DEATH's GT2 Progress [Updated 01-24-13], 6 years/60k? Miles and FCUKING RIDICULOUS!!! Options

[DEATH]

As the topic says my car wants to die on me. Actually before I get to the current problem I'll detail my 4 day weekend/Gremlin attacks:
1. [Thurs - day one of a promising 4 day weekend ] I should mention first that noone ever works on my car but me - but I've had it with opening the engine for at least a few months so: Got the intake cam set properly finally by a Toyota dealership for the cheapest price anyone quoted me! I went to Joe Myers Toyota as the last shop I was gonna try just for sh*ts and giggles and through some stroke of fate I got the coolest service manager ever. My budget was to be $200 tops with the work done in one day. First shop tells me all kinds of BS that I know isn't true about the 3S and he quoted 4 hours labor [$400] and 3day wait. I laughed and left there . After shopping around 4 different other shops the best price was $210 with same day service. As I already said I went to Toyota for the hell of it [and to pick up some oil filters for the oil change I was planning for Fri morning] and they looked it up and said it's 2.5hrs labor at $100 each so $250 - over budget so I was gonna try to talk the $210 guy down to $200 tax included. Then the service guy said "well if I charge you for a timing belt job it'll still be $250 but I can take the cost of the belt off since your belt is only 2mos old. So that took the price down to $180+tax - perfect. To make things even sweeter I got to request my old friend NachoNismo [Toyota Tech at JMT] and he and his team did a beautiful job on it and even gave me free diagnostics, trouble code print out and several other freebies [BTW only code showing was 42 - Speedsensor not giving the ECM a signal within 8sec after hard driving? Could this be the same problem that won't allow my speedo to work? GT Tranny BTW]. When I went to pay my bill I got another pleasant surpise - $150 including tax!
So I got invited to the TX2K8 [Annual North American Supra Meet] dinner and meet at Frank-N-Steins and went there:
2. [Friday night] Blew my turbo coupling [the first one attached to the compressor outlet] into tiny little shreds so had to limp home with no boost [not a fun way to spend a 45min drive with a grouchy GF, two sleeping teens in the back seat and a pissed off Mega Chihuahua on the back hatch cover at 2:30 in the morning]. Got home and fixed that but discovered the coolant return line from the Turbo was spraying coolant [evidenced by the pancakes smell of burning off Toyota For Life Coolant]. Put a clamp on that and refilled the coolant with another $10 worth of coolant. So I need to take my GF to a Fetish Ball [Not like I wanted to go or anything ] clear on the other side of Houston about an hour away:
3. [Sat Night] So I get all the Gremlins slayed and start the car with the hood open, observing all the fixed problems and the gauges until the car warms up. So I back out of the garage and turn the lights on and Bam! - the car trys to die and generally runs like sh*t. Turn off the lights and idle returns to normal. Hit the brakes and the idle again drops and the engine runs like sh*t. And here's the real slap to the face - roll down the window and the car wants to die! So the GF is pissed again cause she's been looking forward to this for 3 months. Luckily for her Havok and his lady are going anyway so they offer to drive us and drop us off later [Thanks again Bro!] and we go to the FB and altho I usually enjoy myself immensly at these things my mind is with the car back in the garage and I ate something bad and felt like puking [almost did several times actually - Dry heaving FTL ]
4. [Sun] Woke up at 5PM with absolutely no energy and no drive to work on the car

So after that long dissertation I'd like to thank this guy for the very interesting weekend:

Fcukin asshats always playing games under my hood

Now to my questions [Alltracman - help me out buddy]:
1. WTF is up with that code 42 and what should I check to get it diagnosed and fixed up and hopefully finally have a working speedo?
2. WTF is up with that electronics gremlin that makes any powered accessory cause the idle to drop and almost die? My first thought is bad ground connections - sound plausible? Ideas, theories or [hopefully] past experience?
3. Why can't I just go a whole week without something fcuking up on this car? Damn I miss my trustworthy, never fails to start and run like God designed it 5S.

Now this my friends and potential swap owners is why you have no business owning a car that you yourself did not swap [or like in my case - have already swapped a Celica in the past and felt like skipping the initial headache portion of the process]. If you don't know the 3S-GTE and all you've ever owned was a 5S or 7A - don't even consider having someone else swap your car - the experience and famliarity with the engine you will gain by swapping it yourself or with some friends is priceless. Seriously.

This post has been edited by DEATH: Jan 31, 2017 - 8:23 PM

[alltracman78]

Speedo first.

Assuming the connection and wiring at the sensor is ok, the problem is most likely at the engine harness to dash harness connectors. There's 2 of them, near the ECU connectors [if you can't find them, follow the harness].
There are 3 wires for the speed sensor [these are what Lagos was referring to].
2 Go through one connector, 1 goes through the other. I don't remember which is which.
Like Lagos also said, there's not much info required to sign up on Celicatech and access the BGBs. This will give you the exact location of the wires in question.

To test the sensor, 12V to one wire [red/blue stripe?], ground to one wire, and your going to check for voltage at the third wire. Put the multimeter ground on the ground wire.
Spin the sensor and see if you have voltage. If so, sensor works.



Power issue.

This started right after the coolant spraying, correct?
Most likely that caused a problem in the alt. Did it get any coolant on it?
The problem could also be in the engine fusebox, or potentially anywhere the coolant got on wiring/sensors.

Easy way to confirm if it's the alt, remove the acc belt, start the car and see if the headlights kill it. To further isolate disconnect both connectors on the alt.
If not, most likely the alt is damaged, though there is a small possibility of something else causing it [welcome to electronics ].
If it still dies, it's not the alt, and it's something else. I would start with the fuse box [only if it got sprayed, if not, head to the most complex thing that did get sprayed].

It is also possible you had an underlying problem that surfaced [or was magnified] by the coolant.
There's nothing wrong with checking and improving your grounds regardless, that is a win/win job.

Manny hit the stock locations perfectly.
They don't have to be in those exact locations though, what you NEED is a ground from the starter to the battery [heavy gauge wire], ground from the battery to the chassis, from the trans to the chassis and from the engine to the chassis, preferably by the alt.
I improved mine years ago, and added one from the head to the trans.
Make sure you check the condition of the connections [corrosion, ect].
I used gold plated ring terminals to slow corrosion and 8 gauge wire.

[DEATH]

You fcukin rock. I love this site
Got the parts and it's starting to cool off in my garage - I'm gonna eat and then do it in a min [print that stuff too].
I got 3 of them 4ga. I'm gonna run the first one from the alt to the chasis [pass side obviously].

Speedo first.

Assuming the connection and wiring at the sensor is ok, the problem is most likely at the engine harness to dash harness connectors. There's 2 of them, near the ECU connectors [if you can't find them, follow the harness].
There are 3 wires for the speed sensor [these are what Lagos was referring to].
2 Go through one connector, 1 goes through the other. I don't remember which is which.
Like Lagos also said, there's not much info required to sign up on Celicatech and access the BGBs. This will give you the exact location of the wires in question.
To test the sensor, 12V to one wire [red/blue stripe?], ground to one wire, and your going to check for voltage at the third wire. Put the multimeter ground on the ground wire.
Spin the sensor and see if you have voltage. If so, sensor works.

I meant to ask you - did code 42 come up as a speedsensor something or other?

This post has been edited by DEATH: Mar 25, 2008 - 9:46 PM