while dying. Not saying it can't be that though either.
What would I do first? Check the little things... like gas in the tank (hey, it could happen), battery cables connected and tight, and all main fuses. If a main fuse dies the car could die abruptly. If there is one blown, research the cause of the failure first. A fuse doesn't blow out for no reason, something shorted out. Check fuel pressure... there should be a schrader valve or some sort of check area on the fuel rails that will allow you to see if you do in fact have fuel pressure somewhere. After these simple checks, I'd have the computer codescanned to see what it's thinking. It knows it isn't running, and it might provide a clue as to why.
Hope some of that helps.
JS