The small problem I had with the Honda battery the other day reminded me to do some maintenance. This 89 Accord was my dad's car and he would be turning in his grave if he knew how badly I neglect it. He used to wash it twice a week and I wash it three or four times a year. He would never let a scratch or rock chip go unrepaired and now it has many of those. It has over 250,000 KM on it and is perfect for Mexico as another ding would never be noticed and we can park and drive it without fear of being mistaken for rich gringos.
I put new tires on it before we left Canada and since we tow it on the dolly, the rear tires get many more KMs on them than the front. I found a tire place (Llantara) today and had them rotated. Cost was $50 pesos or $4.50 CAN. Labour is badly undervalued in Mexico.
When the mechanico cleaned the battery posts the other day he showed me the engine oil was a little low so I went in search of a place to get it changed. I found a Pro 1 shop that was changing the oil in a taxi so I figured that was a pretty good recommendation and pulled in. I had my own oil (but no filter) if I needed it but the guy had everything on hand and supplied the filter and 20 - 50 oil. I bought an extra filter from him for next time and the bill came to $380 pesos ($34 CAN). This is quite a bit (for Mexico) but oil is very expensive here for some reason and multi-grade is hard to find. Everyone else seems to use straight 30 weight. As usual, there were no appointments needed and no line-ups. I waited for him to finish the cab in front of me and another guy pulled in out front while I was being worked on. No muss, no fuss no bait and switch and I was on my way. Another beautiful day in Mexico and the Honda is good for another 5000 KM. Yes dad, I will wash it.
Don't worry about what oil to put in the Honda...those older Honda engines would run forever with NO oil in them...you can't kill them.
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