Help! Stranded in Oaxaca!

[canada2chiapa...]

Hey Everyone!

Im new to this forum. My name is Tony, Im 35 years old and grew up in Ottawa, Canada. Last year, I moved to Mexico and bought a motorcyle in Chiapas. Ive done a lot of touring this year and actually am writing a book about my travels...

Anyway, Ive been having a hell of a time over the past month. Basically, I was driving from San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas to the city of Oaxaca, which is a long way. An engine light came on to show that the engine was overheating, but I stupidly kept going. (In my defence, I did stop and talk to a mechanic and he told me that Id be fine, but in retrospect I shouldnt have believed him).

Anyway, I stopped for the night about two hours outside of the city and I couldnt start the bike in the morning. So I had to bring to a garage there. The mechanic there told me that it (probably) needed a new cylinder but that he wouldnt be able to get the necessary part anytime soon. So I paid a pickup truck to take me into the city.

The mechanics disassembled the engine and put it back together, but when I took it for a test ride the engine light was still indicating that it was overheating, so I took it for a test ride. it was overheating. I was told there was a problem with the
thermostat, and they couldnt get the necessary part anytime soon. So they jerry-rigged a thermostat from a car. But even after they did that, the engine light was still on. Then I was told I had to clean the radiator. It was pretty obvious at that point that they just wanted to get rid of me. They did tell me that they guaranteed their work. But I didnt have much confidence in them at that point.

I then took the bike to another garage (an official Italika service centre) and the mechanic diagnosed the problem as a coolant leak and spent three hours fixing it... but when I took it back for a test ride, after 20 minutes the cap had popped off again and all the coolant had come out again.

So I left it there overnight and that mechanic replaced the cap. At that point I thought I was good to go and headed for the highway. But I hadnt even gotten out of the city limits before the cap had popped and the coolant was spurting out again.

So this coolant leak seems very difficult to fix for some reason!

I took it to a third shop and the mechanic told me that the problem was probably that the fan was not activating because the thermostat was not sending the proper signals to the fan. This made sense to me because the thermostat that the first mechanics put on was nott for this type of motorcycle. The new mechanic told me that he wouldnt be able to get that part right away. So I decided to leave the bike at his shop and go visit my friends on the coast (Id already been in the city for something like 10 days at this point.

Last night, I took the overnight bus back to Oaxaca and today Im going to go back to the shop.

The mechanic changed the thermostat and replaced the fan, but apparently that didn't solve the problem. He tells me that the engine has to be disassembled again, and he doesn't seem to be sure what the problem is.

So now I have to figure out what to do. All three mechanics have that the motor is not broken, and no one seems to know exactly what the problem is. Really, I had no idea that cooling systems were this complicated.

The mechanic said that he is planning to check the head motor, the thermostat and the bulb again... He says that the motor is still leaking and the fan is not working properly. He says that maybe the previous mechanics didn't work
properly and maybe they don't install the correct pieces... So I think that I need to go back to the first garage and ask them exactly what they did when they took the motor apart. Clearly, it didnt work, and maybe it even made things worse.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. If anyone could direct me to any resources that would help me understand motorcycle cooling systems, I would really appreciate. I guess the coolant is basically boiling, causing the pressure to build and making the cap pop off, but I dont understand why this is happening.

All of these problems are made more confusing by the language barrier... I do speak Spanish but Im not fully fluent, especially when were using technical terms...

Thank you in advance!!!

Tony

[doggone]

Cool Story Bro
Sounds a bit like head gasket to me and it has probably warped it slightly so new gasket alone soon fails. That could be fixed but not easy in a small remote town.
Depending on the model a replacement reconditioned engine might be an option.
Or look out for something else to carry on with and just sell it, depending on funds situation.

I would have thought you might have travel insurance will get the bike (and you) home if that was what it comes to.

[Nobby the Bastard]

You don't actually need a thermostat, especially in a hot country like mexico so just take the fucking thing out.

It does sound like the damage has been done, though, and overheating the engine has warped the head sufficiently that the gasket can't do it's job properly and the cooling system is getting over pressurised.

Does it have a fan? Does it come on?

Cut your losses and just get a plane home.
____________________
trevor saxe-coburg-gotha:"Remember this simple rule - scooters are for men who like to feel the breeze on their huge, flapping cunt lips."
Sprint ST 1050

[WD Forte]

What bloody bike?

all threads should start with at least
I gotta XXXXX model XXXX year XXX
____________________
bikers smell of wee

[Pete.]

The thermostat has nothing to do with switching the fan on and off. That is the job of the fan switch.
If it was overheating because the fan is not switching on then the simple solution is to find the fan switch (usually on the radiator) and join the two wires together that go to that switch. This will cause tha fan to run constantly.
____________________
a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[Nobby the Bastard]

[dave001]

sounds to me like your will need a new engine after you let that many monkeys with mole grips at it.

sounds to me like eather head gasket was gone or your mechanic dont know how to put back togeather right maybe he drop some crap in water way in engine and blocked it

check for oil and water mixing that should have been check before pulling it apart

the thermostat could have been check with a kettel

[stinkwheel]

If the coolant is being chucked out before it overheats, it's the head gasket.

If the head gasket has failed badly, you can sometimes feel the coolant hoses become rock hard with the gas pressure as you rev up the engine.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[canada2chiapa...]

Hey! Sorry for not saying what kind of bike it is. Its a 2021 Italika VX-250. Basically a knockoff BMW. I bought it a year ago for 70000 pesos (the equivalent of $3500).

So, Ive now moved it back to the first garage (because I already paid them for the original work and they said that they would honour their guarantee...), but I dont have a lot of confidence in them, tbh.

Every one of the mechanics has told me that the motor definitely isnt totally shot, that replacing the head gasket *might* fix my problem, but none of them seem totally confident and it will be at least 2 weeks before I can get the piece (the head gasket).

So, I guess I have no choice but to leave it there for now and hope for the best. The head gasket isnt too expensive (about $200) so it seems worth it to me to try replacing that. It will mean leaving it in Oaxaca for a couple weeks and coming back for it.

What do you guys think of this idea? Is this my best option?

Thank you very much for your help and not making me feel like an idiot! I know that I did something stupid and Ive been hating myself for it for the last month. I was in a rush somewhere and somehow managed to convinced myself that Id be fine... I guess the lesssion is haste makes haste...

[canada2chiapa...]

[Nobby the Bastard]

If the fan isn't coming on in a hot country then it will overheat quite quickly if there is no air flow through the radiator.

As previously stated the thermostat can just be taken out and not replaced. It has nothing to do with the fan.


The temp switch controls the fan and not the thermostat. You can just bypass this switch by pulling the two leads off it and connecting them together.
____________________
trevor saxe-coburg-gotha:"Remember this simple rule - scooters are for men who like to feel the breeze on their huge, flapping cunt lips."
Sprint ST 1050

[stinkwheel]

In the case of a head gasket failure, combustion gas gets into the coolant system which overpressurises it and the coolant is spit out of the overflow. THEN it overheats because there's no coolant in it.

The fan switch, thermostat and temperature sender wont do anything in any way useful if the coolant's already gone.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Nobby the Bastard]

This is true but we don't actually know if the head gasket is failed.
____________________
trevor saxe-coburg-gotha:"Remember this simple rule - scooters are for men who like to feel the breeze on their huge, flapping cunt lips."
Sprint ST 1050

[stinkwheel]

[Robby]

I've tried to find some useful information on the bike. Everything about it is in Spanish, it looks like it's only available in Mexico, so I'm assuming it's another rebadged Chinese bike sold as an Italika in that market.

So that means quality control can be iffy. Whilst we have seen improved quality Chinese bikes here in the UK in recent years, Mexico is a different market.

Which is a long way round of saying, replace the radiator cap before going any deeper. Assume any simple part that should be reliable, isn't.

Next step after that is to see if the thermostat is working. Put it in a pan of water, put the pan on cooker, see if the thermostat opens before the water boils.

After that I would be looking at the water pump. More in-depth work here, but I would be removing it to check if it's drive gear still drives the pump. It's quite possible the drive gear is plastic, and could have stripped teeth if it's a shit type of plastic.

I would be checking all these things before opening it up to check the head gasket. The engines themselves seem fairly good on Chinese bikes, it was everything bolted to the engine that could be crap.

[xX-Alex-Xx]

[grr666]

I left my wallet in El Segundo, I gotta get it, I got, gotta get it.
____________________
Currently enjoying products from Ford, Mazda and Yamaha
Ste wrote: Avatars are fine, it's signatures that need turning off.

[canada2chiapa...]

[canada2chiapa...]

[canada2chiapa...]

[canada2chiapa...]

[canada2chiapa...]

[canada2chiapa...]

[Pete.]

You're in a hot country and you say the fan hasn't been switching on. I would get the mchanic to check that first. No sense fixing the result without eliminating the cause.
____________________
a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[WD Forte]

Right, so its a Vx250 beemer clone.
never heard of Italika before and whilst googling couldn't find a liquid cooled one.
Found this youtube in Spanish of a guy doing an oil change but it does show the double rads with pissy wee fans, the coolnat pump down on the RH side of the engine and the fans thermo switch at the bottom of the LH rad
( the coolant temp gauge sender will on the main block)

You could bridge the thermo switch with with a manual ON/OFF switch to have the fans 'on demand' but I fear you may have a warped head already bodged with sealant.
Not sure where the thermostat is, but as said, you could probably run without one in Mexico.

On the upside, as they make them in Mexico spares shouldn't be a problem but from what you say, finding a competent mechanic may be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcN4GO3Y8Zk

I see from another video its very similar to the Zongshen RX3
which has the thermostat and temp sender in the pipework not on the engine block.

Only glanced at this next vid but it appears he might have broken coolant pump impellor ?
that'll make it boil up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZNYhrO8rJk
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bikers smell of wee