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When we bought the VX, the original battery was completely shot. Even after idling and charging for an hour, it refused to start our 3.5L V6 (a dying alternator, which we replaced later on, probably did not help this). We replaced the battery immediately, but soon after found our battery terminals would occasionally pop off when we went to start the engine! A local shop replaced the original worn out terminals with these new cast terminals. We've been well powered ever since. We were hoping for an Optima battery, but the parts store we went to did not have the right one for our VX. Considering we were 150 miles from home and the options were take a Duralast, or be stranded, we took the Duralast. We're also slightly annoyed the shop that replaced the terminals didn't put a boot over the positive terminal. The Isuzu terminal was much smaller and the boot wouldn't fit, but seriously, this can be a safety hazard. We've since fixed this so we don't have to worry about an accidental short.The check engine light (CEL) has been a passenger with us ever since we stopped by the 'Vette museum. A quick OBD scan showed our exhaust gas recirculation valve (EGRV) had failed. In the VX, the EGRV is an electronic solenoid and is a $230 part. It's an easy enough repair but…$230 part man. Since a bad EGRV isn't a huge deal we let it go for the better part of 6 months. Occasionally though, the CEL would go out and stay off for over 100 miles at a time. This lead us to believe the EGRV itself was fine, but either the solenoid was sticking, or perhaps we had a wiring issue. The 6VE1W is a rather inefficent engine, so sooty, carbon filled exhaust could cause the EGRV solenoid to stick. The inefficent engine is not helped by the 6VE1W's tendency to burn oil either.
We started by removing the EGRV from the intake manifold. One plug and two 12mm bolts later and it popped right off (a wobble extension or U-joint is necessary to clear the lip of the cowl when removing the two bolts).
Looking inside, the tiny threaded holes that mount the EGRV to its adapter plate were filled with soot. This lead credence to our clogged EGRV theory. The solenoid itself seemed to be moving freely though. We sprayed in some carb cleaner and wiped the inside as best we could. We then sprayed the pintle of the EGRV with some WD-40 to lubricate the shaft.
Before putting the EGR back in, we looked at the connector terminals. Ah-ha Sherlock! All of that green tint is corrosion. Corroded terminals would give us exactly the intermittent problems we were having.
