doublechaz

I might guess from your description that the pins in the radio connector have failed solder. Might not hurt to take the cover off and check/reflow them if you are able. If by some small chance you are close-ish to Prescott, AZ I could help out with that.

In the lower part of Michigan where I grew up there were only a few days in the year where the car cranked hard with thick oil so we just tolerated it. The Great Lakes make a mess of the snowfall, but they really soften the cold temperatures that happen to the west of us.

Don't go too tight, you'll break the plastic hose attach point on the radiator or thermostat neck and then you will be very sad. If you are using worm screw hose clamps tighten them so that they squeeze down into the hose leaving the outer surface of the metal band even with the surface of the rubber. The more important factor is to seat the hose onto the tube as far as it can go, there is typically a stop point molded into it, and then put the hose clamp so it is between the stop point and the ridge around the tip, but biased to be closer to the ridge.

Ah, I've never lived somewhere cold enough for block heaters to be common. That makes sense by the location. Must be water jacket behind there.

Looks like that tape job goes to an oxygen sensor.

Not sure, but at that position in the block I expect that is normally a block off plug into an oil passage. Does the car have an after market pressure guage or the remains of where one was mounted?

Alcohol in gas pulls in water from the air. I'm not sure if the alcohol also promotes varnishing or some other chemical process. But I've had modern non stabil treated gas that wouldn't run a lawnmower after sitting for 4 months. Fresh gas fired it on the first pull after a full drain and fill through the system. I live in the high desert so mowing only has to happen a couple times a year. Now I get fresh for each job, run the mower dry, and dump the can into one of the cars. I am surprised that three year old gas will fire your car at all. I wouldn't just add fresh gas, I would drain as much as possible. If you have a big enough container you can pull the hose out from the filter and replace it with one into your storage. Key on should pump it out as it will fail to build pressure. If the car gives up after a timeout you may have to sit and cycle the key until it's done. Once it starts to spit kill it so you aren't running the pump dry. Back together with a couple gallons of fresh gas and see what happens.

I don't see how this would work, but I found a guy who says that a bad neutral safety switch can give your symptoms. So if it is a manual, it should only take a couple minutes to test that NSS to see if it is switching or not. From my personal experience I would be suspicious of the timing belt depending on the conditions while it sat for so long. If the belt is jumped it can make the car run like you describe although in that case the IACV code would be not connected to this, and you would probably be getting infrequent random misfire codes.

5 years and 12.0 volts indicates that the battery is used up.

My first guess would be that the connector at the engine/trans split was damaged during the engine pull and push. I only have the FSM for the 1995 USDM, but I think the ECU pinout might be the same. If your ECU has one big 84 pin connector that has a mechanical lock lever then you may find the injector signals on pins 1,2,17,18. You would have to have access to an oscilloscope and back probe these to really see what is what on them, but you might be able to rig up a noid light to the back probe on those pins to see if the signal is present at the ECU, then you could back probe at the bell housing trans side, then the bell housing engine side, then the injectors. FYI, cam sensor is at pins 5,6 and crank sensor is at 7,8 on mine. The oscilloscope back probe at the ECU could tell you if the signal is reaching the ECU. Also, I know all this from diagnosing when my cam timing jumped. If the cam work isn't done correctly the signals from the position sensors would confuse the ECU enough to not run. In my case only being slightly off it would skip 2 injectors' pulses, and double fire the other 2 injectors. Took the oscilloscope to see clearly what was going on.

I don't believe there is any brains to the ignition switch in your column. The problem would be getting a new switch that isn't junk from China. I think I would go get one out of a junkyard rather than risk a new one. You certainly had an air bubble in yours after the drain and fill. It takes some effort to avoid this. Did you leave that lower hose loose putting it back? You shouldn't have a leak like that. If you are using a worm screw type clamp you want it tight enough that it just starts to press in to the rubber. I make mine where the outer surface of the clamp is even with the outer surface of the hose meaning that the clamp is sunk into the hose the thickness of the metal in the band. Too tight and you will break the male part of the lower radiator connection, too loose and you get a leak when hot. You have to get the hose on far enough so that the clamp is closer to the radiator than the ridge on the male part.

I believe globes is a non US word for light bulbs.

The cars with mods and an exhaust 1 inch off the pavement always really piss me off.

Silverton really put his finger on the list of things to try. Your running sounds like it is worse rather than better with time. When you erase it should start worse and get better if there are very slight problems that have to be learned out, and it shouldn't make any discernible difference at all if everything is spot on. I should have added before that I have some mild port and polish and related work and a stock ECU so it has to learn how to deal with the better air flow. Back to Silverton's ideas, after finding out what code set the CEL and following that line, I think I would start by disconnecting the exhaust after the last oxygen sensor and see what it does since to me this would be the easiest test, but if rust is a thing where you are, that may not be easiest.

When I've reset by having the car taken apart for an extended period it has taken up to a couple hours of driving in all load conditions for it to relearn. It also seems to not do any learning until after it has reached full operating temp so several minutes in. If I make a lot of 10 minute drives around town it can take a few days of this to finish learning. But I do have the bastard year with the OBDI ECU hardware with the OBDII software loaded to it. Go first year production!

Yep, 85/90 cold. I don't like 10 for hot idle, but it isn't getting worse, so for now I'll run with it. Of course I have a deal less force on the rod end bearings than you do.

My 2.2 NA has been hot idle at 10 psi for the last 100,000 miles. FWIW. Driving is 40 to 60 depending on rpm. Full send goes a little higher, but I'm usually too busy to check exactly how mich higher.

I started getting some noise from my door hinge so today I cleaned with brake clean and lubed with spray white lithium all the hinges. Much nicer. Did the 300 as well.

I'd say you'll have to get a copy of the factory service manual from around here and check the wiring diagrams for a single wire antenna and then verify its integrity and maybe try some routing. Only slightly related, I put an aftermarket head unit in my 300 and the WiFi single wire antenna for it has to be in there just right or I can't connect to the house from right in front of the house.

You'll need to use CAD to figure this out. Cut the Cardboard so you can make a copy of the back side of the spoiler and so it can pass around the bolts. Mark or cut the outline of the spoiler. As you do this you can make cuts along the curves so that you can form the Cardboard to the compound curves and tape to hold it there. Once you have the spoiler/body interface shaped Cardboard formed with the bolts sticking through you can take it off and put it on the roof to mark your holes. That should Aid your Design.

I made mine from scratch, but it is probably louder with more drone than you want. If your muffler is rusted, but the over axle pipe going to it is good, get some new muffler and cut off your old muffler from the pipe and have the local shop join the pipe and the new muffler. Part of that job will be to make the hander at the very back.

Looks like it is soft rubber. Looks like the edges are smooth and sharp, not worn. Looks perfectly dry of any oil. Looks like not much friction based wear on the teeth, almost new. The cam sprocket does not look new at all, meaning that an original belt would show some age to match that sprocket. I would run that belt. I would look at it again in about 20,000 miles and expect to see the same. I would look at it after another 20,000 and expect it to not look quite as fresh and consider replacing it then since there is no way to know if we are 500 miles, or 20,000 miles into this belt. If it still looked great at 40,000 from now, would I continue to run it? I can't say for sure. Maybe, but probably not. YMMV, but it seems like this belt was done recently by a shop that doesn't bother to report to Carfux. Not like that would be a surprise. My Legacy is a ghost in their system. Nothing for the last 20 years. It is in better condition than my sisters 2018 Forester. P.S. Another thing I do regularly is stand there with the hood up listening to the engine. In this case there would be special attention to listen to the water pump and timing belt idlers and tensioner for any sign of noise. Just because the belt looks good, doesn't mean they did the full job. I have done just a belt a couple times. One of those times was because front main seal went on a newish timing job, so belt, but not idlers again after about 25,000. The other time was because I was new to this and didn't know as much about "while you are in there".

Could be front diff. It could be that it can be fixed by adjusting the gear lash. If it is the front diff and the gear lash doesn't do it then I would suspect bearings in there. If you don't have a factory service manual to learn about adjustingg a diff and you want to learn, I would suggest taking a break and finding the old thread on here where My Vacation Pictures are located.

Yo, Dawg! I heard you like wings....

Must of busted them all in the dome piece.