Slartibartfast

Yeah, that's all I can think of that wouldn't make it favor one side consistently. Does it drive normally in 2WD?

Still sounds consistent with a bad alt to me. The lights take power to run, the alt has to generate that power, so if the alt is weak, makes sense an added load would make it worse. Unless you mean turning the lights on kills the reception with the engine not running--that's a different and entirely more puzzling bag of crabs.

Did you align the front end after doing all that steering/suspension work? Could be your toe is way off.

Agreed that it sounds internal to the cluster, as it's clearly getting signal from the speed sensor if the speedo and trip odo are working. I haven't had a round-dash cluster apart to see what makes it tick, but I assume there's a little stepper motor in there that turns the odometer. Stopping on 999 suggests something wasn't up to turning four wheels at once. Might be some schmutz binding up the mechanism. Hopefully it just stalled out the stepper, rather than breaking a little plastic gear somewhere. If it's like the square-dash cluster, it should come apart without too much fuss.

The idiot lights do have colored film in them, but I would match the LED color to the film color if possible. Tinted films don't change the color of light, they just block light that isn't that color. I would not expect a blue LED to push much light through the red film on the tach. After the fun my friend and I had with the cheap LEDs in his cluster, I stuck with tungsten bulbs for mine. I did however change out the dome and footwell lights, less for brightness than for current draw (so I can work out of the back all day without killing the battery). Those are great. The directionality of LEDs bit me on the map lights, though--the bulbs I got fit the sockets, but the diodes are facing the plastic housing, not the lens. One of these days I'll bother fixing that.

1) The bulbs in the cluster are easy. HVAC shouldn't be too bad. I vaguely remember seeing the bulb for the shifter under the plastic cover, but it wasn't burned out, so I left it alone. I've replaced the bulbs in most of my dash switches (rocker-style) with component LEDs and resistors, soldered in. The factory setup for those is a little tiny tungsten bulb with its leads wrapped around a rubber base, so I doubt a drop-in LED conversion is available for them. They're fiddly to get out of the dash, fiddly to disassemble, and fiddly to solder, but the end result looks a lot better than a switch with a dead bulb. I haven't tried this with the round-dash push-style switches, but I assume it's a similar arrangement inside. 2) I think the big bulbs in the cluster are 194, and the little ones and the HVAC bulb(s?) are 74. I could swear there was a list around here somewhere. Do not trust the bulb finder on superbrightLEDs, I made that mistake once. 3) The original tungsten bulbs, even the tiny ones in the switches, have tinted rubber condoms over them. The cluster itself is not tinted AFAIK, with the exception of the orange cluster in the early square-dash. The switches I've had apart are not tinted either, with the exception of the hazard switches, most of which are red where the light comes through (use a red LED). 4) I haven't tried LEDs in a WD21 cluster, but a friend of mine got hot spots when he used cheap LEDs in his Chevy. (Don't use cheap LEDs, they crapped out and started flickering.) Those had bare diodes facing out in a cube shape, so of course the light pattern was weird. I've seen bulbs with a frosted plastic cover over the diodes, which I would expect to work better. It may take some trial and error to get the look you want.

That I don't know. Hopefully someone more familiar with the VQ R50s can help you there.

Good, you should be well-equipped for this then. There's nothing too weird with the EFI, just the usual OBD1 stuff. Blinky-lights diagnostics, limited live data. It's not as easy to diagnose as OBD2, but it's not too bad if you don't mind spending some quality time with the EF&EC section of the service manual. Cardiagn has the '90 manual for square-dash, Nicoclub has the '94/'95 manual for round-dash. Both are free. I have not found a '93 manual in PDF form, and mine's square-dash, so I use the '90.

That looks like a very clean rig. It's towards the higher end of pricing, but not the highest I've seen. One went for $20k on Bringatrailer. If you don't mind doing some wrenching, and you aren't looking for a museum piece, you can likely find one much cheaper than that. My '93 cost less than a grand (pre-Covid), but it had about 230k on the clock and needed some work. They are reliable, but any 30-year old truck will need some work done eventually. If you don't do your own wrenching, you may have some trouble finding a mechanic willing/competent to work on OBD1 fuel injection.

2001 was a changeover year from the VG33E to the VQ35DE. This is why you are finding conflicting information. The 2001 service manual (VG33E) shows the sensor mounted by the computer, and has a wiring diagram, pinout, voltage checks, and step-by-step troubleshooting information. EC-160. The 2001.5 service manual (VQ35DE) says the sensor is built into the computer, which would explain why you've been unable to locate it. There are no diagrams or checks. The only troubleshooting shown is clearing the code to see if that magically fixes it. If the code comes back, replace the computer. EC-158. I would open the computer and see if there's an obviously damaged component or connection, or whether the sensor inside has any markings that you can use to locate a replacement. You might get lucky and find a broken wire or a cracked solder joint, or find that the sensor itself is a standard off-the-shelf component that's still available. Or, if you have a bunch of other codes, try chasing those down first, on the off chance resolving one of those somehow clears this up as well. Otherwise, looks like it's computer time. The cable-throttle VQs ('01 and '02) have a common fault where the IACV shorts out and blows its driver mosfet in the computer. This is unrelated to your P0105, but something to look out for if you have to go computer hunting. You can get both manuals here. I recommend downloading the whole manual for your year. There's a lot of good info in there, if you can wade through the hand-holding for the Consult scanner that they assume you have. and good luck.

Yeah, graphite's not gonna fix that.

Ahardbody posted ages ago that he'd had his lock cylinders apart and found them pretty easy to work with. Unfortunately his pictures are gone, and the beergarage writeup he linked to is gone as well. I got the frozen driver's lock on my '95 working by blowing a bunch of powdered graphite in there and working the key until it freed up. Worked great, never had another problem with that lock cylinder. Boy did it piss off the power locks, though. I don't know if the graphite got into something or if working the cylinder free exposed an issue elsewhere.

I don't know the R51, but I'd start by downloading the '11 service manual from Nicoclub and looking for a wiring diagram to see how that system is set up. Sounds like the motor is okay, but something in the controls is acting up. Maybe a loose connection, or a bad solder joint? Intermittent issues are always fun to track down. Good luck!

At least the leak stopped! Figures it came up with something new. If this started when you fixed the leak, I would double-check the stuff you had apart. PCV hoses back on? Any damage to the intake boot? Any vacuum lines messed up? Sounds like a vacuum leak to me. Mine stalls on warm idle now and then. Weak connector. Hasn't done it since I picked up a replacement connector, naturally. If you don't find a vacuum leak, inspect the MAF connector. Might as well check the sensor too, on the off chance something got in while you had stuff torn apart. You counted teeth when reinstalling the timing belt, right? I imagine you'd have worse symptoms if that was a tooth off.

I am impressed that you got it out in one piece! I had a go at one of mine a while back and had enough trouble with it that I painted the other one in place.

What do they look like? I searched that part number and found some metal clips I've never seen before. IIRC the rear hatch plastic is held by white plastic clips. If that's what you're after, I probably have some in my bag of random clips off the partsfinder.

No, I think you would have to break off a corner of the glovebox itself to get a screwdriver in there. Maybe you could get a pair of pliers around behind and back the screw out from the pointy end, but I doubt it.

Busted plug is weird. Hopefully the outside was busted, not the part inside the cylinder? Remove the distributor cap and have someone crank the engine while you watch the rotor. If the rotor doesn't spin when the engine does, your timing belt has let go. Hopefully it's not that. These engines are an interference design that bends exhaust valves when that happens. If the rotor is spinning, that suggests you've lost spark for another reason, probably electrical. Check fuses and fusible links. Run codes as well, see if you've got a code 21 (ignition signal missing in primary coil). I haven't driven a manual Pathy, so I'm not familiar with the interlock switch, and I'm not seeing an indicator light for the interlock in the service manual. Is this the backlight that comes on with the rest of the dash lights, or something else? If the issue turns out to be electrical, this could help narrow down where the fault is. I would start by checking fuses and fuse links, though.

Does it have spark?

Late reply, but I had a look at the parts car, and I don't think you could get to the top screw for the end cap without busting out part of the glove box.

Is it spinning over? Does it have spark? The interlock prevents you from spinning the starter without the clutch in, the switch lets you bypass it. If the engine is spinning, the interlock is not the problem.

I was ready to tear mine apart too until Adamzan said to check the seal. Passing it on.

That's a good idea! I've seen switches like that on Amazon/eBay with all kinds of stuff written on them, nice to know you can custom-order too.

When the crank seal on mine failed, the washer on the crank flung the oil away from the seal. Where the oil ended up made me think the oil pump was the problem. A new crank seal got rid of the leak. I know you just did yours--all the same I would open it up and check that the crank seal isn't the problem (scuffed crank, groove where the seal rides, spring popped out during installation, defective seal) before assuming the oil pump gasket chose this moment to give up. I don't know how worn your engine is at 345k, but unless it has absolutely hellacious blowby or a clogged PCV valve, crankcase pressure shouldn't be the issue here. If you do have to drop the oil pump, dropping the pan a few inches may let you get to the pump, but you'll need more than that to properly clean and re-seal the pan. At some point the PITA of working on an engine with a truck in the way outweighs the PITA of pulling the engine.

I've welded a lot of sheet metal, and I think I'd rather wrestle with the wiring harness than weld/grind/bodywork all the way around the cab. Don't think I've heard of a spindle snapping off like that. At least you noticed the bolts before the caliper joined them!