DaveT

A mightyvac hand powered test vacuum pump will help trace this type of problem.

It's roughly 30 years old. You have to find a mechanic at a shop that is likely over 45 plus to have experience working on them when they were new. About 10 years ago, they were pretty much gone from my area, I doubt there are many around here that would know how to deal with the systems that old, except odd specialty guys, and a few of us nuts on forums.

I had one car develop a horrible thunk and jerk while moving forward while engine breaking - fine if accelerating. Turned out to be a destroyed bearing on the differential input shaft.

BAd clanking - tied to engine RPM or ground speed? Either way, clanking isn't usually tied to blown head gaskets. If it overheated badly, especially if low on coolant, the head gaskets are likely blown.

+1 Gloyale

The blower speed most likely is the resistor pack has broken. It is mounted in the outlet of the blower housing for cooling. Has a connector with 4 wires.

I was thinking that - If you go electric fan, it would be wise to do the alternator upgrade. Hard to say why it ended up with 2 different pumps / pulleys. All kinds of unforeseen things come up and time / what's available / what costs less to fix the problem / shortage / error on the fly when things are already in production often cost and or time to market is #1 priority, not what happens 5 years later when repairs start to become more common.

An 88 should be 1.8L. SPFI - check the CTS - coolant temperature sensor. It is a 2 wire sensor on the housing the thermostat mounts in. The 1 wire temp gauge sensor is near it. It can be bad in ways that will not cause a CEL / code. And it can cause all sorts of starting / driveabilty issues depending on the failure mode.

sounds like not getting spark. pull the center wire off the distributor, place / arrange it so the contact on the wire is close to grounded metal, not near fuel. like 1/16 to 1/8 inch. Make sure it can't move, don't hold it. Have someone crank the engine while you watch for spark.

I've not dissasembled one, haven't had a reason yet... But from lots of electronics background, I'd think there would be an emitter on one side and a detector on the other of the interrupter disc.

Factory service manual has everything you need. There might be links around, I don't know. Once in a while they show up for sale

give it a 1-2 second shot of carb cleaner in the throat. Then crank with gas part way down, like 1/3 throttle.

The best way to provide a return path for the starting current would be a thick wire equal to the + one to one of the starter mounting bolts. Make sure the connections are clean, and the crimps are clean. A little grease smeared on them will keep them clean for years.

I'm not 100% familiar with the ea81. But if the only wore on the negative of the battery is small, like number 10awg, that is not correct. There needs to be a thick one like the one that goes from the positive to the starter.

Iirc I had a car do something like that once. Turned out to be the driveshaft. U joints were shot. Because it spins fast, a little extra stiffness or slop can make it off balance, and go in and out of resonance in a narrow speed range.

That thin wire to the body should not be carrying current for the starter. There should be a heavy wire to the starter mounting bolt from the negative. Look for a bad connection.

4wd vs 2WD might be different. Carb vs spfi is probably different as far as the ports.

A carb fuel pump won't make enough pressure to tun a SPFI. Carbs take 5 to 10psi roughly. SPFI requires over 20psi.

A pressure gauge would be more informative regarding the fuel pressure and supply rate. The cts can cause trouble with cold running, among other things.

The outer race should be pressed in until it hits a stop. The special nut should keep it from moving towards the diff. If that out race that is in there now had hammering like that going on during dissasebly, I would not trust it to last long. Never hammer on bearing components that you intend to use. As much as it sucks, I don't know any way to figure out what's wrong short of dissasembly so that parts can be measured, checked, compared.

Gloyale could be on to something there.

Yes, the retaining nut that requires a special tool is the only way to get the bearing out. The outer races are one piece of steel. The inners are 2 separate races and cages with rollers. The pictures and description on my website are how I did it. Maybe something will help on my site: http://www.dynahoedave.co.nf/rearwheelbearing.html

Something must not be correct. ... it should take less than 150 to get it pulled into place.

Also give it a few turns. Usually you can feel a bearing that's starting to go bad, but it will be masked by the pump and oil. Idlers are easy to tell. I've driven a number of these past 200k miles, have yet to have a power steering pump fail. I should go check the bearings. Close to 30 years and over 150k, the ones I'm running now don't owe me anything.

Sounds good on both deals. With these old models, it makes sense to gather parts, since many are no longer available, and not many left in scrap yards.