San Juan de Almi to Playa Azul

Fri 19th to Sat 20th August

Today didn’t start too well. When we got the bikes out from the hotel garage there were oil drops on the floor and I could see it was leaking from behind the front engine cover again. This first happened back in June when oil was found leaking past a broken stud. A quick check found the same problem where the previous repair had failed. Botch No 2 was carried out and we set off.

Our road, Highway 200, was very rural and twisty for miles on end today with just the odd view of the coast and the occasional small village. For the rest of the time it was high vegetation on both sides which became a little tedious after a while.

A couple of hours into the ride I found Terry parked by the side of the road. He had come to a cough and spluttering stop.

A quick check found the battery was deformed and bulging on all sides. A sign it was overcharging and had been cooked. We weren't going anywhere. Bob was ahead somewhere oblivious to the problem. No phone signal here, so off I went to find him. Bob was despatched to get a new battery (very hopeful) or recovery, whilst I stocked up with water and biscuits and went back.

Several hours later Bob returned with a pickup full of locals. On the way back he had come to grief on a patch of diesel. Fortunately it was a slow speed tumble and both he and the bike suffered just minor bruises and scratches.

Once loaded we all set off to the nearest decent size town Lazaro Cardenas some 75 miles away. It was just getting dark when we arrived and the first couple of enquiries about getting the bike fixed proved fruitless so we got Mario to take the bike and us to a hotel (Hotel Maria Teresa) at the nearby beach resort of Playa Azul where we’re likely to be for a few days.

........... happens

Sat 20th August

The 2nd knight in shining armour appeared in the guise of Filipe our hotel manager who took on the task of sourcing a new battery which hopefully will be with us on Tuesday. Unfortunately it’s never quite that simple. This afternoon we set about trying to discover why the battery exploded. The cable to one of the commutator brushes was disconnected. Reconnected with Bob’s battery, we tried to start Terry’s bike. Nothing. A few checks, try our spare ignition module, still nothing. Try the ignition module off my bike, bingo. Problem now is we don’t have an ignition module for Terry’s bike and we haven’t determined whether it is still overcharging. Monday’s task is to source a second-hand module (they were apparently used on lots of VW cars and there are plenty of those over here). If we can’t find one, mine will be used to check whether there are any further problems and we will order new ones from the UK.