This is not Fuso specific, but it may be of help to someone traveling to South America, and especially Peru. I had to get some work done on my Mitsubishi Delica van today, and it is always a challenge due to lack of parts. It is a Japanese model that has been converted from right to left hand drive here in Peru. The main reason I was taking it to the shop was because the sliding side door wasn't closing completely on the top, and lots of dust was getting inside. I took it to a large Bosch diesel service center here in Arequipa, where I have always gotten it worked on. They work on everything from Japanese cars with diesels to heavy Caterpillar equipment, and everything else in between, including lots of Toyota pickups, MB Sprinter vans, buses, heavy duty trucks. Today I saw a old Mercedes military truck there, but couldn't tell what model is was, a Mahindra pickup and some cute little Chinese flatbed trucks (new). I was also reminded to try again to get the cold stalling problem checked, as it kept dying on me when I was trying to get the van going this morning.
The door problem was caused by a worn slider (hard plastic roller) on the top of the door, that is supposed to pull the door in tight when it is closed. Here you usually can go buy your own parts and the mechanic will install them for you, which is cheaper than having them get the parts. The place for parts in Arequipa is on calle Puno, which is near the repair shop. After checking many stores with no success, we finally got a bearing about the same size, and were told to take it to a Torneria (machine shop) to put it on the arm. The machinist said he could do that for 10 soles or make and put on a new plastic roller for 20 soles, which I decided to have him do. He said it would be ready in just over an hour. We went back to check on the van and were told the stalling problem was caused by the hand pump unit on top of the fuel filter, I don't know what it is called.
Back to calle Puno to get one of them. We were sold a "generic" one for some Mitsubishi. I expected it to be expensive, but it was only 35 soles, my friend got it for 32 soles (he almost never pays the asking price). We also needed a short hose for the turbo intercooler, so had to go to the "hose" store. He found a long one the right size, and cut of a piece to match what we needed - 5 soles. Back to the Torneria at the set time, he hadn't started on it yet. My friend waited there for that and I took the other parts back to the mechanic.
About an hour later he had the intercooler and fuel system back together but my friend wasn't back with the door part yet. He showed up about 30 minutes later, the mechanic had just left for lunch. We went home for lunch and returned a couple of hours later. The door worked but was hard to open and close. After cleaning and lubing the channel, it worked OK. I had asked the service manager there to have a few missing bolts replaced that hold on part of the grill and trim pieces. That hadn't been done yet so found the mechanic and got that done. The plastic headlamp bezel also had some broken tabs so that wasn't secure. They had tried to epoxy them before but it didn't hold, so it was just taped in place with wide clear tape. I suggested making a small "L" shaped clamp out of metal that would hold it together, he also did that. These extras took at least 30 minutes. The bill for 3+ hours of work came to 50 soles (including bolts and making the clamp), total including parts was 107 soles, or US$37.40
As hard as it is for me to communicate with the mechanics here, I sure am going to miss the cheap prices when I get back to the U.S.!
To wrap this up, and hopefully be of some help to others, here is what you need to know, at least in Peru.
Taller - garage or repair shop (in general a workshop or studio)
Mechanico - mechanic
Torneria - machine shop (metal lathe and more)
Soldador - a welder
Respuestos - repair parts
The parts stores tend to all be in one area, in Arequipa the best place is calle Puno - about 3 blocks of small parts stores, also a couple of machine shops. The mechanics are usually nearby. There are a couple of other places as well, including some that specialize in big trucks. Many parts stores don't use parts books - you need to take in the old part and ask for one like it. They may get out the calipers and measure the diameter, threads, etc. The bigger and better stores may have a parts book, and even use it sometimes! The part probably will be a little different than the original, you may need to take it to the Torneria or the Soldador to modify it, or the mechanic will make it work somehow. It is very hard to return items, exchanges are a little easier. There are also used parts stores, some in the same area and others in their own special areas. As Doug said, there are no junk yards, everything is stripped down and reused.
Have fun! :sombrero:
Vic
PS They will get grease all over your vehicle and on the floor mats/carpet. Plastic wire ties are acceptable replacements for screws and bolts, if they even bother with them. Nothing is ready when promised - take something to read. Good enough is good enough - as long as it works - after replacing the broken passenger window in my van, up is down and down is up, (it's electric).
