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At 35 years old and 250,000 miles, I know there will always be something on my 87 DL wagon that needs some attention but it sure gets old fixing the new stuff I just installed. I don't mind repairing old, worn out parts but it is so irritating when new parts fail after only a few months. I went through at least 3 electric fuel pumps before I found one that was reliable. Now this week it was my 4 month old plastic/aluminum radiator that puked its guts. It cooled better than the very old, leaky brass radiator that came with the car so I was happy I changed it out. Unfortunately, the compression seal on the passenger side tank let go and it opened up a seam about 5'' long and dumped plenty of antifreeze down my driveway. It wasn't an over-pressure issue as the relief cap was new and also tested properly on the bench. I suspect that the rubber seal is low quality and it slowly squeezed out of the joint over time. It could also be that the compression seal was not up to snuff. I ended up repairing the old brass radiator that came with the car and so far, so good. It had 3 small tank leaks that I was able to silver-solder. It passed an overnight pressure test at 15 PSI. The winter season here should be no challenge for any radiator but we'll see in the summer how it does(if it makes it that far). The aftermarket radiator did seem much better at running cooler. My other repair this week was the driver's window crank. I recently became that guy at the drive-through who has to open the door to order and pick up food. I suddenly could not get the window up or down and the crank handle was now at a suspicious angle. That kind of failure is not unexpected with old cars. I was able to remove the window regulator assembly and repair the bushing on the back side of the crank housing with a small steel bushing cap I turned out on the lathe. I was not able to crank the window at all because the coiled spring hidden inside the crank (which helps holds the window in the desired position) had slipped and become wedged tightly between the housing and the crank. I got it all repaired, cleaned, greased and back together late last night. I'll bet the window mechanism hasn't work that well in many years. I'm back to daily driving it to work so we'll see how long until the next adventure begins.

Yards are the best, if you have ones you can walk through. I know it's winter up there so not the best time. www.car-part.com is a good source as well. The rear wiper arm is pretty standard. I have several if you need one. Larry

maybe the hose from the IACV is trying to come loose. at that mileage, throttle position sensor could have a 'dead spot' I guess.

Got the tank back last week and it’s a bit more weighted now with this coating. Looks sturdy and bulletproof. They leave a black coating externally which I’m just going to leave alone. One of these days I’ll get around to posting pics.

I apologize for taking so long to update this thread. I took it back to the dealership that did the original work and asked them to look at it. They found a pinched wire in the harness to the oxygen sensor. They repaired it, and I was not charged. The check engine light has not come back since then. Thank you all for your help. Doug