All of those issues have been dealt with. The dying was an oil leak at the filter adapter soaking the crank position sensor. The terrible performance was a previous timing belt job gone south. 3 of 4 cams were off. The multiple transmission codes only set after the car died in motion and the trans had to deal with no rpm while coasting. This car runs like a jewel now. I had spent so much time and $ chasing symptoms about everything imaginable that could be replaced has been. All the way down to the thermostat. All the while it was faulty timing. I really believe the previous wrench did not tighten the idler and tensioner retainer bolt to spec. It calls for a healthy 30 ft lbs on the one small bolt. Allowing them to relax and throw off timing. She's a blast to drive. Even had me looking at a used Catera. Prolly not. Thanks to those who helped. Kevin

 

Awesome to hear it's running the way {insert appropriate deity} meant it to! Thank you for coming back to close this out.
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Reminder #2 (all users on the forum)

*Please* keep all posts related to the same issue in the same thread. No one who comes along later will have a clue that there are more posts on topic let alone that the issues listed were addressed.

I truly appreciate people coming back to close out their threads. So do the people that come after us in search of information. Please help keep that information easily accessible by posting it all in a single thread.

Again, congrats on the triumph!