$454 seems a bit high, IMHO. I cant remember what I paid but it was in the $200-300 range.

Depending on whether you consider your dealership's service dept. a good shop or not, you may want to let them do at least some of the work. A good relationship can go a long way when it comes to borderline past- warranty work when they could do some freebie work here and there. Like I said, depends if you got a good shop or not.

Make sure the work done is according to the VX manual and not just the generic Isuzu 15K list. And if you do it yourself, keep ALL your receipts.