1 Lucky Texan

on some cars, I believe there are grounds between the intake mani and the fender or strut tower or maybe the dogbone mount on the firewall?. you could always just add a coupla nice grounds to see if that helps. I read once of a car with a harness that was rubbed-thru by being too close to the steering u-joint.

yes, in cold climates, you need CCA, in hot climates, you want reserve capacity. Plus, everytime a battery goes completely dead, sulphation occurs on the plates and that further reduces lifespan. just Google automobile battery life expectancy or lifespan, etc. I live in DFW area, if I get 3.5 or 4 years from a battery, I will dance a jig like I invaded Paris! (what? too soon?)

seems like a real stretch but, maybe the engine is flooded now? Very cold cars that run/drive for a very short time, are turned off, then cranked again, may need to have the pedal HELD down to start. That signals the ECU to 'clear flood' and it hold injectors closed. Or, the engine temp sensor is falsely reporting a very cold engine. I even read of a guy with a Ford truck that would move the truck 12 feet, turn it off to go close a garage door, then, it wouldn't restart unless he held the pedal down. Thing is, I'd expect you would smell fuel strongly at the rear of the car. Or, a pulled plug would be wet with fuel. Oil could even be thinned with fuel.

odd, not sure about the rpm dip - strange. I'd inspect the crank pulley - it's 2-piece and there are occasional reports of it separating and squeaking. I'd look for abraded cables/loose electrical connections too. Maybe scan the ECU for pending codes......just some wild ideas.

batteries in my area are old after 3 years. i HAVE experienced a 5 year service a coupla times, and 2.5 years on 3-4 occasions. But after 3 years, any more is gravy. If a battery has ever been completely discharged, you can subtract from its lifespan, for each time it's happened.

MANY, MANY people have had older soobs that needed new contacts/plunger kit in the starter's solenoid. Very common. But, I will say, sometimes corroded battery cables, loose connections and other issues can somewhat mimic the bad solenoid symtpoms. Kits to rebuild the solenoid, step by step with pics, and even some youtube videos are easy to find. not sure on the second issue but, probably worth inspecting the fuel pump's cap and o-ring. Not an uncommon failure. Oil in the plug 'tubes' from leaking gasket, bad plugwires, etc. might be suspects as well.

was there fuel smell or leaking under the hood?

I can't speak to its quality, but I might have tried it when I replaced things on my FP; https://www.amazon.com/Dorman-902-438-Housing-Repair-Select/dp/B07KG7K8GB/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

hope the new thermostat is OEM style.

maybe look thru the manual for more eyesight and lane assist info/warnings?

I could see that being a fun project. seen this?

It reads like you know it needs a new radiator at least. In a new thread, ask for a shop recommendation. If you're lucky, someone may know of a subaru-friendly mechanic near Arlee.

https://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/forum/4-old-gen-80s-gldlxtloyales/

I use Valvoline MaxLife but, agree any name-brand compatible should be fine.

when they leak, oil pressure switches can leak a lot due ti being under pressure. It can pool and shift around under acceleration/maneuvering and drip almost anywhere.

yeah, see if a mist of water on the wires or the coil cause stumbling/missing. Some folks do it at night and can see arcing.

not sure about older cars, I got a Mitsuboshi for my WRX. That or OEM (possibly made by M'oshi ?) would be my choice. maybe on an older secondary vehicle, I'd risk something else (Gates ?) but, only if I was desperate.

there was the so-called 'chicken tax' that affected the Brat (putting the seats in the back to make it a 'sedan')and other small Japanese vehicles long ago. I have no idea if transmission configurations were involved. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax

second click must be within a few seconds.

Until you get a solid diagnosis, make sure the inside of the radiator is checked and the level of coolant maintained properly (full). DO NOT trust the level in the overflow to reflect coolant level. I second likely CV boot as said above.

yeah, as you already mentioned, you'd likely have to make a custom platform or use some kind of net separation or similar to keep things stowed away from each other/contained.

maybe go exterior? there are 3-4 designs that are hitch-mounted. Some fold away or twist/rotate under the car. Some ramps, some steps.

xxS2 , if a code looked like that , the S2 part would be after the cat and, on most cars before about '05 or so, ONLY use that sensor for cat conv monitoring. Isn't even used for A:F parameter. Only for conv 'light-off'/function. it's the conv. nanny sensor. S1 is before the conv. some cars can have 2 converters in-line, I dunno how those are designated.

Well, suppose you had a 1 year-old child now, assuming the tree was alive or, very recently dead, if you didn't mark or rememebr the year it was cut down, you would 'off' a few years when the the child needed a science fair project in 3rd grade or w'ever. So, if you cut a tree down tomorrow, just put a piece of masking tape on it with 'cut in 2020' or similar on it. Or, you already have one sitting around and you KNOW you cut in down 3 years ago, mark it 2017 before you forget. then, when the child starts counting rings backwards , they would be 'in sync'. Might even be able to correlate wide or narrow rings with documented local flooding or drought records as a double check. If your oak were dead, and you did not know for certain when it died, local records for drought years could help align the tree rings with calendar years.

used to load test programs from an ASR 33 tape reader into an Raytheon RDS-500. First models had mag toroidal memory. Occasionally fixed them by changing sense amplifiers. I remember bulletin board services. First video I watched from the net took 20 minutes to load, was displayed about the size of a half-dollar. It was 'crab vs pipe' (still around-try youtube) "The only thing more terrifying than a technician with a slide rule, is an engineer with a soldering iron."