I have the same 1288 as Gunrunnerjohn with the small tender.
My tender did not have the pinched wires/clearance issues as I opened it to check. Apparently a board mounting change was made before mine was built.
It does not have the electrocoupler wire issue either.
It did however, have the tender access hatch not sitting flush. This is due to one of the mounting posts for the hatch being cast too short, this flaw may be the most common with this tender. John added washers to resolve his. I backed off the screw on the short post and tightened the one on the longer post to correct the problem.
It also had one tender shell mounting screw missing, I managed to run across one that would fit in my train room. Johns had a couple that had stripped heads.
Its easy enough to open the tender and check things out to be on the safe side. I would recommend doing so if you purchase one.
Actually, in this "new" age of Lionel, I'd go over anything I buy and check for missing or loose screws and any other flaws.
I'm ready to start selling off my Lionel and replacing it with MTH. One has to look long and hard for an MTH issue thread, even harder when it pertains to an out of the box loco.