I ordered new hood struts. Allow me to tell you why.
I nearly got my fingers broken when my hood fell on my right index and middle fingers, right between the nail and the first knuckle. Seriously, I was in deep s#@t. I went outside at 6:30 Saturday morning to replace the VSV (to clear the 0401 code), and because it was still cold and damp my darn hood struts wouldn't hold my hood up and it fell on me. I was trying to pull my hand out quickly and it just got me, catching both my fingers in agony. Both clicks of the hood latched, and my two fingers were stuck at about the fuse box location on the DS. I struggled for about 20 seconds to get them out, then started screaming (yes, that's what I was doing) for my wife to come rescue me. She was asleep with earplugs in her ears, and it took her about 60 seconds to wake and reach me. I was SO PISSED. Not anyone really to be mad at, I just wanted to kick something. Which I didn't do. I also didn't thank her for rescuing me, she reminded me that evening. (I thanked her a lot then.)
So, I sat in my filthy work on truck clothes with my fingers in ice water thinking about whether to try and replace the VSV. My fingers were throbbing but functional. So, I dug in and, boy was that a PITA. There is a post on here about replacing the VSV without removing the upper intake. (
Cleared 0401 without removing throttle body.) I got it done, but it took about two hours and I would say I barely got it done. Seriously, I struggled with the electrical connector for about 30 minutes. It was brutal. I thought a few times about abandoning the job and just ordering the gaskets to remove the intake, and do the injectors at the same time, blah blah blah. But, then I just tried to keep working forward and take a different approach and I eventually got it done.
Funny thing is when I took out the VSV and tested it the VSV tested fine per the FSM. That didn't make me feel very good. So, I had a $110 part in my aching hand, and was thinking, "So, do I replace it or just put it back in?" Well, my fuel pump relay had tested fine, too, when it was failing intermittently, and though the old VSV tested fine I felt like the air flow was a bit more restrictive as I blew through it than the new one felt. (Very little difference, though, to be honest.) But, I was there, I had the damn thing out, and I have read other posts where people reported their VSV was failing intermittently, so I put in the new part.
It's been about 20 miles of driving since then, mostly highway, and my OBD2 reader is telling me the EGR system is Complete now, where it used to say Incomplete, and throw the CEL and 0401, so I think I fixed it. My fingers will be better in a few days, I'm hoping.
Seriously, I got out wheeling sometimes alone. I have been back in the middle of nowhere on my own with my truck many times, sometimes opening the hood for various purposes. If my fingers got stuck like that in a situation like that, I would have been bad off. Really bad off. It is worth thinking about safety again and again. I knew my hood struts were bad, and I should have replaced them a while ago. I hope this post is helpful to you in some way, sorry it's so long.
-Russ