theferg
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #81
Dude had added allpro sliders with custom fender bars, a cbi rear bumper and swing-out, boxed the rear frame in, swapped out the OME and put in an Icon suspension, went through with converting it to 5-speed manual (I had collected almost everything necessary for the swap and sold it all to him as part of our original deal), and then he drove it 50k miles.
The suspension and rear swing out are making a few clunks that I'll be tracking down, but overall, I'm pretty happy with the additional mods he did to it.
The bad news is, it threw a check engine code the second he rolled into my driveway. (Of course!) It was late and they were trying to get to a camping spot so he said to just let him know what it was and we'd work it out. They left, I hopped in and took it for a spin. I got it out to the highway a half-mile from my house and tried to let 'er rip and I immediately lost power/throttle and stalled the motor. Rolled to the side of the road, restarted the motor and the skinny pedal was acting super strange... wouldn't get any response from it until it was about half-way down, then it would give a little, then I'd try letting the clutch out and feather the gas a bit and it would just kinda stutter and buck a bit. Took a bit, but I was able to limp back home and get it back up the driveway. Felt quite defeated and super bummed. It was late so I said screw it and went to bed and would deal with it the next morning.
Came out the next morning, immediately hooked up the Bluetooth scanner and checked for codes. It showed a p2112 -- "throttle actuator control system - stuck closed". Reset the code and hopped in to try taking another spin. Got halfway around the block and got the same thing to happen again the second I tried to give it any significant amount of skinny pedal. Reset the code and tried again. Code again. Reset again. Played that sh*tty game back and forth a few times, limping my way back around the block and into the driveway. If you've never experienced the limp mode on these 03-04s ETCS-i, its an absolute bitch with a manual, let me tell you. Once back, I started googling. Found all the 700 threads on TTORA and customtacos and tacomaworld on the APPS and TPS throttle body issues that seems to plague the 03-04 ETCS-i system--especially with trucks that are supercharged, which this one has been for the past ~65k miles or so. Took me like 3 days to read through all the long threads, but I finally finished them, only to find nobody freaking knows how to fix it, only speculation. Seems the folks having the best luck with that issue are ones that get a new throttle body assembly and do the coolant bypass mod. However, mine throwing the 'stuck valve' code though might not be that /exact/ "mystery" issue cause a lot of those wouldn't get any codes, just limp mode.
So I talked to the dude I bought it back from about what was happening. He assured me he had no idea. Said he drove it the whole way from LA to here in Southern Utah without skipping a beat. Said he even had the truck checked over by a mechanic the week before to make sure all was well (I'll get to it later, but I found a few more things that a mechanic should have easily found, so i told him he should find a new mechanic.) But he offered to pay for whatever the fix is or even buy the truck right back. I told him I'd pull the TB and try cleaning it up and see if that does the trick at all and go from there. But, I had hand-wrist-elbow surgery just barely 2 months ago and I'm just barely getting to where I can kinda use that lefthand now a bit for some simple tasks. But still in a lot of pain and limited movement. I think I can get to where I can get the TB off--or at least remove the intake tube and check the TB function a bit.. Gonna give it go tomorrow. If not, I'll tow it over to my favorite local independent Toyota/Lexus experts here in Southern Utah--Pro Auto Care. Stay tuned for the next episode I guess. Haha.
The suspension and rear swing out are making a few clunks that I'll be tracking down, but overall, I'm pretty happy with the additional mods he did to it.
The bad news is, it threw a check engine code the second he rolled into my driveway. (Of course!) It was late and they were trying to get to a camping spot so he said to just let him know what it was and we'd work it out. They left, I hopped in and took it for a spin. I got it out to the highway a half-mile from my house and tried to let 'er rip and I immediately lost power/throttle and stalled the motor. Rolled to the side of the road, restarted the motor and the skinny pedal was acting super strange... wouldn't get any response from it until it was about half-way down, then it would give a little, then I'd try letting the clutch out and feather the gas a bit and it would just kinda stutter and buck a bit. Took a bit, but I was able to limp back home and get it back up the driveway. Felt quite defeated and super bummed. It was late so I said screw it and went to bed and would deal with it the next morning.
Came out the next morning, immediately hooked up the Bluetooth scanner and checked for codes. It showed a p2112 -- "throttle actuator control system - stuck closed". Reset the code and hopped in to try taking another spin. Got halfway around the block and got the same thing to happen again the second I tried to give it any significant amount of skinny pedal. Reset the code and tried again. Code again. Reset again. Played that sh*tty game back and forth a few times, limping my way back around the block and into the driveway. If you've never experienced the limp mode on these 03-04s ETCS-i, its an absolute bitch with a manual, let me tell you. Once back, I started googling. Found all the 700 threads on TTORA and customtacos and tacomaworld on the APPS and TPS throttle body issues that seems to plague the 03-04 ETCS-i system--especially with trucks that are supercharged, which this one has been for the past ~65k miles or so. Took me like 3 days to read through all the long threads, but I finally finished them, only to find nobody freaking knows how to fix it, only speculation. Seems the folks having the best luck with that issue are ones that get a new throttle body assembly and do the coolant bypass mod. However, mine throwing the 'stuck valve' code though might not be that /exact/ "mystery" issue cause a lot of those wouldn't get any codes, just limp mode.
So I talked to the dude I bought it back from about what was happening. He assured me he had no idea. Said he drove it the whole way from LA to here in Southern Utah without skipping a beat. Said he even had the truck checked over by a mechanic the week before to make sure all was well (I'll get to it later, but I found a few more things that a mechanic should have easily found, so i told him he should find a new mechanic.) But he offered to pay for whatever the fix is or even buy the truck right back. I told him I'd pull the TB and try cleaning it up and see if that does the trick at all and go from there. But, I had hand-wrist-elbow surgery just barely 2 months ago and I'm just barely getting to where I can kinda use that lefthand now a bit for some simple tasks. But still in a lot of pain and limited movement. I think I can get to where I can get the TB off--or at least remove the intake tube and check the TB function a bit.. Gonna give it go tomorrow. If not, I'll tow it over to my favorite local independent Toyota/Lexus experts here in Southern Utah--Pro Auto Care. Stay tuned for the next episode I guess. Haha.
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