While you're looking at this view, consider protecting that little crescent-roll shaped thing on the left. This is your transmission mode switch, and it's a common weak point of the VX. Some people have suggested some extra shielding on the exhaust pipe where it passes by. I personally haven't added any protection, yet, but I've done the switch replacement, and although it wasn't all that difficult, a couple cents worth of prevention probably isn't a bad idea.
I opened up my switch, and although I can't quite see what caused it to fail, blaming it on the heat of the nearby cat can't be too far off.