I was planning to stay in Cochabamba for a long time, and since it’s a fairly large city, I thought they might have the parts I needed, so I looked for a repair shop.
When I tried to start my motorcycle, the engine wouldn’t start again.
I searched for nearby repair shops on Google and went directly to three that came up.
One was closed.
One had no staff.
The last one had the owner come out right away.
There were a lot of off-road motorcycles in front of the store, so I thought this shop would be familiar with them.
I told him about the problem, the symptoms, and what the mechanic in Potosi had told me, and I decided to get a quote first.
He told me, “I won’t know until I see it first,” so I had him come and pick up the motorcycle that didn’t work and take it back to his repair shop.
A day later, I received a message from him with a photo.
“You’re right, the fuel pump is broken,” he said.
Then, he also told me, “The gas tank is dirty, so I think the injector is clogged.”
I asked him, “What do you think about the fuel pump and the injectors, which are not available here?”
It’s a shame because I thought they were available in Cochabamba
I thought I would buy them at the Mercado Libre in Argentina, have a friend in Argentina pick them up and send them to Bolivia
They were supposed to arrive in about two weeks, so I was thinking of doing that, when the mechanic told me, “Let’s clean the injectors and change the fuel pump to one I have.”
This is the amount at the rate at that time
Labor cost: Bs. 400, about 56 USD
Injector cleaning: Bs. 200, about 28 USD
Fuel pump: Bs. 1100, about 153 USD
Fuel pump filter: Bs. 200, about 28 USD
Pickup and shipping cost: Bs. 100, about 14 USD
Total: Bs. 2,000, about 280 USD
I assume the labor costs are normal
If I buy the genuine injection product, it costs about 666 USD in Argentina, and the compatible product costs about 46 USD
So I thought it would be a good idea to try cleaning the genuine product.
The fuel pump is about 666 USD for the genuine product, and about 133 USD for the compatible product.
I was told that the replacement product was a DENSO product, so I was fine with this.
The genuine fuel filter is about 28 USD, so this is the same price.
I decided to ask the mechanic to do it because of the total cost of international shipping and the fee to my friend, and because it would be faster if I asked him to do the repair here.
After a few days, he said “the repair is complete,” so I went to pick up the motorcycle.
When I checked, the FI light was on.
And it was always idling at a high speed.
When I checked this with the mechanic, he said “You need to replace the battery”
No, no, does that mean the FI light has something to do with the battery? I thought, and checked again.
He then told me
“We can’t get the original parts here, so you have to put up with that”
“I’m busy, so don’t call me”
I suspected that he didn’t understand the problem, or that he did something wrong and was trying to cover it up
But it’s not reasonable for me to stay here for long
The high idle is due to a mismatched fuel pump and high fuel injection
And I thought that the FI light is on because of that problem
For now, the engine is running, but this is not a satisfactory result for me
I’m going to Santa Cruz next, so I’ll try to find a compatible fuel pump, compatible injectors, and a new mechanic there
In Brazil,
The injector is R$180 (about 36 USD) for a compatible product
It is hard to find genuine products even in Brazil
The genuine fuel pump is R$1,450 (about 290 USD),
the compatible product is R$400 (about 80 USD) with a filter,
and without the metal fittings is R$140 (about 33 USD), so it is cheap
It’s a shame that Brazil is not on my itinerary this time
I was planning to check the engine once at about 50,000 km, so I will let this motorcycle work a little longer.
