As most of you probably remember, there was a hugh thread a few months back about faulty power valve's, or rod, in the intake manifolds of 00 & 01 max's.(Faulty VAIS systems) I had taken mine out(the power valve itself) totally before once I discovered that mine was bad.Although I missed the lost torque, I thought it better than a broken one altogether. Well, after the jb weld fix was discovered, I was happy again to have back the best of both worlds. I used the jb weld, not the qwick stuff and I took my time and made sure I did the best job possible.
Fast forward to about a week ago. I noticed my PR CAI making an all too familiar sound above 5000 rpms and thought I felt a high end powerloss. I opened the manifold today, and sure enough, the VAIS was again broken. I was pretty pissed and fed up with the whole situation, so I just pulled the valve out instead of repairing it again. Buttoned everything back up and went for a ride. It is now less balky; drives smoother at low rpms, but the torque loss is signifigant. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have a damn 6500 rpm rev limiter. So, in the end, with the guidence and mechanical know-how of SR20DEN, we're going to turn this into a good thing. I don't really want to say too much about it yet, the process is going to be extremely slow b/c I'm a poor college student with limited resources. Let's just say that what he did in his 3.5 max is the same goal I have for my 3.0 max, relatively speaking. Meaning that I'm shooting for the fastest 3.0 all motor title. Again, when I say a long process, I mean at least a couple of years, besides, it's always good to have a goal, right?

 

that's gonna be nice, how do you know if your VAIS is bad? i'm feeling crazy loss in power for my '00 max and i'm leaning towards it being the MAF and TB being dirty. and where'd you get your pacesetter STS?

 

Seems like everyone is shooting for the fastest 3.0 deal ...

 

There're several threads describing this problem so try and do a search for a more specific answer. Otherwise, the best way to tell is to take it to a dyno and look at the graph. You should see a bump in HP around 5000 rpms, if it is broken though, the graph will level out at 5 grand. Or you could take apart the assembly and check for yourself. Best answer still is do a search, all of this stuff has been explained in extreme detail in the past. Good luck and pm me if you have any other questions, I'll try and help as best I can.

edit: I think that I got the sts off of custommaxima about three years ago, it was one of my first mods. I don't even know if they're still around or not.

 

I am trying to answer the question here. This is what i did before to check whether my VIAS broken. You do not need to dyno your car like everbody told me to do so. Simply take out the 2 cable connectors on the bottom of your VIAS. after that try your car at 5000 rpm and above. Then plug it again both the 2 connectors. after that try your car again at 5000 rpm and above. If you don't feel the difference, than your VIAS broke. You should feel A HUGE difference.

 

must try that as soon as i get my car back from the shop...