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If it doesn't work out, bring the car to Michigan and I'll pay ya scrap value for it =).
Not much to mess up on the pump, it's 2 hoses and a 2 pin electrical connector and 3 mounting bolts. It's just a tight fit getting to it. After it's hooked up, you turn the car on and open the bleeder to purge the air out. There's some youtube videos on how to do it.
It's pretty easy to check if the pump is running, just turning the car to ready mode the pump will be running. If you feel no vibration on the hose, or can't see any flow in the resivor, then the pump isn't working.
The engine coolant valve code sounds like one of the issues existed, and the other recently popped up since the engine coolant system and inverter coolant system are isolated. The only thing they share is the radiator, but the compartments are separate.
If your car has the factory catalytic converts on it yet, those are worth close to the value of the car, worst comes to worst, could cut those off and get someone to pay a fair price for them (or ebay them) and sell the rest of the car to a junk yard or scrap yard. Locally that's $200/ton and the car is 1.5 tons. That puts scrap value around $1500-1800 complete.
Always good to look at all options, I'm huge anti debt for the way I live, so the only way I'd replace a vehicle is if I could afford to buy it out right with no loans. Save a ton of insurance, no interest, older car plates are cheaper. Generally older cars also have cheaper insurance as they are safer too. My 1997 Corolla was cheaper insurance with 2 air bags than my 2006 Prius. Insurance company owner told me it's because there's more metal in the corolla and there's less chance of getting hurt in a wreck. That reminds me, I recently got a dash cam I need to install, and I need to ask my insurance company if there's any kind of discount for having the dash cam. It makes legal battles much simpler if there's ever an issue, no going off of what someone says, just watch the video.
My Corolla hit 305k miles before the gas tank straps rotted off the car, still runs and drives but from sitting the brake lines rusted out too. I also have a 92 camry with 300k miles. My dad's Toyota T100 pickup 4x4 has 330k miles and still going. Toyota makes very good vehicles, just Michigan is terrible on any vehicle due to the salts used during winter. My 1990 Lexus LS400 is just getting a little rust around the wheel wells in the rear (it's RWD) and V8 powered, but it only has around 240k miles currently.
Anyway, I replaced my pump and all seems good with my car, code didn't come back and I put the grill block back in. When the code came up, I removed the grill block and it didn't come back, so efficient driving can keep the inverter from over heating even with no coolant flow.
There's always a plan D too, if you have any colleges near you, call them and check if they have an automotive repair class. It's pretty common for them to work on vehicles for people so the students get hands on experience. I'm not sure if you have to pay for anything besides parts or not though. If you know anyone wanting to be a mechanic, it's a simple enough job to do, not much to mess up besides not "burping" the system or leaving a hose clamp off. I'm sure my cousin would have loved to be paid to fix a car back when he was taking automotive repair classes. I think he was in high-school back then too so that might be another spot to check.
Either case, good luck with whichever route you go with the car.
Talking about the car, I was hoping I could get 50mpg out of my car driving it "normal", but I got 46mpg instead. Once I slowed down and tried to coast as much as possible (nothing too extreme) my last tank was 55mpg. I see trips 60-65mpg fairly often, but I'm traveling at 40-45mph in a 55mph zone out in the country and 55-60mph on the express way gets me about 50mpg for longer trips with just a lower grill block. My cat is reporting as bad (P0420), but I live in a state with no emissions testing, so probably going to delete it and cash in on the scrap value of it and get to keep the car still. I've wondered if the cat being deleted would effect mpg much as it is a bit of a restriction in the exhaust. Not exactly the best "green" mod to do of course, but buying an electric vehicle isn't really green either when you consider where the power comes from (most likely coal for most areas of the usa), how the car is built, batteries, mining for materials, etc.
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