We would need good photos to get an idea of the rust. Since I live in michigan I KNOW cars rust out FAST. My 1990 Olds Cutlass Ciera had the rear end break loose from the body with only 101k miles on it
25mpg, great runner, and didn't drive it easy at all and was a mid sized car with a v6 3.3L known as a 3300 built by Olds, but used in several cars (my dad is a olds fan, king of torque with a lil modding).
A lot of front wheel drive cars have issues with the engine cradle where it bolts to the body of the car with either rusted out washers or the actual metal of the cradle rusts away, very very common on cars with the v6 3300 (3.3L) like my old car was and is how my dad originally picked it up for $200, fixed it in the lady's driveway (washers) and drove it home and she was scared he was going to die lol. If the actual cradle is rusted out, there isn't a lot of hope, if you can't do the work your self (pulling engine etc) then you would be better off buying another car. If it isn't too bad, but getting bad I would say keep driving it but start looking for a cheap car asap.
If you can't hear the fuel pump, then that should be what is wrong. What I would do is go under the hood, find the relay for the pump and follow wires to find what is positive and negative. Then look at the diagram on the relay to see which pins are shorted when energized (straight across I think). Then take a jumper wire and jump the power to the pump to see if it runs. If it does then it is either a fuse is blown (visual check) or the relay don't work (does it click when you turn the key on?). Some cars don't run the pump at all after the fuel system is up to pressure but engine isn't running, so crank it a little (around a second) and listen.
For a more accurate voltage meter, I would say a digital multimeter would be simple enough. Ground the black wire anywhere there is metal (seat bolt comes to mind) and the positive needs to run to a power supply wire such as for the radio or directly to the battery. Only problem is the fact it runs on battery and wont stay on for a long time. If an analog one is used, I think it could be setup to not use batteries but could be hard to get good readings since the needle tends to move easy. I think automotive ones have something to slow down that effect.
Just searched for a few different types of cars that I'm sure have plenty of room for better MPG and have a good starting spot already (30mpg+) and came up with a few under $1000. Most are closer to me (mid michigan) and further down is closer to you.
Toyota Corolla 1990
$350! -
'91 Toyota Corolla
$950 for a 99 is cheap but over heats (coolent issues I bet, my Camry NEVER runs the fan driving) infact I had a 1991 corolla that I beat the snot out of in the woods and it never kicked the fans on expect when I was mudding it while rev limiting, and after a few passes blowing out the timing belt! -
99 toyota corolla
$500 camry -
'93 TOYOTA CAMRY (my dad picked up a lot of them, this one screams power steering delete, but I haven't tested my own if that is a good idea or not)
Honda accord $750 -
93 honda accord
Found a honda civic within 10 miles of me for $650! Needs CV axles, I think that is my new project areo car
. Good luck car hunting if you need to replace the Anal Probe
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EDIT: Dang Civic must have sold, checked listing when I got up and it is deleted now
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I reread your post above, first time I completely missed the Geo link. I don't know much about Geos, my dad said they are a built on the bit of the tin-y side and lowend engine problems are pretty common. Them links auto naming really throws me off lol.