DaveT

What fairtax wrote. I use the lube weight called for in the manual, Amsoil synthetic.

Engine idling in neutral I would think would work, BUT not if the oil pump is what is failed, so check for oil circulation if you decide to try that. I have flat towed my older 4wd automatics, slow not more than 20 miles, with no problems, but I know that the 4wd clutch pack is released when the engine is off. Awd could be different.

I've gotten a little oil and or coolant on them, nothing bad happened. They were either gates or subaru, most likely gates. The ones that snapped, were all before I switched to running without the covers. I have no plans to try to run a set beyond 40,000 miles. Reliability is #1.

I suspect that the belts and bearings run a lot cooler without the covers in place.

A decent quality battery is good for about 5 years under ideal conditions, simply due to the chemistry. I deal conditions are battery temperatures in the 70s. No discharge cycles, and maintained at the proper float voltage. Anything other than these conditions takes capacity / useful life off. and it is very unlikely that any battery in use in a car is being maintained under ideal conditions. Check the charging voltage, and the resting voltage. If they are normal, and you don't know the age, well, then its a gamble, since the test shows it as less than rated capacity. A battery at 0 degrees F is about 1/4 of it's rated capacity at 70 degrees, so it will be sketchy starting in cold weather if it's not within it's useful life span, or has been degraded by non ideal conditions. Headgasket seeping at that mileage, typical. It is due for timing belt and idlers replacement soon. Oil leaking from rocker covers, not a surprise. All of this is what I expect from a car of this age and miles. When I buy a new used car, I expect to put as much as $1000 into getting it into top shape, as it's unlikely that once the previous owner decided to replace it, it's unlikely that they kept the maintenance up as if they were going to continue running it for 10 years. Keep a close eye on the coolant level and amount of air in the upper radiator hose to avoid cooling system problems, or catch them before they become worse.

Directly from my 1986 factory service manual: EA82 Timing belt replacement is due at 60 months or 60,000 miles, whichever is first. Directly from my 1990 factory service manual: EA82 Timing belt replacement is due at 52.5 months or 52,500 miles, whichever is first. Somewhere a long while back, I came across a TSB about lowering the interval for the timing belts. Which makes sense, because I have been driving EA82s since 1988 and never had a timing belt make it to 60,000miles.

It's highly unlikely that any of that is causing noticeably low mpg. Except sticky calipers causing brake drag. Bearings and axles would have to be so fried there would be obvious other symptoms like noise. Strut? Only way that could have a milage effect would be so screwed up the alignment was way out, and that would tear up tires quickly.

Check the wires and terminals on the battery. The click no crank problem that is caused by high resistance in the starter solenoid circuit doesn't kill al of the power. It just does click and no crank. I've seen fairly new batteries fail due to a broken intercell connection. Easy way to find out is to jump with a pair of heavy gauge jumper cables. Like awg1 or awg0 , not the El cheapo ones with 10awg wire. Other way, hold volt meter probes on the battery terminals not the clamps. Have someone else turn the key. If the voltage goes away, battery I'd broken inside. Normal to drop to around 9 v if the starter is cranking. Fully charged undisturbed for a day, it should read 12.6v

Sounds like a bad high resistance connection. Battery terminals. Internal battery failure.

That rocker switch on every one I've had turns on the parking lights only, when the key is off. Many people first learn of it when it drains their battery the first time. It exists because normally, all of the lights are switched off when the key is switched off, which saves you from finding a dead battery after driving somewhere on a rainy day and forgetting to switch off the lights when you park. Things / threads to read - Any of the coolant system / overheat / head gasket threads. Timing belt threads. Stay on top of these 2 things, and you can have a reliable inexpensive car. Typical OEM alternator life is 150K miles. At about that mileage, one of the brushes wears down enough to loose contact with it's slip ring, and it no longer charges at full output. you eventually find out when the car won't start due to low battery charge.

You need to check the voltage on the battery when the car is off, then when running. Those numbers will help figure out the starting problem. Someone may post a link to an online / download able factory service manual. They show all of the wire colors, routing, connector pins.

From 86 to 93 I have not seen any other than hydraulic.

I'm kind of guessing that mechanically it would work. The electric / lighting control stuff I'd want to check

Be ready to replace the fuel pump, it may do this again. The sitting may be why, so it might keep working.

Between age and miles there are a few other potential oil leaks. O ring for the oil channel to the lifters between the head and cam carrier. Same passage also goes through the headgaskets, and I have had Those get leaky. I never heard of anyone trying to re torque heads this late. Some of the bolts are likely a bit sticky, so it's a risky idea. Oil pump o rings are likely leak if original. Not a big deal to replace. Front main can be done on car, but isn't usually leaky. Cam shaft seals and the orings for the small pieces that they press into are pretty good at leaking when old. I'd the pcv hoses are hard as rocks, they'll leak.

The power steering pump operating pressure is around 800psi. Iirc. The seals are likely more like hydraulic than shaft oil seals.

How old and how many miles? Axle shaft boots are something that should be checked from time to time. If you wait until you hear or feel symptoms, it's too late to save them, and you have to pay for replacement.

EA81 doesn't have timing belts.

If I remember correctly, all of the connectors on the engine harness are different. You would have to try really hard to cross mate any of them. The wire colors on the parts vs harness do not always match.

Take a look at the rust. If it's not too far gone, get some Hammerite Waxoyl. Get it inside and out of the rusty areas. It will stop the rust.

I had one get flaky, and tapping the case with a screwdriver handle made it start running, so I got it home where I could swap in a working one. I never heard of one sucking air / loosing prime. As far as I know, if there is a decent amount of fuel in the tank, it will get to the pump. If you find it is running, but not moving fuel, I'd carefully pull the inlet hose, and see if fuel comes out.

Fuel flow is pretry good rate with an open line. Yes, do the test connector thing. Best to add some line ro catch the fuel in a container, otherwise quite messy / dangerous.

The pump should run for about 3 seconds when you try to crank. Normal fuel pressure is around 20psi. Best way to be sure about adequate pressure is to T in a mechanical gauge.

I had one with the ac out by the battery. Napa had a belt that just fit. Had to put it on the big sheaves first, then cheat it onto the fan. Then tightenter by moving the compressor. The next longer belt was too loose. Watch out for the output terminal on the alternator. Forget looking it up in the application guide, that didn't work. I saved the cardboard ting with the number on it until I retired that car. All of my others have the alternator closest to the battery.

Pressure redulator / relief is in the pump body. I haven't had to take apart a rack. I've rebuilt several hydraulic cylinders. Pull the boots see if you can see what happens when it's running. I can't think of any reason or way for the fluid to get into the boots except by getting around the rod seals, or end caps? ? Not sure of how they are constructed since I never took one apart.