Fairtax4me

Not sure what you need a ground for but any metal part of the dash will do. The closer it is to the component being grounded, the better.Not sure about the latch issue.

Next model year vehicles often start being built in May or June. Generally they don't release until August or September, but they can release the next model year as soon as January 1st of the previous year. (Release a 2010 model on Jan. 1, 2009) Low fuel pressure comes to mind. But check all the simple stuff first. Vacuum hoses, and all of the hoses that attach to the intake tube. Make sure the plug wires are all fully seated (clicked). Double check any wire harness connectors you had undone to do the engine work. X2 on checking timing. The tensioners on those engines are known to fail if they're re-used. Timing could have jumped.

Haynes manuals are kinda useless for this kind of thing. Right, just like the OPs problem, yours is probably the shift lock solenoid (that's the FSM term for it). It's in the center console by the shifter mechanism, and it should click along with the key lock solenoid in the dash when you hit the brake pedal. (Key lock solenoid prevents the key from being turned off and removed while the shifter is in any position except park) The console is really easy to pull up. Remove the two screws under the lid of the arm rest and pull the rear section up then pull the front section up. It helps to move the shifter to the D position so you have room to rotate it to slide it over the shift lever. Shift lock solenoid should be visible, but if not turn the key ON and hit the brake pedal a bunch of times until it starts clicking and you'll be able to find it.

If you get a timing kit from Mizumo order a kit with an Aisin water pump and it will come with a factory style rubber coated metal gasket. If there is any roughness to the water pump sealing surface on the block use 2000 grit sand paper to smooth it out and you will have no problems with sealing. Junkyard timing covers will all be just as broken. I've resorted to zip ties to hold them on if I put them back at all. That sucks they charge you $100 if you don't title a car within 30 days! Ridiculous some of the laws they have there just to make money! I have family in Great Falls who have tried to convince me to move there (almost did this past summer), but I just don't think I could deal with Northern Va on a daily basis.

Good to hear you got it working. Only have to get a small amount of sticky drink behind ONE of the buttons and the rest will not work. If one button stays stuck on the mode will not change.

Carb cleaner works but I dont like it because it usually leaves an oily residue behind which can damage the rubber hoses, and it doesn't dry quickly so its kind of a fire hazard. I use Throttle body cleaner even though it costs a bit more. It dries almost instantly, doesn't hurt the hoses, and leaves no residue. If you find a leak engine rpm will drop, If its a big enough leak it may even stall. Then when you get done looking for vacuum leaks you can use the TB cleaner to spray out the TB and IAC.

Not sure what you mean by pressure exchange solenoid. There is a pressure source switching solenoid on the passenger strut tower. And the Evap purge solenoid under the #3 intake runner. The line with the filter is supposed to go to the switching solenoid, which has a small line that then goes to the MAP sensor right next to it.

These heads are so short they almost never warp. Unless they're pitted and corroded around the water jackets or the aluminum is blown out under the fire ring there's no point in taking these to a machine shop. I clean them off, scrape away the big stuff, then go over it with 2000 grit sand paper. Head gaskets for that engine are $20-$25 a side, intake and exhaust gaskets are another $20. If they come apart clean they can be reused. Valve cover gaskets I've reused multiple times. If they're old then its a good time to replace them but they're cheap, like $20. Timing kit with cam and crank seals, water pump, and all the idlers is $125 for that engine. A little over $200 and that engine is running again. But if you're just gonna swap the engine out later anyway, skip the timing belt stuff and save the $125.

Only 3 places these can leak and not be considered fixable. The steering shaft seal, and the rack end seals (one on each side). And the shaft seal is actually replaceable, just not "easily". Being that new there's no way the end seals are bad unless someone has just dogged the crap out of that car. Only time the end seals go bad is when the boots on the ends split and let a bunch of dirt and rocks in the rack and damage the seals. I would expect this to be a bad o-ring on one of the line fittings (common) or the fitting is just loose. Find out who diagnosed it as a bad rack.

What kind of bulbs are you using? I know Sylvania Silverstar bulbs are prone to burning out. I've never had trouble with any of the standard bulbs. (GE, Sylvania, etc) Does the glass break or is it just the filament that's burning out? Water in the headlamp housing will cause the glass to shatter. So will touching the glass with your fingers. If the filaments are just burning out that could mean you have a charging system or voltage issue.

Not sure I would bother with it as they don't generally leak. But they're only like $4 at the dealer so if you do anything with it just replace it. Trying to reseat it may damage it and make it leak.

I wouldn't even bother honestly. Takes a lot of effort to get the suspension to bottom out completely. Those little bits of foam aren't going to hurt anything.

What year engine and trans? Doesn't sound like a typical issue, but there are some things you could try. If it hasn't had spark plugs and wires recently that's always a good place to start. Check around for any vacuum leaks, check all of the hoses for cracks splits and loose fitting. A radiator for these cars is usually less than $100. Stop leak just clogs up the rest of the system and may not actually fix the leak. Make sure its not just the hose leaking. (Clamp loose)

Gary made a typo here. Pretty sure he meant to say '95 EJ22. X2 on the rest. Easy to do head gaskets on the EJ22. I don't see where dropping in a used engine is any advantage in this case.

The switch is on the side of the trans and is actuated by the reverse check mechanism in the trans. Power flow goes Fuse, switch, lights, so you need to tap into the wiring between the switch and lights. The wire for the back-up lights runs down the passenger rocker panel. 24 pin connector B99 in the kick panel (either transparent or white) pin 10 should be Brown&Yellow. With the lock tab on top, pin 10 is second in from the right. I would tap in there. Extend the wire to join there if you need to.

So it runs well under heavy throttle, but hesitates or misfires under light throttle? No CEL? Does the bulb work? First thing I would check is any vacuum hoses, and the large hoses that attach to the intake tube. If any of those are loose or split it allows air into the intake behind the MAF sensor which will not be metered, and will cause the fuel mixture to be lean. What kind of spark plugs were put in? How old are the wires? If the wires are old get new. Don't get the parts store cheapies. Get a decent set of wires, I've had good luck in my cars with Carquest house brand. I think they're made by Standard Ignition. Knock sensors like to cause trouble on these and are easy to check. Search for my "knock sensor 101" thread. Another possibility is a bad front O2 sensor. If its original (very possible) its time to replace that anyway.

The end sections of the timing cover can be removed without removing anything else. 3 bolts on each side. Might need to remove the coolant reservoir (2 bolts on top then pull up) to get room for the drivers side cover.

You can shotgun all the parts you want but until you know for sure that compression is correct you're wasting time. Timing is easy to check and will produce random misfires if its one tooth out, (Easy to do on the drivers side where number 2 cylinder is) that will go away at high Rpm.

Just because you unplugged an injector and it didnt make a difference doesn't mean the injector is bad. It's a dead cylinder misfire, unplugging the injector doesn't rule out spark or compression as the cause. Confirm the timing is correct (maybe it jumped), and do a compression or leak down test.

That's one of the cheap press on kind. The nice ones (the one you linked to) have a set screw at the back that you can unscrew and the sleeve slides right off. Useful of you need to remove it to open the trans case, or put it on another transmission. That one doesnt look like its pressed on all the way. I'd almost bet it will slide off fairly easy if you can get an indexed prybar behind it (or something similar)mand work around it. Then you can decide if the quill is too worn to use the new bearing.

Do the LEDs under the mode buttons light up when the mode is selected? If the LEDs don't light up id suspect the control head to be bad. The mode actuator gets its power from the control head, check the fuses before replacing the control head.

If its one of those actual kits with the removable sleeve, I would reuse the bearing. Those kits come with a high quality bearing that won't wear out in the amount of miles you'll get out of that clutch. If its a cheap press-on sleeve, yank it off and use the new bearing.

Sounds like the coil is good since you do have spark, and you verified coil resistance. The other two things you need are fuel and compression. You may be getting fuel, but is it the correct amount of fuel? The fact that you don't have any fire from spraying starting fluid may mean its already getting enough fuel, and that compression is the problem. It's fairly easy to verify timing marks, I'd do that before dropping $$$ on a fuel pump.

Black stuff in the ATF is friction material from the clutches. Front diff noise may be cured by just changing the fluid as well.

I've seen worse. Most of the time you can't get to those with a socket anyway, have to use a box end wrench. Soak them with your favorite flavor of penetrating oil for a few hours beforehand. It'll be harder getting the rear suspension undone so you can pull the axles out than it will be to get those two nuts. I know there are some guards under the inner axle cups, I don't remember if they are easy to remove. Perhaps you can remove those and lower the diff and slide the axles out at the same time.