DaveT

Air pickup for the hvac is inside the front fenders. I've driven many of these many miles with exhaust leaks, never had smell in the car, or I'll effects. Small leaks, and ocasionally large. Locations range from engine to y pipe to muffler. Larger leaks get fixed faster, since noise. I'm pretty sensitive to smells, so I wouldn't put up with it except to get home with windows and vents open, for obvious safety reasons.

What Crazyeights wrote. I had one with the reversed configuration. It was a 1990. Had to get belts by bringing the old one into the store. Saved the sleeves for future replacements.

Probably not.

Bad CVJ improper fit can do weird stuff. As far as the miles on the engine - It wouldn't be a surprise to find it needs a reseal job soon. Time and miles both are up there. Run it for a while, see how it's doing RE: leaks, oil, coolant, bad sounds. If it sounds ok, I'd reseal it if it's leaking oil or coolant excessively. A common thing to fail is the intake manifold gaskets. ONLY use OEM - they are far superior. Beware, the bolts are likely stuck, so get everything ready, run the car to get it up to normal temp, then immediately go after carefully loosening the 6 bolts and the EGR pipe. It is important to check the coolant level and air in the upper radiator hose regularly. If you wait to see the temp gauge go over normal, and it's due to low coolant, you are into head gaskets.

I don't know of any reason #1 has any effect. I and quite a few others run them without the covers, for a lot longer.

Oem or high grade Stant thermostat only. The temp gauge is not great for absolute readings, only relative. I've had a couple where normal is maybe 1/4 of the non red, and others where normal is 2/3 of the way to red. Same temperature via real thermometer.

The welding trick, yes you need some skill. The smaller the parts involved the harder it gets. Yes, I think it works best with steel bolt in aluminum. Way less risk of welding the bolt / nut to the base piece... Diamond burr, a good option to re center the hole in the broken bolt.

Even when you prime the oil, you still get lots of ticking off and on. It takes a while for the air to get out of the lifters.

+1 empty bolt hole on old pump idea.

Easy out will not likely work. They are left threaded tools that try to remove broken off bolts. From what I've seen they can work on new bolts snapped due to over tightening. On stuck bolts, the easy out breaks off, leaving you with a hardened piece of tool steel in the bolt. The best trick I found for removing a stuck & snapped off bolt is to weld a washer or nut to the end of the bolt. The heat likely has an effect, and the new "head" will then remove it. For future - and others - If you heat the block to normal operating temperature before trying to remove the stuck bolts, your luck is a LOT better. Either by driving, or a space heater and a heat gun with a meat thermometer to make sure you don't go over and damage seals. This takes a *lot* longer than running.

did it snap while tightening, or because it was stuck when trying to remove it?

Sometimes it does take a while to get them going.

My general thoughts. .. Get a factory service manual. I have used only oem or Fel Pro gaskets / sets. Others more familiar with that particular engine would be better at knowing if other things should be checked. That bad of overheat may indicate it wise to check a lot more than just resealing.

The good news regarding the life span of the CTS is that I have only 1 fail since 1988. Only a handful I've seen fail on the message board. With a new oem one, you should be good for 20 years.

This should be in the older generation forum. The fuel pump won't run with the key in accessory position. It only runs in cranking position, or when the ecu is getting pulses from the engine running. In test mode, it cycles on and off. To test the pump, you can unplug it from the harness at the oump, and temporarily power it with wires.

Yes check everything.

When cranking, does the RRRrrr sound nice and even 4 count, or uneven?

This is the correct forum. Check the condition of the wiring, connectors. Check with ohmmmeter, voltmeter, wiggle them. Reading should stay steady. Otherwise, sensors do go bad. The CTS can cause weird varying idle problems, without a code.

Any chance someone swapped a transmission or differential and miss matched the final drive ratios?

Check that all 4 tires are the same brand, size, etc.

I just figure out what tap size will work in the plastic without cutting out too much, then get stainless screws that match the tap. Add plastic washers to keep the aluminum away from the stainless.

that should work for turning the oil pump.

I've always used grease. Be sure to closely read the timing belt procedure. Have not added sealant to the fancy cover gaskets. They are like fancy o rings, shouldn't need any, if they are not old / hard.

There are adapters for power screwdriver / drills to squ are drive sockets. Get one of those, Chuck it in a drill. Snap a 12mm socket on it, turn clockwise. I'm in ct. Been running without the front timing covers for a good while now, no problems. I was initially resistant to the idea. Advantages - eas to check condition of belts when checking oil or anything else. Saves a bunch if time if one fails. I suspect that they run cooler, and may last longer, both bearings and belts. Good luck!

There are adapters for power screwdriver / drills to squ are drive sockets. Get one of those, Chuck it in a drill. Snap a 12mm socket on it, turn clockwise. I'm in ct. Been running without the front timing covers for a good while now, no problems. I was initially resistant to the idea. Advantages - eas to check condition of belts when checking oil or anything else. Saves a bunch if time if one fails. I suspect that they run cooler, and may last longer, both bearings and belts. Good luck!