DaveT

Hoe to get to the end result - running reliably. There are tradeoffs in how you spend the time and $. I've dealt with numerous leaks, from simple loose hose clamps to failing headgaskets. With ea82s, many times since 1988. You can try replacing the easy stuff first. But if you don't meticulously monitor the coolant level and air in the system, things will just continue to get worse with every over normal temperature event. I can only decide if it's headgaskets after about a week of drive cycles with detailed monitoring. I've done it both ways, if I got the leak before it caused an overheat, no problem. If I got the overheat before I knew of the leak, it has always eventually or immediately required headgaskets. I no longer bother to spend all the time to sort it out if the overheat was high enough or repeated, it's too late at that point. I limp the engine in the car (adding water every day ) while i am resealing a spare, then swap. It's actually been a good while since I had any of these problems, because of catching them early.

It can be. The oem intake gaskets are the only way to go. Need to resurface both sides if it has been leaking for a long time. These kind of intake leaks are one way to lead to headgasket failure. In the beginning, they sneakily drink the coolant, without smoke at first, and if you check the coolant level by relying on the temperature gauge, that's where you end up. BTDT. The engine temps usually don't start going all over until things are pretty bad. Save yourself a lot of trouble by checking the coolant level and air in the system frequently.

You sometimes cannot tell a fuse is good by looking at it. I have had a few that had a hairline crack in the metal that was near invisible under a magnifier. Checking the voltage on both sides while under load, then you know a fuse's condition.

A general thing - when you want to disconnect the battery, ALWAYS disconnect the negative first, and move the wire away from the battery. The reason is that if you slip with the wrench, the only thing that is dangerous to hit is the positive terminal. IF you remove the positive first, Every piece of metal nearby is a possible short waiting to happen. Your spark sounds like it happened the other way around, but if the negative had been disconnected, you could hit the positive all day to the car body and nothing would happen. Just another piece of basic info - the big terminal on the back of the alternator is almost as dangerous as the positive battery terminal, so if you ever have to do anything with that, again, disconnect the negative battery post, and you are safe. I quick short circuit / spark probably didn't hurt the battery. If it was old and iffy, maybe - I just had one die when I tried to start my car. It will light the lights and stuff, but starter it can't handle. It's a good idea to draw little sketches [and / or take pictures] of things like this before you disconnect the wires, especially if you don't have a second identical car to check for reference... Someone on here with a Brat will likely be able to help sort out the wiring.

I think you mean 8 pin relay?..... because a 2 pole double throw would need 8 pins, 2 for the coil, and 6 for the contacts. I have been thinking wtf does such a simple thing need an 8 pole Double Throw relay for. For a few days... 8 pole refers to a switch or relay with 8 seprate sets of contacts. Double Throw refers to a common terminal, and a normally closed and a normally open contact. Also, an 8 pole relay is not a common thing, it would be really pricy.

Yeah, for temporary. I have run non identical pairs, but kept them front & back. And only use the 4WD for getting moving on wet or snow. No long term 4WD running. Usually did it to use up an odd pair of tires from a parts car, during the summer when I rarely need 4WD.

Doesn't matter which pair are bigger / smaller. All have to be the same.

Definitely.

Make sure all 4 tires are same make model inflation pressure and mileage / wear. In a straight line, even on dry pavement, it shouldn't make a large change, but I can usually feel / hear a small change - with 4 brand new tires.

I've only seen coolant in the oil once. Very blown headgaskets. Not the early initial stages when the coolant just keeps disappearing, or small bubbles in the recovery tank. I've been down this road a number of times. My experience with the coolant level you describe - it may have been drawn down by a slow leak anywhere - to the outside of the block, down the intake. But the level low in the radiator + over normal temperature [does not have to get into or even near the red] has always lead to failed head gaskets, it might be 6 days, might be 6 months. I never had one consuming coolant down the intake at a high enough rate to show smoke [steam] in the exhaust. To have a chance of saving it while troubleshooting, checking the coolant level before every drive is the only way. Do not open the radiator cap, check the bottle level. check the radiator by sharply squeezing the upper hose, and listen for gurgles and the jiggle pin. A tiny amount of air is ok, but a really tight system will have none. The important clue is does the amount of air increase each time you check? Does the level in the tank constantly get lower every time? When the leak is in the beginning stages, it will be very slow, takes a week of doing this to start to get an idea. I also found that running a zero pressure cap helps sort out whether this is air leaking in vs head gasket beginning to inject exhaust gas failure. At high altitude, it might not be a good idea to run zero pressure, but where I am, I never had a problem. When it's an intake or external leak, a pressurized system will force coolant out while hot. While cooling, air sucks back in through the leak. When it's a combustion chamber to coolant leak, the explosions force exhaust gas into the coolant long before coolant can leak into the cylinder. Think about the difference in the pressure involved on either side of the gasket... With zero pressure, there isn't suction while the engine cools, and you loose less while running, because it isn't being forced out. If it's an intake leak, the vacuum will still pull it out, but without the help of the 13PSI pushing it also. You could try just doing the throttle body and intake to head gaskets, but it would be good to do all the above monitoring first, to determine if the exhaust gasses are getting into the coolant, because that only means one thing. Regardless of how far you have to go - removing any of the engine bolts is best done with the engine [the mass of aluminum, not just heating the bolt head is the key] near 180degrees F. Unless you have previously disassembled it and used anti seize compound. I have been amazed at some of the bolts that I got out in one piece using this trick - they would have certainly twisted off if done at room temperature. The worse ones still took carefully rocking them to work them out, but none stripped or broke.

If it is a low hum, I usually found that to be the u joint bearings shot, throwing off the balance. Wheel bearings could do that sort of low note vibration also. If it's more of a shimmy like 1 pulse per revolution if the tires, that's more likely related to alignment, suspension and all that stuff. I did have a weird 1 ppr shimmy when a tire partially failed. The tread separated from the steel belts, forming a bubble. It would be obvious at some speeds, and dissappear at others.

IF it is a EA82 engine, that looks different than any I have had. Do they claim it is for your car? Normally, they have the inlet and outlet pipes in line with each other - that is, you could put a straight piece of pipe in place of the housing without moving anything. The one in the picture in the link the outlet pipe is offset to one side. On all of the EA82 style cars, that "resonator" is not a resonator, it is a second catalytic converter. That may or may not matter to you, depending on the laws in your area.

For drilling the stainless, or moderately hardened steel, I found there are bits for the purpose. They are solid carbide. Must be used in a drill press or milling machine, not a hand held drill. I drilled a hole in a hardened stainless steel part with one. The kind of stainless that instantly dulls even a cobalt steel drill. The drills aren't that bad price wise, but if you want to tap the hole.....

I don't have 1st hand experience with this, but have read a number of threads - knocking in ea82T is quick death..

Yes, but this is typical of air in the system. If all is well, the amount of air will diminish over a few drive cycles. Re read my previous posts, they cover how to monitor what is going on, and determine the earliest beginning of headgasket failure or something else. If the air does not reduce over a few drive cycles, headgaskets are suspect. A small leak can cause this also. I run a zero pressure radiator cap to eliminate that possibility. As the number of over temperature events increases, the headgasket leak from combustion chamber to cooling system will get worse. Eventually there will be no question.

Rust free is rare around here also. CT. I have 2) 4WD 3 speed auto wagons. Start collecting parts. Many are NLA. Watch ebay for a FSM. Learn how to do your own repairs.

Avoid driving it with that going on. IF you must, turn on lights, blower, etc. to load it down. The times I have had over 14V have been caused by the voltage regulator, which is in the alternator, going bad. I have zero experience buying alternators, as I rebuild mine. Possibly a bad ground. Possibly a bad alternator. I have read more than a few threads on here where the new alternator was also bad. But if the problem is exactly the same, more likely something else. Check the connections between the alternator and the fusible link box and the battery. Just a guess, not sure if an intermittent connection there could cause this or not. If the battery cranks the engine ok, I tend to not blame it.

If your original cv / front axels were damaged by the towing incident, look for used oem. Clean regrease and re boot. Lots of threads about this. For driveshafts - the one from the transmission to the rear differential, find a local driveshaft shop. A good one can get parts and rebuild them.

These engines are made to spin fast. 4000 rpm is no big deal. Lugging them is a bigger problem.

Yes, the first couple times many years ago I let one get low on coolant. Learned the hard way. I've owned several EA82 powered wagons now. Some came with existing issues. Been there done that as far as not wanting to give in and do the headgasket job. The limp mode has been used to buy time while resealing a spare engine. That good engine eventually is moved to a body in better condition when the original gets too far gone from rust.

It all depends on how bad the damage is. I had tried the air spark plug thing, long time ago. Nothing conclusive. Same with the pressurising the radiator. The pressure of the fuel exploding is far higher than an air compressor. Thats why the first sign is bubbles in the coolant . my leaks were just beginning at that time. Yes, eventually when the failures are bad enough, you will get a detectable result. By the time one spot has failed to that point, it would not suprise me for other failures to have begun. You can try lot of things. The risk is loosing all the time and have to do it all again. I have limped one along for as much as 6 months by using a zero pressure radiator cap, and adding water before every drive. And no long dtives. The leaks slowly got worse. In the end, they have needed new headgaskets.

Beware of using fuel line for coolant! I did that once, many years ago. It failed in a fairly short time. Chemical properties are different for fuel vs coolant.

Yes, the typical beginning of head gasket failure is small amount of exhaust gas injected into the cooling system. When it first starts it is so small that the tests don't detect it, but you can by monitoring the coolant level before every drive. Once you have experienced this a couple times, you know.. BTDT. It slowly gets worse, until coolant is spewing out and you can't go anywhere before it's overheating. More over normal temp excursions while low on coolant accelerates the failure. By this age and likely mileage, it is due for new head gaskets & up reseal anyway. No way I know of to determine which cylinder is leaking first. No evidence of coolant into the cylinders until much more blown, and you won't be able to drive by then anyway. Only once did I have a head gasket fail so bad as to leak coolant into the crank case, and that was a bad overheat, and likely a few mild ones before. Replace them both, they have been compromised already. Resurface the head is a must. Be sure the radiator is in top condition - especially that all of the fine fins are connected to the tubes, and not blocked by dirt on the outside, or good for nothing [causes more trouble than it fixes on these engines] stop leak on the inside. Make sure all 7 cooling system hoses are not close to 30 years old.... Yes, 7 hoses.

I'm pretty sure that the threads are cut into a stamped nut that was welded to the sheet metal. I would not try to weld then drill and tap... Unless you are an expert welder and know what alloys to use. There are solid thread repair kits similar to helicoils that I would be inclined to look at. Try a search on McMastercarr.com . If there is space, maybe sneak a regular nut in behind the stripped one?

Possibly just didn't get all the air out . Also, this is symptoms of headgasket beginning to fail. Over heating, or even over normal temperature , while low on coolant is very bad for headgaskets. There are a lot of threads about this on this forum.