Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Power Problems and Honda Maintenance

We woke up this morning and Norma turned on the microwave. It groaned and moaned and the turntable was hardly moving. I checked the voltage and it was at around 70 volts! Humberto came around to say the power had gone off overnight and when it came back on the voltage was low. He says it normally takes about four hours for the power company to make a service call but he knows them so he says maybe two hours. No problem, we fired up the generator to make coffee and plugged the TV and Starchoice into the inverter so we are set to go. It's Mexico!

When we got back we had new neighbors from Manitoba. They were having brake problems with their truck so Humberto went to get a brake mechanic from town. He took the truck away and soon returned with the worn out parts and an estimate of 2900 pesos for repairs. He will bring the repaired truck back today and he will take the Honda for a brake inspection. I have replaced the rear brakes twice because I towed the car with the emergency brake on (yes, twice!) but the front brakes have not been touched for at least 150,000 KM. I have been concerned about them for a while but have never actually done anything about it. They are still working well when I need them but I am sure the pads are worn down. Sorry dad, I am not looking after your car very well.

4 comments:

  1. Wow, 70 volts, hope no damage was done to you electrical system.
    And its a good idea to check those brakes now and again.
    We just installed a surge protector and power monitor on our coach yesterday to catch those issues.

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    1. No apparent damage George. We switched the fridge over to gas and it seems fine. The computers are both laptops and the batteries absorb a lot of power problems. We have blown one microwave a few years ago, probably from running it when the voltage was low and we did not notice. It is working fine on the generator so we dodged the bullet again.

      Yes, I should check the brakes more often. You sound like my dad ;) ;)

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  2. We are finding out the low voltage situation is all over town, not just the RV park. I hope they get it resolved soon.

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  3. If my dad only new. He tried to teach me all kinds of mechanical stuff. It never sunk in. So, we're not alone. Have fun. Hi Norma!

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