heartless

i would go for the 94 myself - even with bad air suspension. my 1990 LS wagon had blown air suspension - about $80 in used parts and a few hours and it was converted over to standard coilovers - not hard to do.

you obviously have a hole in the radiator - replace the radiator - simple. you can him & haw & do the $40 check all you want - the fact is: until you replace the radiator you will continue to overheat and any other "evil that shall not be spoken" will remain undiagnosed and only guessed at because of the obvious problem of the radiator loosing it's cool. honestly - this isnt rocket science here - you see where the problem is - fix it! Sorry, I'm a little crabby today. :-\

glad to hear you got things straightened out. It is a good feeling, isnt it?

OMG - that looks just like the one we had!! yes, it was a red 4 dr!! LOL and that 3AT will only get high mileage if you drive it!! it isnt gonna do it sittin in the driveway!

lol - did i stir up a bee's nest here, or what? i didnt learn to drive a stick until like 10 yrs after i had my license - just could never get the hang of it with somebody watching me... then one day i HAD to go to the store and the only car available was a 1976 Plymouth Valiant with a 3 on the tree - well, it was do or die time...been driving one ever since - even upped the ante a little and learned to drive big trucks! some of those can be complicated...

yup - what olnick said! seriously tho, just pay attention to your Suby and keep her maintained and she will run and run and run - the body will give out before the motor does.

i dont know on the 2.5's - but the one on my 2.2 is aftermarket (dont remember where i got it from) and works fine - hopefully someone with more experience with the 2.5 will chime in here.

yup - we have that twin cyl. comp. too - only problem for us was the motor isnt big enough to have both cyls hooked up - we had to plumb one to just vent out in order to keep from blowing fuses! it works pretty good this way believe it or not - just takes a little longer to air up. one of these days we will get a bigger motor and get both cyls hooked up...

hopefully it stays good for you. and yeah, get that alternator ASAP! Good luck!

parts pricing WILL vary by location, that said, looking up the sensor at autozone.com using the correct PA zipcode turns up a price of $44.99 it is quite common to find a cheaper price for a part at a retailers website than you will find in store - check the website first - print out the page of the part you need and take it with you to the store - 98% of the time they will give you the cheaper price. (i do this all the time with advance)

welcome to the USMB! ticking is no big deal as already said - I am curious tho, what weight oil you had put in at your oil change - these motors do NOT like 5w30... 10w30 or 10w40 are what is generally recommended in the owners manual. also, depending on where the oil leak is located (oil pump area) it can make a difference on your oil pressure, which might explain why it ticks at idle, but goes away while driving - idle = lower pressure; higher rpms = higher pressure regarding the shake & the "possible" tie rod issue - if the tie rod ends are going you will usually experience wandering and sloppy steering - not a violent shaking... violent shaking under braking conditions is almost always warped rotors... But, if you are going to take the car in anyway to get the brakes looked at - have it inspected for common wear problems - tie rod ends, ball joints, worn struts, etc. It would only take them a few extra minutes to look it over and let you know what the car needs. the metallic rattle could be a couple of different things - the most common cause has been mentioned already - loose heat shields. another cause might be "pinging" which can be a bigger issue. look for loose heat shields first tho... and 215K is nothing for a well cared for 2.2 - keep up with the maintenance and it will easily go over 350-400K.

you can try to recharge the battery, but honestly, if it got that drained - well...maybe it would be ok, maybe not. take the battery out of the car, put it on a charger on the 2amp cycle and let it slow charge if you are going to try that - no quick fixes here. you can try to get a replacement under the warranty, but it has been my experience that dead alternators void said warranty... it can be a vicious cycle - dead battery can cause alternator problems - dead alternator causes battery problems...

what engine? if it is 2.2 - unless they made a location change between 1990 & 1995 - it is located on the top of the engine block, just to the drivers side and behind the intake... standing next to the drivers side strut tower - lean over, look straight down just behind the intake - you may need to move wiring harness or throttle cables a little to get a good view of it - one bolt holds it on going right thru the middle.

first & foremost - go get the code read!! the car is trying to tell you something, find out what it is! It makes absolutely no sense to start throwing money & time at a problem when you dont know what the problem is. places like Advance Auto & Autozone will read codes for you for free if you can get the car to them.

chances are you will not find an "exact fit" replacement so you will have to "make" your own... Once you locate where the lines are running, and where the leak is the best thing to do is take out as much of the rusty line as possible - use a small tubing cutter to cut the line where it is in good condition. take the bad section of line with you to the parts store to get a replacement that has the correct fittings and is of sufficient length - depending on how much you remove, you may need more than one piece. Also pick up pieces to create your splice(s) to connect back to the existing good line. you will also need a flaring tool to flare the end of the existing line - either rented or purchased...and dont forget to pick up a bottle of brake fluid! dont let the flaring tool scare you - it really isnt that hard, just a little bit fiddly - i recommend making a couple of practice flares before you actually do it on your car if you have never done it before. back to your car - slide the correct fitting onto your existing line then create your flare. Bend the replacement line to match as closely as possible the old line and install. Bleed the system. you are done.

ok - all posted up. if you have any problems getting to them, please let me know - I can always email them. again, i hope they can help you track down the issue. must have missed the roll starting thing - my bad... just an FYI tho - it is possible to roll start an auto - not easy, but can be done, and ya risk doing major damage to the tranny!

yup - sounds like you were running on nothing but battery power - meaning your alternator is dead. did you happen to notice any dash lights coming on during all this??? usually a dead giveaway. the bad news - you will need to replace not just the alternator, but the battery as well - again...

ok, got most of the relevant stuff scanned & cleaned up - have to get a couple more pages yet, but figured this would get ya started anyway... named them according to what they are/pertain to & the sequential page # (01, 02, etc) they are big files (for ease of reading) so I put them on my photobucket acct... look here will get the last couple pages posted up in a few minutes. Hope they help!

yeah, hate to say it, but it does sound very much like a HG failure. if the body is in decent shape it would be worth while to just pick up a used motor & swap them out - the 2.2 is not generally prone to major problems unless they are seriously abused (which it sounds like this one was, unfortunately) sorry it is in such poor shape...good luck

hmmm....have a dual range tranny just sittin here collecting dust....might be able to make a road trip worth your while, Tom...

definitely a difference! looks good!

will get those scanned & posted for you in the am. dont know if they will help, but they cant hurt? is this a manual or auto tranny? different trouble shooting steps for the different trannies...

do you have a junkyard near you that you could get a used one from - they dont fail that often - and this could be related to the overheat incident you suspect... would be a lot cheaper to get a used one if you can.

i have a FSM for the 1990 version (wouldnt think the 94 would be all that much different) and can scan the relevant pages for you if you would like...

have to agree - a decent 2.2 is the way to go here - preferably 1990-1996 as they are the non-interference versions and as such wont cost an arm & a leg if a timing belt goes bad down the road. a very reliable, solid motor. donor can be from a junkyard, just give it the once over with a reseal, new timing components (belt, pulleys, idler, etc) new waterpump and drop it in - good to go for many, many miles.