Thursday was productive.
We bought four new KO2 all terrain tires for $330 each compared to $550 in Chile. We used them because they are noisy and wear out in 25,000 miles especially on the garbage roads we’ve been driving but our front wheel drive Promaster fully loaded at 9400 pounds copes with very bad conditions using these tires. Richard was one of the best tire installers I’ve dealt with.
He asked me what pressure I wanted the tires at and they use pounds (libras) here not bars (kg per square centimeter) as Europeans do so that was easy. He used a torque wrench to tighten the lug bolts which is the professional way and he inquired about the status of our spare. Everything you want in a tire tech plus the tires are balanced and the pressure monitor has resumed normal operations, ie: no idiot light on the dashboard I had a suspicion Rusty fancied his pretty daughter who came by looking for her dad and my dog kept her under close observation.
We took off for the capital city 30 miles and ninety Google minutes away. The streets of Asuncion are a nightmare of unmarked speed bumps, potholes, lumpy asphalt, with deep open drains at intersections and uneven patching everywhere. On top of that the traffic is wildly aggressive with cars shoving and pushing like they have an urgent need to get to heaven. I just ignored them and let them come to their own understanding of how pig headed some gringo drivers can be. It was a long drive to the Ram dealer. We stopped by a fancy Chinese place for an expensive lunch, $47 for two.
They had their own parking lot which was excellent but the food was just okay. It was a buffet of Cantonese style cuisine more popular in a country that has no love for chili peppers so we missed out on the Hunan style we prefer.
But it was Chinese food so that hit some spot or other. The Ram dealer was perfect and I felt like we lucked out once again. The few times we’ve been to dealers across Latin America they have been very helpful and in this case they took our VIN number and produced a water pump for us even though they had never seen a Promaster before. Chris had called ahead to hopefully make sure they had it in stock and they had told him they had.
Ram puts all VIN numbers into its dealer database so even though the car isn’t sold in that country they can cross reference a part that fits another car in this case the Dodge Journey which was sold in Paraguay. The parts clerk was very careful and made sure to include the required seal and I bought a gallon of Mopar coolant as well.
The coolant pump sells in the States for $47 but in Asunción they charge $320 which wasn’t pleasant but they did have it in stock and that’s what counts…
One unfortunate thing about the Promaster is that the V6 Pentastar engine is fitted sideways in a small space so removing parts can be quite awkward and I know Chris is not looking forward to squeezing his arms in… but I’m hoping that we will be ready to drive before dinner today, Friday. The red low voltage light has not returned to our inverter so theoretically we could be in Argentina again this weekend. Asunción I don’t need to see again thanks. A lively busy city but not my cup of tea. So far Paraguay has been good to us in our mechanical distress, and for that I am grateful.
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