DaveT

Agree. I've seen nothing that makes me think that sender failure is common.

I class got an 01 Forester from a local small dealer that does essentially what you describe. New headgaskets, idlers, waterpump. By default, that is a reseal of most potential leaks. Had it for a long time, had over 200k miles on it when it began to get to rusty for my wife, and she wanted a newer one. Normal timing belt and idlers change interval is 100k miles. During the years we had it I did brakes, coolany system hoses - if them, there are several. Front wheel bearings, axles, catalytic converter. And the timing belts. And all the things that are just typical wear and maintenance older cars. Get in the habit of checking the coolant regularly, by sharply squeezing the upper hose, and the level in the recovery tank. Don't open the radiator cap just to check unless the hose test shows signs of a lot of air.

Interesting though, re: overheat / boil over.

Yes this is pretty odd. I've never used stop leak, and have never seen a heater core clogged. Even my 87 is still fine. I had one engine that was leaking coolant and I kept it going by just adding water all the time, and it built up a little coating of minerals from the water, but nothing like that.

The oil trick works, but needs to be reapplied a lot more frequently.

Yes, that's what I'd do, just take it a step at a time. 1 wire sensors seem to be gauge only, at least in these cars, except the O2 sensor.

Coolant temperature sensor has 2 wires. Spfi has them, not sure about carbed. The temp gauge sensor only has 1 wire, no effect on running. Likewise oil pressure gauge. If it has a CTS and ecu, I've had those mess up drivability.

Let us know what happens. I have harnesses I can compare and FSM I can look stuff up in. It's be easier for you if you can find a full FSM as all of the harness details are in there. Sometimes we get bit by these sort of weird things, and the silly fuse is the problem. Frustrating as it can be, I figure at least it wasn't something worse / weirder.

The stuff I am referring to is Hammerite Waxoyl rustproofing for cars. I have used the clear formula for decades. The pressure can setup let's you get it applied in all those internal places you can't get at any other way. If you don't treat the inside the rust will just come back through from behind. The main website is a .co.UK url. The can artwork has Waxoyl in big upper case letters at the top, black except the x is red, on yellow background. Front view of a car about center of the art. Black below, like a road with small print details. This stuff really works. Soaks into the cracks and gaps and stuff.

Iirc, the choke valve and a high idle cam would be interrelated since you need both to keep a cold engine running. What is supposed to happen, is that as a thermosensitive spring warms up, the choke opens gradually, and the high idle cam backs off, eventually dropping to full open and normale idle. The spring was heated by 12v.

Don't sand. Knock off the loose stuff. Get Waxoyl and get it everywhere underneath and inside. Por15 is better on solid mildly rusted metal that you can encapsulate completely. Most of these locations you can't. Also, por15 is not best for painting onto non rusted metal, thus the do not sand.

Exhaust back pressure could be raised by a constriction in the pipe / plugged cat. Smaller ID pipe than stock. A bunch of splices won't do anything like that. On my EJ engines, I have only used Subaru belts and idlers / tensioners. On my EA82s I have only used Gates belts, and rebuild the idlers. I used a Subaru water pump on my 01 Forester. NAPA best quality on my EA82s. Have not had problems with the above. I have seen el-cheapo water pumps that have lousy impellers that couldn't possibly be as effective as the OEM or NAPA ones. I would not risk using one of those. Only OEM or Stant best thermostats. I'm not sure if you can turn the cranckshaft hard enough to hurt the valves, as I never tried it Maybe with a wrench handle extender, or bug breaker bar? Someone else may know on here. If you have to replace a valve, you have to remove the head/s from the block. If this engine has run over normal temp while low on coolant, it may need head gaskets sooner or later.

I would think a thing like CEL on and no codes would be mentioned in the FSM. It's possible that the ecu output to the CEL is failed in the on state. I'm guessing - I never had that sort of problem, and no model between 93 and 01.

I'm a man. I can change. If I have to... I guess.

No loctite.

It could be. .. sounds like a Red Green saying.

Oh, yeah, if it's still cold, and the choke isn't right it will stop like that.

It's been a long time since I dealt with a carb. Hopefully someone else will see this also. You'll want to fix the choke, especially when it starts getting colder. I'm not sure, but if there is a solenoid that prevents dieseling, and it's failed, it might cause shutdown at idle. I had this kind of failure on one of my SPFI cars. I got it home by feathering the gas pedal to keep it idling, but if I let go, it shut right off.

I agree, trying to get 5HP with a 12 volt system is pretty impractical. 330 amps at 12 v not allowing for efficiency losses.

That sounds quite odd. Everything I've ever seen about headgaskets says no sealant.

Maybe make sure they all go where they are suppsed to?

I haven't seen anything like that. Just the roughly 12 inch square sheets at auto parts stores. Those are what I have used glued to glass.

Did anyone answer? This is in the wrong forum, so most people with these newer cars will not have seen your question.

If there is a coolant leak, checking the upper radiator hose and recovery tank once per day before the first drive should give an answer. Note do not open the radiator cap while doing this checking, unless you are low on coolant in the upper hose and need to add some.

I didn't see an easy way to get to the detailed specifications for the EAVS. 5HP electric motors don't have to be 3phase. 240VAC 5HP motors exist, but are not common. The Eaton page I got to states that it uses a PM motor, which means permanent magnet - normally implies a DC motor. I have a continuous duty DC motor sitting a few feet away that is good for 4KW drawing a bit over 110Amps at 36V DC. They may have chosen higher voltage, because there are optimum size / efficiency / materials trade offs.