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| You heard me! |
The good times of the Peruvian Sierra seem so far away now. Today we went to the BMW dealer in Lima because they had finished taking apart Alberto's engine. We had talked to them on the phone but wanted to see things for ourselves.
When we arrived Alberto's bike had been put away and the engine was lying in a box. The mechanic was on his lunch break but the two BMW representatives we have been dealing with showed us the evidence.
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| La Gringa's engine sitting in a box |
Long story short Alberto's bike was found to have broken piston rings and various engine components are unusually worn-out (gaskets, metal rings, the list goes on and on...). My bike was still being taken apart when we got there but I'm sure it has similar issues, though maybe less severe.
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| Broken piston rings |
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| Unusually wearing |
It is still unclear what was the cause, and what will happen. For us this has been very surprising since we've more or less taken good care of our bikes (they aren't old lady driven but certainly looked after). Since they are our only means of transportation and the essence of our trip we've been keeping an eye on things. So this severe engine failure has come as a shock. I baby my Ducati at home less!
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| My bike waiting to be violated |
Some people at the dealer think it was low octane gas, though I would question that, due to the thousands of people that ride F800GSs worldwide. I'm sure some of those people have had to buy questionable gas in remote situations and didn't have their engines blowing up. Others at the dealer think it is a lubrication issue. The integrity of the oil was compromised, or the oil was low (we check our oil regularly so unless it dropped suddenly on the way to Lima this is unlikely). Who knows.
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| No heart, no life. |
Regardless of what we hear back from Germany this week parts will need to be replaced before those bikes are ridden again (~4 weeks). This brings me to some sad news. Sorry to all our loyal fans and readers but the blog and our trip are officially being placed on hold. The official trip clock is stopped at 22,178 km.
When all the facts are put on the table we will have to make decisions on how things will proceed but it's looking very likely that Patagonia isn't going to happen. This is a huge disappointment for me since it is probably the one single place I was actually looking forward to riding. Everything else was just filler. So we continue to roll with the punches and hope that the repairs will be covered under warranty.
When all the facts are put on the table we will have to make decisions on how things will proceed but it's looking very likely that Patagonia isn't going to happen. This is a huge disappointment for me since it is probably the one single place I was actually looking forward to riding. Everything else was just filler. So we continue to roll with the punches and hope that the repairs will be covered under warranty.
Surprising, disappointing, upsetting
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| What a sad looking bike |
Sorry to hear, I was following you daily and even had a link on my blog
ReplyDeletehttp://ronald-janssen.blogspot.com/
Hey! realmente me apena mucho leer estas ultimas líneas, no han pasado mas de 48 hrs sin que entre a leer su andar, ojalá que puedan resolver pronto y de buena forma el problema, pues han llegado tan lejos.
ReplyDeleteel lado brillante será que por lo menos les pasó "en casa", familia y amigos son importantes en una situación así.
De corazón deseo que puedan continuar, que donde menos lo esperen aparezca esa luz al final del tunel
Un saludo desde Chiapas, Armando y los "fraterhnos" quienes todos están al pendiente de su diario andar.
Best of luck to you both - I bet they've got a couple F800GS's in the showroom that they'd love to pull the engines out of and throw into your frames :) Don't lose hope!
ReplyDelete-Dean
Thank you all for following us and for your support :)
ReplyDeleteArmando, saludos a todos por alla en Mexico. Nosotros esperamos seguir el viaje can cambio de planes/ruta si la BMW brinda la garantia. En caso contrario lo mas probable es que se acabe la aventura.
Veremos que pasa :)
Sorry to hear this, we've been on the road for 8 months now on our 800's. The route will provide. Try talking to germany directly, it helped us, though our problem wasnt as severe.
ReplyDeletegood luck.
Brian and Deya from Vancouver, BC.
Paciencia mis queridos amigos viajeros. La Patagonia está más cerca que antes. Recuerden que desde el mar de Huanchaco se puede sentir el frío de sus hielos llamándolos, esperándolos. Todo va a salir muy bien, estoy seguro. Pronto volveremos a seguir con ustedes este viaje. Estamos pendientes. Un fuerte abrazo a los dos.
ReplyDeleteJano desde Lima, Perú.
Thanks B&D from Vancouver, we contacted BMW Canada and they are helping us with the warranty stuff. Ride safe!
ReplyDeleteGracias Janito, ya nos vemos al regreso de Chile/Argentina.