Mexican garbage pickup failure, used my scanner 2002 GMC

I think the advice from @wentwest about the timing chain is right on. I suggest they verify the wiring between the ECT and the ECU is okay and if so then replacing the sensor would seem to be the correct thing to do.

I’m sure the demise of the VW bus had nothing to do with them being death traps.

I will do my best. They only come to this part of town a couple times a week. Thanks.

@irlandes, we didn’t go east of Puebla, so I didn’t see the VW plant.

I guess that’s the same cuota that goes west, which we took back towards Texcoco. I’ll be in San Vicente and Texcoco again in about three weeks, but don’t plan to travel out of that area.

Actually, Bing, no, I doubt the death trap of the bus or Beetle had anything to do with stopping production. They view accidents as driver error here, perhaps even acts of God, sigh, more than in the US where we expect the car to save us and sue if it doesn’t.

The Beetle was modified quite a few years ago with cat and fuel injection for Mexico City smog requirements. It was shut down due to higher costs of production than the new models designed to be welded with robots. At least that is what VW management said…

I am not a car expert. But, I see the old Beetle as suited for low tech; low information use, such as poor folks in the country. Parts are cheap and many mechanics can fix them with basic tools. But, the newer models are much more reliable and efficient. You will probably see Beetles in daily use 50 years from now, in the sticks. Though history shows the Model-T was not in daily use for fifty years so maybe that is a bad prediction. And, my dad even retired his Model-A in 1951.

VW is WEST of the center of Puebla. If I said EAST, that was an error on my part. But, it is not far, still well within the metro area of Puebla. It is well decorated with trees, so is not real obvious except for the exit signs and parking lots. If you are in a car when you go through there, ask the driver to point it out.

The cuota to which I refer runs over the mountains at 11,000 feet, and down into the Valley of Mexico. it is the Vera Cruz - Mexico cuota. It is the same one I take east to Cordoba.

Texcoco is north of that cuota, but the cuota does not pass through there. One has to exit to get to Texcoco.

Texcoco is known for the agricultural farms where Norman Borlaug did the work which got him the Nobel.

The cuota which runs directly into Texcoco comes from Tlaxcala, a bit north of Puebla. Tlaxcala is there Cortes received the help needed to conquer the Aztecs. Their soldiers were tough guys and they hated the Aztecs, some minor point about their strange heart surgery.

I just heard the horn honking and the men shouting, so I hurried out. The pickup is GMC Silverado 2500 with V8 motor. The driver said they have made no repairs yet. I told him the theory that it might be the timing chain has jumped a tooth. Or could be one of the sensors.

My cynical prediction is as long as the workers can make that pickup drive around they aren’t going to put a cent into it.

A couple days ago, my builder told me the garbage pickup was out there. They have a new driver. I asked if they fixed the problems. He laughed and said, no. So, my guess was correct. As long as those guys can push or drag that pickup on its rounds, they aren’t going to fix it.

The new driver and I discussed the scanner results. Then, he said he has a 1998 car and wonders how much I would charge to read the codes, since the check motor light is on… i told him I can’t take anything under federal law. He said he’d call me when he had time to come by.

As a wild guess based on the car’s age, I am expecting the dreaded Cat code.