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23 Oct 2012
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Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Canada
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Moto damage in Mexico, advice?
2002 KLR650, green, 32000 Kms without a serious crash and now two in a row (the second definitely cause by the first, the first definitely caused by my lack of attention to maintenance, which I will share for posterity)
Anyways I´m fine, ish, the bike is rough. I arrived in Durango to repair myself and the bike, stopped it when I noticed she was heating up and the fan wasn´t kicking in. There´s a green fluid shooting all over my exhaust? I was too spent to figure out how that happened, my coolant resevoir was bubbling.
Headlight also out of commission. Haven´t noticed anything else yet, need to take time to give her a once over after a nap (finally).
Just wanted to put this out there in case of any advice on what to check, troubleshoot, fix or recommendations should you folks know a good welder/mech in Durango, MX.
Cheers
El Explorador
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25 Oct 2012
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Location: Norwich,Ontario,Canada
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Explorador , glad to hear that YOU came through this without debilitating injuries.
As for the bike if it still runs you are in fairly good position and will get it put right.
For advice on mechanics maybe contact Steve Redak another Canadian who lives and works in Durango. He posts as SR over on ADV site especially in the segment Trip Planning , Americas ,Is Mexico Safe, and can probably give you some good leads to workshops in that city.
Your KLR fan is either totally mashed now? or maybe just disconnected from power source , so check/trace that.
If the rad has been crushed the inner ducts may be pinched to the point of not flowing enough coolant. A simply non - running fan should still permit good enough cooling while riding at calm pace down the road.It is slow stop and go riding and overworking the moter that would cause coolant to boil out.
Hopefully you did not crush or damage the waterpump on the right side of the motor,but that would be obvious with leaks..Check for pinched rubber hoses pump to radiator.
Do not hesitate to top up your rad with plain water, but coolant-antifreeze is sold at Mexican autoparts stores.DO NOT run the rad dry and totally destroy your motor!
Local bike shops and" talleres de reparacion de radiadores " should be able to cobble up suitable repairs to get you mobile again.
Best of luck and take it easy
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26 Oct 2012
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On the Road Again
Thanks a ton Sjoerd!
I ended up finding a fellow named Reemberto witha bike shop who fixed it all up for me. Unfortunately I have never monkeyed with thecoolant system so its all a mystery what he actually did but $300 has my fan realigned, rad straightened, tank mount rewelded, and a new gasket put in the engine which is apparently what failed and caused the coolant to come out the exhaust. He fixed a dent in my rim and I believe he has fixed the mysterious dead headlight as well, will make sure of that this eve.
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26 Oct 2012
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Good to hear you got it back together again.
Note on dead KLR headlight.
It seems KLR have a little history with the 20 Amp ( as specified ) fuse feeding the headlight getting hot and eventually failing. Some bikes have them fail at regular intervals.
If headlight quits always first check , and replace the fuse if blown .
Problem with the KLR fuse holder is that in stock position it is clipped to the top of the battery cover and requires that you remove all bungied down luggage off the seat, remove BOTH side covers( 4 screws) then remove the seat (2 capscrews) just to reach the fuses.Not very user friendly at roadside in the dark.
To avoid all this time consuming drudgery take the trouble in a convenient workshop environment to access the fuse holder block ... AND THEN
RELOCATE the fuse holder block to a more accessible location beneath the front of the left sidecover. The fuse block is small and connected to the circuitry with short lengths of wires and quick disconnect plugs. These wire are just long enough to permit them to be re-routed between top of the battery and below the frame tube so that the small rubber block can hang in front of the battery behind the front end of the side cover. Just take the time and make sure that the connector plugs remain securely hooked up.Then replace the seat and side covers.
The next time the fuses need to be checked or replaced it will be a much faster and easier job.You will only need to remove the front screw holding the left side cover to be able to get at the fuse.
After replacing the fuse and side cover DO CHECK the rear side cover holding screw .But the entire job now only takes a few minutes as opposed to a half hour
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27 Oct 2012
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Sjoerd covered everything beautifully except for one thing!
Once everything is back together, you must ride to Teotehuacan, park the bike and then head to the Pyramid of the Sun and kneel, then bow your head, and thank your lucky stars you were not doing the repairs to a BMW.
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22 Dec 2012
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hahaha well I got out of Mexico a couple days ago but I think I have definitely been appreciative of the ease of the KLR, maybe I'll stop by Teohuatican on the way up just in case!
Sjoerd, thanks again for the wisdom, I actually ended up just going the unbolted seat route - access to the battery and fuses is now a matter of shifting my bag and lifting out the seat, seconds of work!
Seat has not gone flying on me. Yet...
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