"Scott Dorsey" > wrote in message
...
> Julie P. > wrote:
>>"Scott Dorsey" > wrote in message
...
>>>
>>> I remember riding the bus in the Phillipines.... each round trip from
>>> Manila
>>> to Baguio, they'd drop the engine, take it apart, and check it. Labour
>>> was
>>> very cheap and parts were very expensive.
>>>
>>
>>I assume you mean "air bus" and not a regular bus?
>
> No, it was a Mercedes diesel bus. Somewhat swankier than a schoolbus
> but not as fancy as the Grumman Flxible city busses in Honolulu. Cheap
> labor changes and weak currency changes the way you look at maintenance.
>
> Here, folks have a tendency to replace things if they could potentially
> cause a problem, because the parts are cheap and the labor is expensive.
> When you have the thing apart, you might as well replace anything else
> related.
>
> In third-world countries, mechanics carefully razor-blade gaskets so
> they can reuse them. I've seen folks resurfacing distributor rotors
> with a small torch, just adding a little more metal onto the contact
> and grinding it down. A couple hours work in order to save a two
> dollar part, because those couple hours cost less than the part.
>

But you said they dropped the engine in the Philippines every round trip,
which would be insane, even though labor is cheap. Why drop it at so often?
Maybe every 10,000 miles or so would be better. Labor is cheap, but they
still have to pay for it.

Julie