DaveT

Pumps are designed for various parameters.. Lift, pressure, flow. The OEM ones are in back, don't have to do much lift. A lot quicker for the pump to get ahold of fuel to move, rather than air when it's closer to the tank, and lower elevation relative to the fluid level. It's all trade offs in the various performance parameters and cost.

I have not had one do that. Maybe 1 brush wore out, or broke / stuck. Forgot if these have 2 or 4 brushes.

The thing I found most effective and least destructive is to use a piece of rod or bar stock as a drift. Like 1/2" round, or 1/2"x1". Something beefy about that size. One end against the face of the washer, hit the other with a 1-2 lb hammer.

10W-40 unless you are in extreme cold climate.

I've been running & maintaining these engines since 1988. Several cars. Have not had any problem like this. One used engine had a stripped hole on one of the timing belt tensioner pulley brackets. Steel bolts into aluminum - be very careful to follow the torque specs in the manuals. I suspect those bolt holes were stripped by someone previous to your work, if they stripped easily compared to other similar [steel bolt, aluminum block] things you have dealt with.

Idle oil pressure at normal operating temp is low. The built in gauge is not super accurate especially at low pressure. Under the no load conditions of idle, the oil pressure doesn't have to be high. Also, part of the reason to never lug these engines, they are made to spin fast. Cruising down the highway, it should be 40 -45 + / -. But that's on the built in gauge. It also has a fairly slow response time. the light sensor switch probably doesn't indicate until a number under 5PSI.

Yes, this + heating the engine. I got one of those out - it would have snapped right off if I had tried to just unscrew it.

Interesting. They just plug on, or are there mods?

Another thing I have found that helps avoid snapping those old bolts - heat the entire block up to near normal operating temperature. It's aluminum so it is very hard to heat just an area. It took a good space heater and a heat gun. but it makes a big difference. When I have a run able engine to deal with those bolts, or head bolts, I just run it. I have removed some VERY stuck bolts using this, and not broken one since I discovered this trick.

I never had a starter do that, but known good battery takes away #1 thing. click no crank is fixed by adding the relay, but I never had weak crank due to the problem that causes click no crank. Worn out contacts on the starter solenoid typically makes a louder intermittent click no crank. I suppose it could get flaky other ways though. I'd take a look at those.

The 2 indicators operate on totally different systems. The gauge and sender work together. The switch and light work together. If you want both they gave to be electrically seperate, not combined. As far EA82 powered cars go, they had one or the other, I have never seen one with both. They used the same wire in the engine harness, but different sender, and different end point in the dash.

Disconnect the fat wire from the nut on the alternator. See if the short goes away.

Regarding the links, yes, ok for a test, I wouldn't leave them that way. The battery, yes, charge it, since it's not good for lead acid batteries to sit discharged. But the battery charge is not the cause of the bigger problem.

12.6V is normal resting voltage for a good fully charged battery. Resting means no charging or drawing current for several hours. 12.0V is fully discharged. That the idle voltage on the battery dropped .01V after a crank, is no surprise. 11.82 at the switch, with no load, is not good, or there is a load that's pulling it down. With everything off, [doors shut, etc.] the voltage at the switch should be the same as the battery terminals. You are looking for a bad connection somewhere. Check voltages at accessible points in the wiring harness, follow the schematic. Check with everything off, and with loading.

12.1 is very low, almost totally discharged. Links? If you mean the fusible links, get proper ones, that is a fire hazard.

maybe the leak continued while it was off. Other stuff you list points away from headgaskets. Typically, they are very well blown by the time you start getting coolant in the oil. Drain the oil, let it set for a long while, [maybe months] most of the coolant will settle out on top, skim it off. Re use the more normal stuff mixed with new. A little coolant mixed in will evaporate away with run time.

Personally, I have one that got to 200K+. It had also been badly overheated, and after I resealed it, it burned oil like mad. Like a quart per 10 gallons of gas bad. I figure the oil rings got cooked. Never had a sign of rod / bearing problems. I ran it on waste oil from other cars alternated with whatever cheap oil I came across for a good few years before the head cracked, a while after it passed 200K. I have a few that are over 150K by a good bit, with no signs of problems with that sort of thing. Here, rust has killed the bodies before I could get much over 200K. But I have read about more than a few that made it into the 300 -400K range without major rebuilding. The engines I have now, I figure are my lifetime supply. My work changed to mostly work from home a couple years ago, so my driving miles have dropped by half, and with it split between 2 cars, the miles don't rack up as fast as they did for me 10 or more years ago.

That sound is not lifter tick. The oil levels, no it didn't run out of oil. By this age and miles, the oil leaks should be pretty obnoxious. I resealed them by 150K miles typically. These engines have a few quirks, but if kept lubed and not overheated, they run for a LONG time. But keeping these going is a project. Many parts are NLA, from dealer or aftermarket. You have to be prepared to be collecting parts when you find them, doing your own work, because most garages won't touch them , or will wreck them if they are not old model Subaru specialists. I have 2 nearly identical 4WD wagons, I use as daily drivers - but they are backup for each other - if one has a problem, the other is available to cover while parts are found / made / adapted / re conditioned.

When you turn the key on, then to crank, the pump should run for a burst. If someone listens near it [just forward of the passenger side rear wheel] they should hear it run. If not, tap it a few times with a plastic screwdriver handle, then try again. It's aluminum, you don't what to really hammer it hard. OEM are NLA I found a nice Carter one for not bad $.

The fuel line that attaches to the fuel filter under the hood should have 21 PSI in it while running. With it wide open, it will flow a lot of gas all over the place. If you accidentally swapped that line with the return line, it won't run. My simple test to rule out things - spray a 1 to 2 second shot of carb cleaner down the throttle body. Press the gas about 1/3 of the way. Crank. If it fires for a burst, you have spark and timing close enough, you are missing fuel.

Wow. That's crazy. I'm not surprised it would run though. How are the cylinder and piston?

IT does have lifter tick. The other sound, it's not high quality enough audio for me to tell, might just be 1 cylinder misfiring? Chjeck for exhaust leaks, they can mask other sounds also. If it was run really low on oil or coolant, it's going to need at least head gaskets up reseal. But it might also need rings, and bearings.

The # 3 one above the EGR looks like the thermal sensor on my EA82 from California. All it does is tell the ECU that the EGR actually opened.

read the codes on the LED under the steering column. You have to remove the plastic panel to see it, through a hole in the ECU.

I choose the first idea.