[david-b]

Congrats on your purchase. Sounds like you have an idea on what's going on with this car.

The 2nd O2 just verifies that the 1st O2 is working correctly. If the exhaust gas is not getting to it, it will trigger the Check Engine Light, but will not harm or cause any problems. The lack of a full exhaust, being a non-turbo car, will cause it to run poorly due to lack of back-pressure. However, that would not cause the car to die like you're reporting.

The cooling fan will only turn on once the coolant sensor reads a certain temp. If the car is dying before it hits that temp, it wouldn't have had a chance to turn on. The other fan (passenger side) is the AC fan. When you turn on the AC, does that fan turn on at all? Turn it on to full blast while the car is cold and let it run and see if the fan turns on.

The coolant temp sensor (CLT) will cause problems. I would ask if the CEL is on, but I would imagine it is based on the 2nd O2 not really being there. It still wouldn't hurt to get the codes pulled if possible. Try replacing the CLT and see if that works. It's only ~$14, and rather easy to installed. Also, check the wire going to the sensor for breaks or splits.