Finally.... my VX craps out....

[WormGod]

Well, I may have one of the only VXs that has NEVER had to go back to the dealer for anything. Maintained and taken care of more than I take care of myself even. Hell, the dealers probably dont even know mine exists except for when it left the dealer about 5 years ago. Well, it did go back once when the antenna was hit my lightning, but that proved to be nothing more than a melted antenna, heh.

So.... she is finally off for some much needed work. I came out into my garage Sat morning to take her to get her emissions testing done, and there was a horrendous smell in the garage. I found a huge puddle of various liquids on the floor under the engine bay. I popped the hood and found something from a horror movie. The battery (OEM) had exploded and the battery acid had gone to town on nearly everything. Wire, hoses, belts, plastic covers, even the entire plastic composite top of the radiator had been melted away. It ate it's way through my passenger side headlight assembly and burned up the hood insulation. I seriously thought I was gonna cry. Needless to say, a few screams of profanities that could be heard throughout my neighborhood sufficed.

Now, check this out.... I called a local ISUZU dealer about me having it towed there for repairs and the shop manager said, and I kid you not, "Ah, a VehiCROSS.... I would check some other ISUZU dealers. I don't know that out techs are very familiar with them so I don't think we should do the work." WHAT?!?!?! Ah well, at least he was honest about his techs SUCKING before I found out on my own. Regardless of the real reason, they don't sound like the guys I want working on my VX anyways. So, I am gonna deal with the guys that do the work on my WRX. Trustworthy, but expensive. They already called about some of the major parts I know that are screwed and have them ordered. They said about 3-5 days for the headlight assembly and the radiator. The rest is gonn ahave to wait till I get the poor VX towed to them.

It was a very sad weekend for me indeed.

And no, my insurance (State Farm) said they will not cover that damage due to the fact that it is related to the battery. They told me to deal with the warranty concerning that. Funny.... a battery covered under warranty after almost 5 years? Ya.... right. They would give me a rental car though. Oh joy! Thanks, but I have a second car.Whatever.

So, my VX fun continues.

[etlsport]

OOOF thats rough, sorry man! id also avoid the isuzu dealer in frederick, i stopped in there to try and order a few parts, i told the parts guy i was looking for a roof rack for a VehiCross and he says a what? i say.. vehicross! and point out towards the parking lot, he says, we only deal with isuzu and audi.. i thanked him and left...

do you know what caused your battery to go byebye? is it the stock battery?
best of luck tracking down your parts.. (and if you happen to find a junkyard VX make sure to let us know!)

[VX4EJR]

I would try to get after the car battery manufacturer, provided nothing other than normal/oem use, conditions and wiring existed under the hood. In other words...no additional wiring, fuses, splicing, etc was added or present.

Get the battery manuf on the hook for fault or defects, to pay for repair and any alcohol consumption you endured after the event...because I know I'd be a basket case.

[Cyrk]

That SUCKS... good luck with it all.

[nfpgasmask]

Oh Wormy, that sucks! And I was just talking with Anita earlier today and we were both saying how much we love the look of your VX!

I'm curious about your battery too, was this the regular stock battery? I have never heard of a battery exploding like this....I installed an Optima Red Top after I bought it, I hope these types are devoid of this kind of problem!

I hope it all gets worked out for you.

Bart

[VehiX]

I feel sorry for you man. I don't know how I would have reacted to that situation at all!

That's so wierd, you had probably two of the most rare occurances that could ever happen to a vehicle happen to your VX! First, it gets struck by lightning and now your battery explodes. What are the chances of that?!

Note to self: Use caution if I ever hang out with Gary

Seriously though, I hope it all works out for you in the end.

[Joe_Black]

That's nasty! Sorry to hear about it and hope you get it squared away with minimal stress.

I've seen the results of various automotive and industrial engine batteries exploding and it can be as minor as some cosmetic damage to as serious as major fire and even serious injuries. Using the Optima batteries virtually emlinates the chance for this to happen as the construction doesn't create the conditions needed for a common wet cell to explode.

[uncle_asa]

It's terrible. I really sorry.

The only good thing here is that new parts you install in replacemant are new parts. So you will not worry about they fail on the road.

Good luck to you with the rapair!

[Hotsauce]

Make sure you check the timing belt before its started again. If the belt cover shows any damage at all I'd want the belt replaced.

John C.

[WormGod]

After 100 phone calls yesterday, I ended up dealing with, get this, an Acura dealer. The shop I was gonna work with totally disrespected me and treated me like crap when I spoke with the owner yesterday evening, so they have lost my business. Their business, not mine, so screw em.

The Acura dealer was an interesting find. My friend Anne was the CFO there and told me to try them out. So, I called and they said they had a tech there that came from an ISUZU dealer and they would talk with him. They called me back and said sure, he can do it, and as a matter of fact, he loves to work on VehiCROSS's. So, sounds good to me. It's a very reputable Acura dealer. Today I get to hunt down a flatbed company to tow the VX there.... the whole 50 miles from my house. I know a guy that owns a company, so hopefully he will cut me a friendly deal.

As for the battery, it was the OEM, to the best of my knowledge. It was the original battery that i bought it with. The brand was Panasonic, which I have honestly never even heard of as far as batteries. Insurance and warranty are totally out the window on this one. This is an out-of-pocket pickup, unfortunately. I dropped a brand new Die-Hard in just to check electrical and all seems ok there, and the engine turns over instantly, but the risk of the damaged radiator leaves it sitting the driveway until a tow takes her to the shop. The acid did it's fair share of munching on anything plastic though. The battery sleeve is all but gone and the powder coating on the framework just below is meat. There will be a fair share of cleanup once she is back on her feet.

Just another one of those things.

[SPAZZ]

but, ISUZU won't cover any portion of your warranty that they can weisel out of.

They told me they wouldn't cover my VX at only 10,000 miles when it was bone stock due to the fact that I had changed the air filter to a K&N inside the air box. I still had the stock air box, but I didn't keep the stock brand of filter. Everything thing else was still stock. It was getting horrible mileage and they said they would not honor the warranty because I had "Moddified" the vehicle.

They said the same thing about the charging system and so on. Eventually I finally did "Moddify" my VX

I should have just parked across the Isuzu lot and spray painted "ISUZU LEMON" on it and seen how long it took for them to fix it.

That is why I'll never buy another Isuzu again. Sales department was AWESOME!!!! Service department sucks ***

[Joe_Black]

Be fair Spazz, you're talking about Isuzu America.

[kpaske]

That is why I'll never buy another Isuzu again. Sales department was AWESOME!!!! Service department sucks ***

Isn't that how it is with most stealerships? Once they've got the sale, they could care less if you're happy with their service. I'm already starting to see the same thing happen with my new VW.

[WormGod]

Well, picked up the VX on Saturday. The shop did a GREAT job with the repairs. Ended up sandblasting the frame area and repainting/undercoating it where the acid ate the paint off even.

Fixed/replaced:
-radiator
-battery tray
-battery harness/wiring cluster
-fuse box
-hood latch (by my request, just fixed, not replaced)
-fan shroud
-fan serpentine belt
-other various wires and hoses

Things untouched:
-passenger side headlight assembly (they were able to repair it but it still looks hideous.... said it would take a few weeks to get one in for $416 in any case)
-a particular radiator hose which is on "international backprder", which apparently means, good luck getting one. the one on there is ok, but with minor damage
-underhood insulation, also on international backorder

In all, it ran $1800. Most of it I could have done myself, but I refuse to play with the wiring. Better to let someone else be responsible for that, heh. I told them not to worry about the headlight, hose, and insulation. I will just try to hunt those down myself, even though they offered to keep their eye open for them. At least it is back on the road and drivable again.

[Joe_Black]

Glad to hear it came out so well! For the radiator hose did they try just sourcing one from a Trooper? Your local AutoZone may just have it!

I might be able to help you out on the under hood insulation, let me know if interested. Or, you could just apply a DynaMat Extreme underhood kit.

What part of the headlight assembly is damaged and how?