Slartibartfast

I can see why you held off putting the winch on it until now! Looks way better. Nice fairlead, too.

Well that's good! Yeah, could've been a little schmutz in a valve stopping it from seating properly, or maybe an air pocket in an unhelpful place. Hopefully it stays fixed, whatever it was.

I haven't messed with one but I'd pull the shift boot and see if you can get it from above. Might have to pull the console and take the plate off the trans tunnel if the shifter hole isn't big enough.

Yeah, it's gotta be internal. Probably the piston seal, so the fluid that leaks past just goes into the opposite chamber and back up to the res. Whether it's that or not, it's a yank it/send it back/get a replacement situation unless you want to tear it down and rebuild it yourself (and hope it's just a seal and not wear or damage to the hard parts). Hopefully there's some kind of warranty from where you got it, though, yeah, I know that doesn't make doing it all over again any more exciting. A different fluid viscosity or additive might make some difference, but ultimately it's still a defective part--either used/worn out or new/built wrong. Best I can think of for diagnosing the rack is to pull it out again, drain the fluid, disconnect the hard lines between the valve and the rack, and apply shop air to one of the fittings on the rack (the actual hydraulic cylinder). Wind the rack all the way to the other side first, though, so the air pressure can't slam the rack around. It should hold pressure. If the air comes right back out the other port, then you know the piston isn't sealing.

I doubt it's the fluid. Sounds like a weak pump or a leaking seal in the new rack. The issue started when you installed the rack, and the pump worked fine before, so that points at the rack.

That's a weird one. Sounds like a relay or solenoid, not that that helps. Interesting that the volt gauge dips so far. Kinda sounds like the shift lock solenoid kicking on, relays aren't normally that loud. I would reexamine the area where you were working when you removed the fog light wiring and look for anything you might've unhooked or bumped while you were in there. If you left the foglights unplugged, make sure the terminals aren't touching each other or shorting to something else. If nothing jumps out at you, the inop power window circuit is where I'd start. Find the wiring diagram in the '90 manual (get it from cardiagn.com if you haven't yet) and find a connector you can check for power and ground with the key on. See if it's missing power or ground, then follow the circuit in the direction of whichever one is missing. If all these issues started at once, chances are good you'll find they have a common cause. Good luck!

The nice thing about a godawful leak is it'll have a hard time hiding when you go looking for it. Hopefully you don't have to dig too far to get to it. I don't know the R50 dash, but I had to disconnect my evap core to get its box out from under the dash in my '93. I could almost get the bottom off the box without removing the core, but there were two metal clips holding the back of the box together that I just couldn't get to. My aircon's dead anyway, so out it came. It wasn't pretty in there. I had vacuumed most of the chunks out already, but the styrofoam had stuff growing on it, mice had crapped in there because of course they had, and the core was packed with mud and pine needles.

Thanks for the link! Adding that to my pdf hoard. Hopefully the new ECU gets you going again.

Looks like you found a clean one! My dad's got the same year and color. The BCM likes to leave the parking lights on, and the front diff let go once (too much skinny pedal trying to get it unstuck), but it's a great tow rig and the 2UZFE gets up and goes when it needs to. One thing to check, there's a rubber bung on the timing cover where the wiring passes through for the cam position sensor. If it's not reinstalled correctly after a timing belt replacement, mice can get in, and mice aren't good for timing belts. (Skipped two teeth, shredded the mouse, valves were fine.)

I don't know R50 HVAC, but I would be suspicious of the control unit (the potentiometer that the knob turns might be bad and only register when it's all the way to one side), or the actuator (its pot or wipers or whatever it's got might be borked to where it thinks full hot is just barely off cold). If it's got an air temp sensor, I'd check that too, but that looks like manual control--I would expect the actuator to move with the knob without other feedback (but like I said, it's not a system I've worked with). Download the '96 service manual off Nicoclub and see what it's got for troubleshooting the HVAC system. Hopefully the vent selector issue is at the control unit end. I would take the center of the dash apart, get the HVAC head loose enough to see the cable, and see if it moves when you move the knob. If it does, your issue's deeper behind the dash.

If the rack moves back and forth without the input shaft moving, then, yeah, that's not right. I've never heard of someone stripping the spines on a steering shaft. I would expect something to break first. I pulled a rack from an R50 a couple years ago it was pretty simple. Fluid lines, TREs, shaft joint (remove the pinch bolt and the shaft should be free to slide out), and the four bolts holding the straps on, and out she comes. There wasn't much else left on that carcass, so you might well have a few more things in the way than I did. I paid $100 for the rack, angle box, and steering shafts (everything from the firewall forward), hoping to convert my '93 to rack and pinion and be done with the recirculating ball and linkage setup. Naturally that didn't pan out and it's all sitting on the shelf. If you do replace the rack, measure between the TRE studs before you take it apart so you can match it afterwards. Won't get you 100% aligned, but it should get you close.

All the current for the headlights goes through the switch, and through those little angel-hair wires. I built a relay harness for mine so the switch is only passing enough current to engage the relays, and the relays have thicker wiring to the headlights. Should help keep the switch alive and supply a little more juice to the lights.

Oof. Yeah, that's good and roached. Find the short yet? I would expect any federal/square dash/MPFI/auto trans computer to work, but I'm no help on the numbers.

I don't remember mine having a shim or gasket.

It's a bunch of guys who talk about engine oil weights and additive packages for fun, I'm not shocked that some of them are wound too tight. Sucks they dug up your dad's obit, though. That ain't right. I still have no idea why 10W30 would give you issues when 5W30 and 15W40 don't. Short of running it with different oil weights with an oil pressure gauge, or tearing down the top end and inspecting the lifters, I doubt you're gonna find a whole lot. If it runs alright with the factory spec'd weight, I'd leave it there. Mine's got 248k on it and I'm still running 5W30.