DaveT

You have to remove the timing belt covers and belts to get at the pump. Unless you know how many miles are on them, and they are not close to the change interval, change them and the idlers. Change all the small coolant system hoses while your at it. Be sure to check the height of the pulley mount from the block side of the new vs old pump before installing it. There were 2 slightly different heights, and if you pt the wrong one on, it's not good. Unless you know there is anti seize was used when the existing pump was installed, get the car up to operating temperature BEFORE trying to unscrew the 5 bolts that mount it. 2 of them are under the timing belt cover, so get everything else loose first. The hot engine will make removing the old bolts a lot easier, with less risk of snapping one off. Alternative, use a heat gun and space heater to get the engine up to 180 or so.

You might consider headgaskets also, unless they were done already.

Lifter tick, o tings mentioned above, and or oil pump needs new seal and o rings. Going to EA82 or EJ22 is probably about the same amount of work. You get more power, more reliably with the EJ22.

Were the timing belts replaced? Was it resealed? If no to those, plan on doing them. Check the exhaust system while looking it over. Same with cooling system - Original hoses? they need to be replaced - all 7 of them. The OEM clamps are a possible giveaway clue - they are wire with a screw to tighten them, not the common stainless steel strap type. Original radiator with plastic tanks? Check that the fine fins between the tubes are all still attached to the tubes. What is the warranty? You are nearly always going to pay more from a dealer. The best way to get an idea of fair price in your area is others in your area. In my area, these are rare cars, in that kind of condition especially. I've had guys come out of parts stores to look at mine, remembering them, "wow, I had one of those years ago" kind of thing, totally amazed at the rust free condition. If they are common where you are, look on Craig's list, and newspaper classified adds. They are almost never for sale here, or really beat.

If it's perfect, and you don't have time to shop, maybe 3K to 4K is ok. I didn't shop a lot when I found the one I bought, but finding them around here is rare. It would have taken a LONG time [which I don't have] to shop long distance via Craig's list or the like. I posted on the for sale / wanted forum here, and got lucky. My #1 criteria was rust free, and the one that someone pointed out was still available. I ended up having to do a reseal sooner than expected, since it had a cooling system problem that lead to blown head gaskets, before I got it. In my book that beats fixing rust any day. I wasn't seeing any on ebay at the time either. They are rare, but also, how many people are looking for them? I'm not a great negotiator. If you have time, maybe offer a low number. If they don't take it, and it's still there in a week, offer $500 more. repeat until they bite. Of course, the risk is someone else may buy it. To really know what is a fair price in the area, you have to do a lot of research. I've done this on a smaller scale on ebay, on some items I was looking for. There were always a few up at any given time. Watched what they sold for on average. Adjusted my bids, and eventually got one for around the average price, without screwing around with sniping, etc. But it took a while. But I got to know how much time it took to save 5 or 10%. And then realized I was wasting too much time to save too little money. A car is a big enough thing to save real money, so worth some time to go through the process, but it's tricky when there are not a lot of the model around.

+1 what Tom wrote.

Any number of wires in the engine harness could have an intermittent break. I am most familiar with EA82 systems, so not much more specific can I get.

5 years is normal end of life for flooded cell lead acid batteries, when used under ideal conditions. A 20 minute drive is nowhere near enough to fully charge a depleted battery.

That doesn't sound like any I have. No levers, only buttons.

I bought a rust free one from a guy across the country last year. About 3k plus 1k for shipping. I'm in the northeast, so cars rust away. These cars have thier quirks. Read read read this forum. But they can be run reliably for long stretches also. 88k miles is nothing to me. First things to check or replace is timing belts and cooling system. It's common to expect to do a reseal on the engine, from the headgaskets up. It's mostly age related.

Oh, yes. I had a timing belt wrap itself around it's crank pully. It was stuck pretty good. But the metal in the pan still isn't good. I definitely want to know what you find inside.

The stiff shifting when cold might be fixed by using Amsoil synthetic gear lube in the transmission. It worked in my 1976 and 1978 wagons. Huge difference.

Yes, the tap drill size is slightly bigger than the stripped out hole.

So strange... if you lost oil pressure, it would have been noisy - the lifter ticking would have been obvious.

Oh, wow. That sucks.

It is supposed to be making something more like 25psi. Running at all on 2 is pretty good. A blown headgasket bad enough to cause loss of power would likely be making quite a smoke show - just guessing, because I have never had one that blown.

They do make Helicoils for the size of those bolts. They are 6mm, but I don't remember the pitch.

The "flat washer" is a spring washer, it isn't flat. The concave side goes against the cone washer. To avoid the problems at the beginning of this very old thread, make sure the nut is tight. Re check it a few drives later, also.

A seal couldn't stop the engine. A bearing seize up could, but I've never heard of a bearing seizing without loosing oil or overheat. And it wouldn't have cranked immediately after it quit.

..

I miss read when I wrote my reply. Had to rethink. Sounds like the threads are totally stripped out. If it's an EA82. A tap should fit in the space. But you have to use a wrench to turn it, not a typical tap handle. The drill is the problem. Only thing I can think of is a small right angle drill / adapter, with a very short bit.

Well, with the distributor side belt off, it won't start. The other side, it might run really crappy. I don't know why it would be frozen, without a bunch of other typical severe overheat symptoms.

88 should be spfi, no choke. Unless there is a variation I don't know about... The coolant temp sensor can cause weird random idle variations intermittently. Without causing the ECU to show a code.

They tend to wear that way with stock also. I saw a thread on here a while back were someone modded the suspension to mitigate the uneven wear.

I first did that solenoid mod around 1990. I am still using the SAME solenoids in the EA82s I have now.