There Aught to be a Song...

'Mazatlan Breakdown', could go something like, "There I was on the open road, then all of a sudden it did explode...  allllllmost. Whew! That waaaaaas close."

One of the attributes of air-cooled motor like the one powering Choco, is that the engine gets much hotter than the water-cooled motors most vehicles have, and this is not normally a problem as it is the intent of the design. However, when gasoline leaks on to a hot air-cooled motor, a potentially explosive situation develops that needs attention, pronto.

I started smelling the gas when I left last nights campground this morning, but disregarded it as the leaky gasket, far away from anything hot, that is a know problem but not a huge problem. Something bugged me though as I sashayed (that's what Choco does, especially when it is windy) along an almost deserted Mex 15 toward Mazatlan. I tried various ways to determine if the smell of gas, stronger than before, was just the know leak getting bigger or a new leak, YEAH!

Almost lost my hat as I stuck my head out thew window to sniff and tell if the smell was from where it normally comes from... eh... not really, then closed the window and turned on the heat that blows up from the engine compartment in the rear... uh... sort of... but not so much... hmm. About then, a toll booth arrived in front of me, and thankfully so. I decided it best to investigate further.

After paying my toll, I pulled over to the rest area (all the toll booths have these). The window washing guys came running up, I said, "No Gracias", the CD sellers then rushed in, again, "No Gracias". Then a new one, a guy selling Royal Jelly, what queen bees get fed in the hive... I almost said, "ok", but thought I better figure out where the gas smell was coming from before Choco burst into flames. Gasoline dripping on the hot manifold of an air-cooled motor is less than desirable.

Sure enough, a nice weeping injector hose was depositing drips upon my shroud. That is VW for, "you have a problem." And further investigation indicated that I couldn't just simply replace the hose, I NEEDED A NEW INJECTOR! AI YAI YAI! The one part I didn't bring a spare of... of course.

So, after him-hawing for a bit and trying a couple things, I was able to affect a field repair with a section of larger hose and a bunch of zip-ties, man I love those things. Even got it inspected by 3 Federales who came over to see if they could help (and no doubt do a once over of Choco's contents). The one guy poked his head in the engine compartment, holding his machine gun to the side, pursed his lips and nodded approval as if he would have done the exact same thing.

After waves all around and a few buena suertes (good luck) exchanged with those that had come by to check on me, I was off again. This time with the fire extinguisher close at hand and the engine compartment open so I could more readily smell any leaks... it worked!

Now I am in a pleasant RV park in Mazatlan, doves cooing, cardinals flitting, breeze rustling the palms overhead and I will soon arrange with the manager to call around to the auto parts places to look for a fuel injector. Fortunately, this part should be available as these motors are almost ubiquitous in Mexico.

We'll see.

I have another couple posts to make from my crossing and since, but internet access was too slow to post before now. STAY TUNED!

- Choco y Yo