Just wanted to update everyone about what has gone on with Vicki's heart transplant:

We're about a month and a half, and 3,000 miles into the engine transplant and everything is going well. I don't want to say that the new motor doesn't burn ANY oil because I did have to add just a little bit the other day during a gas stop, but that is the first time that I have had to add oil in nearly 3000 miles. Since I used to have to add 3/4 of a quart every 300 miles, the new engine is a VAST improvement over the old one. The new engine does run a few degrees warmer than the old one did, but the mechanic said that is normal due to the tight tolerances with the new engine and it should run cooler as everything breaks in.

There were/are a couple of issues that happened during the swap. Apparently the mechanic had to drop the front axle out of the way in order to get to some bolts either on the starter or on the bell housing (can't remember which). When they did that the passenger side inner CV boot tore so they had to replace the boot. We are all still waiting on a new sensor that connects to the steering box, I think. Apparently, and this took a while to figure out, it senses when the VX is at a low speed and bumps up the RPM's of the motor to allow the steering pump to work harder thus making it easier to steer. The wire leading to this sensor had been broken for a while so it must not be all that important to the operation of the VX, but we figured that we should replace it to get everything back to factory. The sensor is on extreme backorder and won't be in from Isuzu until November sometime. Either way, I'm still driving Vicki and everything seems to be going fine so we'll just replace the sensor when it comes in.

One other issue that has popped up is a knock sensor throwing a check engine light. The knock sensor was moved from the old engine to the new one so who knows what's going on with it. The check engine light only comes on when I hit 35 to 40 mph the first time after starting the VX. If I clear it then it won't come on again until I stop the VX and turn the key off. The next time I start the car, whether it's 10 minutes or 10 hours later, the CEL will come back on the next time I hit 35 to 40 mph. It's got me a little baffled, but since I can't hear any knocking in the engine I can only guess that the sensor itself is bad.

All in all I'm extremely happy with the new engine and it's great to have Vicki back on the road again.