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

[DEATH]

Cont.
The Job:
Replace all heater and coolant hoses on the engine and bay. Stop that nasty leak I can't seem to find.
The Materials:
-(2) Bottles of Genuine Toyota For Life Coolant/Antifreeze [Red]
-2.5' of Goodyear small diameter Heater Hose [forgot the ID now]
-5' of Goodyear 16MM ID Heater Hose
-5' of Goodyear large diameter Heater Hose [forgot that one too - I know I suck]
-(1) Replacement Upper Radiator Hose [The one nearest the engine]
-Hundreds of new hose clamps of various sizes and types including OEM T-Bolt clamps
-(3) Monster Energy Drinks
-1/2 Pack of Marlboro Red 100's smoked in frustration
The Tools:
-Full set of Snap-on mechanics tools
-Full set of craftsman tools
-(1) 4 Car garage with lift, Honda Aircompressor [It was bigger than a b16 and surely puts out more TQ ], welding gear, brake lathe, tire balancer and one big ass fan that kept me "cool" all day.
I believe in being over prepared - especially on Sunday in a small town an hour away from your city.

Sunday - Drove the car to Brenham, Tx to my GFs GPs house to use the lift and make the job of replacing the coolant hoses and heater core feed and return lines. MAN WHAT A CHORE! The 3S-GTE must have 3x the hoses the 5S-FE has and all the little ones grouped around the turbo are a serious PITA. There are also two bolted together on a mounting flange behind the intake manifold that were also a pain to get to - even from underneath. I ended up putting the lift all the way up [I'm 6'3"] getting under the engine and having someone lower it about 6" and then I could reach it pretty easy.
The worst one by far was the large line to the Turbo - it has a 90 from the factory and it's only about 1.5" long on each side and is 3/4 ID [or so - I forget already]. So if you don't buy the OEM part and just get a length of regular heater hose then it will kink and starve the turbo for water. So after messing around with that one for half an hour cutting peices and retrying I asked the GF's grandfather who is a mechanic and hotrod builder from waaaaay back if he thought it would be cool to just make a big loop to avoid kinking or reducing the ID at all. He said sure but he also understands my drive for perfection in this car and the need to have things look good as well. Luckily I ended up finding a long heater hose that already had the necessary bend and just cut it down to fit. Problem solved? Hell no. That damn hose fit so well that it didn't want to push over the beading on the piping at all. So I learned a few things yesterday:
1. Hose Assembly Lube exists and it is a wonderful, wonderful thing! Just a little dab of this stuff on the ID of the new tube and it slides on like - well lets not get into that I just wish "someone" had thought to tell me it existed and was available right in the garage not 3 feet from where I struggled with all the rest of the hoses all day.
2. Hard work is great but there is something to be said for having the right tools for the job. [see below description]
3. OEM Coolant hose clamps suck - badly. They go on fine but getting them off in a tight spot and not destroying or removing your sensors is not fun - at all. Did you know they made plyers and clamps specifically for removing these Hose Clamps of Satan? I didn't. Again, I just wish "someone" had told me they were next to the hose assembly lube.
A lift is now a priority in my life. I will own one before too long.
So where was the leak then? LeakS is more correct. Many of the hoses that were the hardest to reach behind the engine had no hose clamps whatsoever on them and were spraying at high temps leaving a pink residue [Was useful for diagnosing tho]. Now every hose on that car has a regular screw type hose clamp or better yet in some cases an OEM T-Bolt Clamp. No more leaks as of yet - even after an hour long drive last night in the oppressive Texas heat [I watched it all through the turbo timer's 2 mins and checked my shallow pan I left under the car last night after I warmed up the car this morning]. Both the radiator and the overflow have the proper amount of coolant still - even as of lunch time today.
Now all I have to do is fix the overflow spout on my Koyo Racing Radiator, bend the upper radiator support's flange back slightly, install along with the TRD radiator hoses and thermostat I will put on order tomorrow.

This post has been edited by DEATH: Jul 7, 2008 - 6:19 PM