Alan's Blog
Day 3 - Puerto Penasco (fault finding...plus ordering of new starter)
Wednesday, 26 December 2007
The plan for today was to immediately get at the faulty starter motor after breakfast and to make plans going forward from there. The breakfast was great at the local restaurant over the road from my Motel, with a large coffee and tortillas with beans, cheese, various bits of vegetables and salsa. The local town pimp showed me the way to the local Internet cafe, in the hope that I may return to him with 'anything' else that I may require during my stay in dusty, dirty Puerto Penasco!
After breakfast, I got straight to it. Laying out my tools on my ground sheet next to the bike and starting the investigation. I was silently hoping that it was the main Postivive wire had worked it's way loose from the starter, or that the solenoid switch that turns the motor over after the gear is engaged on the crown wheel was faulty. Anything more mechanical than that, would have been difficult to resolve easily.
I took my time while cleaning everything out nicely as I went along. There was a ton of dirt, mostly Red Bull dust from my last little 'serious' excursion I did on this R80 after I purchased it in Adelaide and drove it to Sydney over a long weekend on backroads, mostly unsealed through to Sydney. I've never managed to get the bike, or my backpack cleaned out completely from that trip!
The sad thing is that this starter motor was actually meant to be a temporary donor part from my other monolever BMW R80G/S that I have, as the other Valeo D6RA7 (first revision) starter developed gear problems from the 2nd day I was riding it after purchasing the bike in Adelaide. I asumed this one would be fine for another few thousand km's due to the fact that it was the revised model Valeo D6RA15 with the apparently 'more' heat tollerant glued in magnets!
That said, I'd never had problems with the magnets coming loose before... but you know what they say... there's a first time for everything and today was mine! Upon pulling the starter out, checking operation with the top engine cover off, I knew it was serious. Nothing had come loose.
First there was the Solenoid which was working very well and engaging the gear 100%, but there was a slight smell on the back of the motor and it literally did not even try to turn at all... so likely not the planetary gearbox on the front that has died either. I decided to take it to a local auto electrical shop, which wanted nothing to do with me when I told them it's off a BMW motorcycle!
I insisted that it's the same as any small cars starter which got them thinking to help until a local band of rough looking, but friendly and interested guys the same age as me (mid 20's) pulled up at the same place with a big SUV. I got talking to them, and subsequently found out that one of them is a mechanic and he assured me he's fixed lots of starter motors before!
Given the fact that I don't have much experience with starters myself, I decided we could maybe look at it together and potentially come up with a solution. So off it was to the backstreets of Puerto Penasco, feeling a little uneasy about the fact that I was in a truck with 3 dangerous looking Mexican guys heading into their valey!The music was thumping and I felt just like a local!
My newest friend, the mechanic Leonardo offered me his hand to shake and I noticed he winced when I shook it when entering the car. Upon asking what was wrong, he showed me the other side of his hand... probably teeth marks and a broken tooth from a fight that he was in last night. My first question was - 'Women?', he said 'si' and we left it at that.
I asked one more question which was important... did you win the battle, and he said yes! So at least it was worth it right!
We opened the starter together. The brushes were fine, but when the back came off... It was a sad sight. One of the magnets had come loose inside the housing, probably on the last start, got caught in the rotor and destroyed exerything around it. Sort of like a french suicide bomber! Haahaa! It defies me why BMW moved away from the Bosch to something so flaky that has nearly let every person that's got a reasonably modern airhead down at one time to another.
Glue does not work on Aircooled motorcycles with starter motors that are held Inside an aluminium enlcosed box! I believe the glue gave way due to Los Angeles traffic the day before. It was shocking, and I felt so sorry for putting the bike through that pain to get out of that city... and this was the price!
So, everyone that's got a Valeo... irrespective of which model, either the D6RA7 or 15... sell it on Ebay for 10 bucks or throw it away right now! I know you think it won't happen to you, but remember ' Murphys Law! So, I went straight to the Internet cafe and made arrangements to get the starter motor Fedex'ed to Mexico. At first I asked for Hermosillo... which is the capital city of Sonora... but it would take nearly 7 days to get there on their fastest service.
The Fedex guys also seemed doubtful that it would get there at all, as the package is entrusted to a local courier company after it´s landed in Guadalajara 1500km away! Coupled with that, Mexican customs can be a bit picky which may delay things further for a day or two. This was too much for me, and coupled with needing to get the bike going every morning, which is damn near impossible with it´s kick start in the mornings I didn't like the prospect of travelling all the way South to get to the Fedex facility in Gaudalajara.
I could have pulled a big day and got there at night, but I knew it was also going to be tough to get the locals to push and/or tow start me in the morning before 9am. Days like these, you really want to leave at 4am to get there before nightfall. Averaging 90km/h, which would mean pushing between 120 - 160km/h for 15 hours is not fun anymore! In the US they have the iron butt award or contest I've heard of... which apparently is 1000 miles or approx 1600km's in 24 hours. Lot's of seat time!
So the reality was that I would be held up more going forward (South), waiting for the starter motor, a pain in the ass to start motorcycle in the mornings etc, than taking 2 steps back to Tucson, Arizona... no customs, next day delivery via Fedex from Alabama for my new Nippon Denso starter and a reasonably quick trip of about 400km's in 1 day to get there! Wow, sounds like a plan!
Nobody likes going backwards, but at least I get to see my 3rd different Mexican border in 5 days! To top it off, I'm sitting at the local restaurant in Puerto Penasco that night, chatting to my father when a live mugging occurs! On me!
I was being careless though, chatting on the telephone and clearly a target. In short, they grab me by the neck from hehind, I grab my wallet and leave the phone on-hook to ensure there's at least someone on the other side of the world that knows what's gone on! They were drunk and I corkscrewed my way out of their grip, screaming help help help! but nothing!
The local restaurant guys were actually watching this go on and did nothing, they were more scared than me. I ran inside with them wanting to follow, but luckilly they were eventually stopped from entering my safe haven by the owners! So, with that little show over, the cops arriving about 2 mins later and taking them away, handcuffed... I was shaken up, and that's when I met my new friend Alan from Colorado.
Alan is a long time biker too, and we immediatley hit it off! He promptly gave me a shot of Tequila... which was actually for his girlfriend, but I needed it more than her, and it helped alot... we called back my father and both had a chat to him and let him know that I'm okay... the firls went home... and we spent the rest of the night drinking far too much Tequila and Cerveza, telling glorious tales of life, travelling on motorcycles and destiny until about 4am in the morning!
Summary for the day: I've diagnosed the issue with my faulty starter, and it's terminal. I've decided to head back to Tucson in the morning and get the replacement starter shipped to a local Fedex facility in Tucson. All up, not a good day... but I made a new friend, the local town pimp is supplying us with rope in the morning, and Alan will be tow starting me behind his Tahoe SUV!
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