The Kindness of Costa Ricans

Like the proverbial stubborn mule, our Subaru refused to move another step as we were driving home from grocery shopping yesterday.

Here is where she decided that enough was enough:

 Waze put us as being stranded on Invu 3, Rincón de Arias - not far from Carlos, our mechanic.

Lance was able to reach Carlos who arranged for a tow truck (flatbed truck here) to bring our reluctant vehicle to his shop. The only issue was how long that might take. It turned out to be quite a while.We were stranded in a nice area, with houses on the left of the street and sugar cane fields on the right. Lance had guided the car to a space under a large tree so we were in shade.

Not much to do but hang around the car and wait. A fellow walking along the sidewalk stopped and asked us if we needed help and what our problem was. He indicated he lived not far down the road and if we needed anything to just ask. We told him help was on the way but we didn’t know exactly when.

About half an hour later, he returned - concerned about where our tow truck was. Not long after that, another fellow turned up on a bicycle. According to Jorge (that was our Good Samaritan’s name), this person worked on vehicle air conditioning systems. Then, another mechanic who lived on this street appeared. They all disappeared under the hood of our car.

Men doing man stuff:

The tow truck arrives:

More men looking into the engine area. This is our vehicle parked near our mechanic’s shop. They later pushed it across the street and into the garage.

Jorge said he would drive us to Carlo’s shop and he did. He said the next time we were driving on this road to stop by his house and have a coffee. In previous posts on my blog, I have related how Costa Ricas have stepped up to help us when we are having problems. This has happened time and time again and they never ask for anything from us.

We’re going to go to the feria this weekend and buy a big bunch of nice flowers for Mrs. Jorge. It’s a way to say thanks without making anyone feel awkward. This was Lance’s idea and it’s a good one.

(Click on photos to enlarge).

Riteve Part II - Vehicle Inspection in Costa Rica

We have our own car.

In my blog entry on October 28, 2018 I reported on the need to have a vehicle inspected in Costa Rica.  Inspections are done by a company known in Costa Rica as Riteve SyC or simply Riteve. It is part of a worldwide group of companies which operate under the umbrella of an organization known as Applus+.

In Costa Rica, all vehicles are required to have a sticker on their front window confirming that a required inspection has been done and that the vehicle passed. Serious issues can arise if you drive with an out of date sticker or, if it is out of date, without a paper indicating that you have an extension of time to correct any problems found during inspection. 

Last year, we elected to handle the matter ourselves. To say the least, the experience was interesting. But, the time and inconvenience was a bit much. This included time spent driving to and from Riteve, time spent parking and standing in a line-up of people to pay Riteve and be assigned to one of several inspection stations, time spent slowly progressing in a stop and go line-up of vehicles to the station, time spent progressing through several inspection points in the station, and time spent waiting while an inspection report was produced.

This year, we took a different approach. We knew that the car required maintenance and servicing - including a tune-up. It is a previously owned 2006 Subaru Forester with about 141,000 km (76,000 miles) - meaning that it is due for inspection on an annual basis. But, the engine was coughing and almost stalling on some start-ups. The air filter was making an obnoxious resonating noise when the car was struggling up steep hills while being forced to maintain speed. The dashboard lights … well … there weren’t any - so it was sometimes difficult to tell how fast we were going whether uphill, downhill or on the flat. 

We decided to take the car to Carlos Morera at Superior Automotriz in Grecia for servicing and also to ask whether he or an associate would be willing to take the car through Riteve. Happily, he was willing to do both. He was familiar with the vehicle and had previously done a first class job addressing a transmission problem.

Had we elected to take the car to Riteve ourselves before having the servicing done, the car would have failed miserably. Although not particularly noticeable, one rear shock was blown and leaking oil. The brakes required attention. The air filter had a cracked rim. The fuel injectors and spark plugs were on their last legs and needed replacement to cure the coughing problem - without which the car would have failed an exhaust emissions test. New dashboard lights were required.

In the end, the car passed Riteve without incident and was returned to our doorstep. The charges for taking the car through Riteve totaled 26,000 colones (about USD $45) and that included 16,000 colones paid to Riteve. I don't know, but the charges may have been more if the car had been in good condition beforehand and all Superior Automotriz was called upon to do is take the car through Riteve. In any case, it is highly unlikely that we will ever again take a car through Riteve ourselves.

Owning a Car in Costa Rica - Ongoing Saga With Our 2006 Subaru Forester

This may not be of much interest to those looking forward to travelling to Costa Rica as a tourist. But, it may be of interest to expats currently living in Costa Rica or others from any country who might be thinking about moving to Costa Rica - and who want to own their own vehicle.

A number of maintenance problems have recently arisen with respect to our 2006 Subaru Forester purchased about 1 year ago. Fortunately, they have been relatively minor and we have been able to deal with them at far less cost than we would expect in Canada or the U.S. Mechanical and electrical parts which have to be imported can be quite expensive in Costa Rica because of import duties and markups. But the cost of skilled labor is typically far less expensive than in Canada or the U.S.

Our Subaru is an AWD ("all wheel drive", not a "four wheel drive"). Lately, the rear end began making clunking noises suggesting to Lance a transmission or differential problem which could involve big bucks - even in Costa Rica. Fortunately, it turned out that Lance is not skilled at diagnosing automotive problems.

The problem became exacerbated when the vehicle simply pooped out while trying to drive up a relatively steep hill to our home in Hacienda El Paseo. It stalled and would not move forward in any gear even with the gas pedal fully depressed. In order to get up the hill, we had to back down and then take a high speed run at the hill. Actually, we had to take two runs because we did not back up far enough or gain enough momentum on the first run.

Question - where to get help for this sort of problem in Grecia, Costa Rica? I did a search on the ¿Qué Pasa, Grecia? website and found a glowing report about Carlos Morera Perez, the owner of Superior Automotriz. Carlos is fluent in English - far more so than our fluency in Spanish, particularly with respect to technical automotive matters. The official Subaru dealership in Costa Rica may or may not be the best place to go for older vehicle parts. If it is, then we would trust Carlos to go there for any parts that might be required.

Carlos had the car from the Saturday morning when we took it in (carefully avoiding steep hills along the way) until the following Wednesday morning when it was ready for pick up. His first step was to take it for a test drive with Lance and I on board. All the symptoms (clunking and pooping out) repeated themselves, but he did manage to avoid a complete stall on one relatively steep hill.

Carlos then explained a number of possible causes. In a nutshell they boiled down to a mechanical problem, an electrical problem, or both. As it turned out, there was no problem with the transmission itself (whew!). If Lance correctly understood Carlos the problem was with communications between two on board computers which together operate to control the workings of the transmission. A wiring harness or part of a wiring harness between the computers had become corroded and proper control signals were not getting to the transmission. 

Carlos worked very hard (up to 9 pm on one day) to diagnose and fix the problem. He was unable to find a Spanish language online repair manual for a 2006 Subaru Forester (the earliest being for 2010) and ultimately turned to an English language online manual available from the U.S. - making his understanding of English all the more important. 

Logically, the first step in making a diagnosis is not to imagine that there might be some problem with communications between the on board computers. The first step is to ensure that the computers are receiving proper input signals in the first place. This can be time consuming, but if the inputs aren't right, then the outputs can't possibly be right. The old adage "garbage in - garbage out" applies.

The last step was a final test drive with Lance as the driver, Carlos as a passenger, and me as a back seat driver. When all was said and done the total cost was 149,700 Colones or about USD $245 (CDN $320). Shudder to think what the same work might have cost in the U.S. or Canada.

As an aside, it is significant to note that there are useful Facebook information pages for expats that are not limited to Grecia in Costa Rica. Before we moved from Atenas to Grecia, we asked our expat connections about reliable mechanics in Atenas. Up popped the name of Freddy Castro in Atenas. He turned out to be first class: trustworthy, capable of dealing with a problem on a variety of vehicles, and not inventing problems which did not exist. In our view, the same is true of Carlos in Grecia. Apparently some mechanics in Canada and the U.S. have no problem identifying problems which do not exist - and they charge an arm and a leg for repairing a non-existent problem. With appropriate diligence, we have not yet encountered this problem in Costa Rica.

As a further aside, Freddy in Atenas was unable to find a source in Costa Rica which had on hand a replacement OEM air filter for a 2006 Subaru Forester. As a result, and with a caution to us, he substituted a different filter. It did not work well. It made a lot of noise. Ultimately, we located and purchased an OEM filter from a dealership in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was purchased and brought down to Costa Rica by Canadian friends. There was a huge improvement in performance.

As a result, Freddy (with his cautions) in Atenas and Carlos in Grecia will be our preferred mechanics in Costa Rica.