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

[6strngs]

definately zip tie that wire to the AC lines or something so it doesn't fall into the belt. and I'm with Lagos, $200 for a grounding kit is outrageous. you can get a grounding kit on ebay for way cheaper and it'll do the same thing, which won't be much... as long as all your factory grounds are good, you shouldn't need a grounding kit. more grounds won't hurt, but I doubt it would be much better than just having good clean grounds where you are supposed to.

[DEATH]

95celGT - Yeah no problem. I would feel the same way [then again I doubt I'll ever sell her].
as for whatever ground may have been there before - Toyota was just working in that area immediaetly before the problem started. Chances are since it was not stock - they didn't know to put it back. Either that or when I rebuilt the motor cause this seemed to make all the issues go away.
Now I need to double check the timing and a few other things but she feels solid and smooth like a stock vehicle again.
You'd be surprised at the shear amount of upgradeing and little issue fixing I've done to this car since I bought it. I've spent well over $2500 on her in two months and I've got solid plans in the works to spend another $2500 on her over the next few months as well [which is why $200 on the Apex'I kit doesn't sound like a bad idea to me - especially if it will reduce alt whine in the audio/video system I'm designing for her (fully removable of course - can't be weighing her down now can I? it'll be really subtle too - got a plan for the one screen I'm installing that will probably turn a few heads on this site]. The A/C delete and the fabrication of the mounts for the intercooler were free other than bracket material, cleaning up of the wiring in the dash, under the hood. Alot of replacement of interior components and using all stock mounting hardware, seat belts, new horns [3], and installing the fcuking crash bar , new window controls, JDM folding Mirrors [still not wired to fold automatically but it's in the works], monitoring equipment, new silicone hose [About 50% completed], The Turbo will be rebuilt soon, SAFC-II installed and some Dyno Tuning, got to get the Koyo Radiator installed, AEM Wideband UEGO, EGT Gauge, Oil Pressure gauge, Water Temp, Volt meter a second Boost gauge to be installed near the turbo so I can read pressure drop across the IC, New tires [might buy some high dollar 5 Spoke Enkies in a similar style], new suspension bushings, Upgraded sway bars, new struts or adjustable coilovers, new upholstry/headliner, and eventually I'd like to get a front bumper made up like Martin's.

definately zip tie that wire to the AC lines or something so it doesn't fall into the belt.

That pic was just taken to illustrate the placement of the ground wire. I don't leave any work on any of my Celicas in this kind of halfassed way. Immediately afterr I took that pic prior to test driving her I secured it up the right way.

This post has been edited by DEATH: Mar 27, 2008 - 8:54 AM