Water/Mud - What was I thinking?

[cgm]

Well, I guess I wasn't thinking, well, not thinking well at least!

Don't get much of an opportunity to see mud over here. We were out on a breakfast trip enjoying a warm but casual morning. We had a good bit of rain a couple of weeks before and this was the leftovers in one of the "wadis".

So, there it was, just calling me (really I could hear it calling my name :) )

What I should have done:


Checked how deep it was
Prepared a strap already to the vehicle for quick recovery
Prepared my mates to pull me back quickly
Stayed well away and gone home with a dry car


But, cmon I'm an Aussie and you don't get many good opportunities like this in Saudi ...

What I actually did: :1087:

Bailed straight in without any preparation
Got stuck
Got laughed at
Had my pictures taken
Eventually got pulled out
Had a *very* wet car - inside and out


If you look at the sequence below, there are a group of pictures of me getting stuck. I got pulled back out (my mates winch wouldn't work, but he could pull me back easily enough because my car was still working).

Now with both me and car wet as a shag, I thought (again not really thinking, but thinking I was thinking!!) "what have I got to lose, me and the car are already wet as shags". So, I gave it another go.

Bad move. This time I slipped further to the left into slightly deeper water. The car stalled and I was in deeper. By this stage it was obvious the engine had probably just tried to suck water. This time one of the other guys had to get the winch and drag me out, coz I wasn't able to assist. That took a long time to get organised and again totally submerged for a long time, this time a little deeper!

I'll update the follow-on in another post.

Here are a few pics:

Attempt 1

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2013/07/49.jpg

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2013/07/50.jpg

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2013/07/51.jpg

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2013/07/52.jpg

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2013/07/53.jpg

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2013/07/54.jpg

----------------------------------------------------

Then:

Attempt 2

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2013/07/55.jpg

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2013/07/56.jpg

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2013/07/57.jpg
Note: You can see some silly guy that likes lying in the mud for everyone to take a photo on the right hand side of the car

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2013/07/58.jpg

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2013/07/59.jpg

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2013/07/60.jpg
Note: Forget the water on the inside of the light, you can acutally see the "water line" (the line of mud) on the outside of the light and see how deep and what angle it was really on

[cgm]

I need to get the next lot of pictures together before I post the real follow-on.

Summary (I'll remove and update this once I get them up, but for those that are wondering in the meantime):


Got really lucky - Air cleaner was soaking wet, but the engine didn't take any water
Was able to take out the wet air cleaner, start the car and drive home
Had to drive home with the drivers window down as it "decided" half way along that down was better than up


Once home it was a pretty big job with some wins and losses.

Wins:

Riyadh is a really dry place - really low humidity
After all the interior and carpet was out (including door liners) pretty much the whole car was dry by the next morning, except the carpets and felt on the inside of the door linings
A fair bit of extra work in removing all the drawer system, 2nd battery, water pump, wiring, etc., but that was just time and a friend helped, so it went smoothly
Overall put about 25 hours into the cleanup


Losses:

I bought a Karcher pressure cleaner that I would not have otherwise bought
Used the cleaner to go to work on the carpets and also the seats
Amazing how much mud came out of the seats using the pressure cleaner (they dried in about 2-3 days)
My two-way radio was totally cactus - it was fully submerged and with power still connected started trying to do random things while under water. If I'd had a better presence of mind I should have pull the power out - but ah well
Lost the compresser (on another thread I had done a build on mounting it under the passenger seat - it was fully submerged)
The electric window switches on the drivers door (left side here) needed replacing
Oil in both diffs and gearbox was almost the colour of a nice Latte, but consistency of something AB stepped in that his brother's cat left behind (probably smelt the same too I bet). Took a lot to flush that out.


Overall I got off really lightly - considering.

I did however get a hard time from our local 4wd/touring club. Copped a light hammering on FB, but copped a real good dose at our last monthly meeting before summer break. My achievements will live on in the Saudi Rovers club long after I'm gone - ha ha

The funny thing was I'd done a presentation a few months earlier on safety related to recoveries. I'd tried to reinforce that it can be dangerous, but there is always risk involved, so the key was "common sense".

A few people brought up the "common sense" phrase after seeing the photos. :)

There was nothing dangerous - it was just stupid. I hope some of you get to enjoy the humour of my incident. I'm certainly laughing now, since I got off so lightly.

Would I do it again? Telling myself not, but got to admit it was really fun ...

Thanks,
Cameron.

[MEGOMONSTER]

Oops, what were you thinking lol.

[cgm]

Thought I better update my signature. :)

[threedogs]

Awesome ,love it , New sticker coming saying I got bogged in a puddle in Saudi.
Would have thought if water collected it would have a solid base.
Also that high tide mark is now your badge of honour, you have set the bar high for your fellow 4x4ers

[threedogs]

Go figure bogged in Saudi? love the high tide mark, wear it proudly that's your Badge of Honour.
Could always fit these in the floor for any future "brain Fades"

[AB]

Fun times hey mate....lol

[growler2058]

I woulda charged on in as well ;)


Sent from my iPhone using Motorculture mobile app

[Bloodyaussie]

Well that was just silly.... I would never attempt anything like that???? Ba ha ha ha ha!!!!!

Oh the joys of temporary loss of common sense... well done!!!

[Cuppa]

Well that was just silly.... I would never attempt anything like that???? Ba ha ha ha ha!!!!!

Oh the joys of temporary loss of common sense... well done!!!

There speaks an expert! :)

[TPC]

Time to get a snorkel and raise the breathers for difs and gearbox and try it again.
No I think this may have cured you, great write up and pics.

[cgm]

Time to get a snorkel and raise the breathers for difs and gearbox and try it again.
No I think this may have cured you, great write up and pics.

I'd have to wait another year for some more water probably ...

[cgm]

Would have thought if water collected it would have a solid base.


I guess the other point, that's obvious when you think about it, since most of the water was gone already from elsewhere, the only reason that this water hadn't evaporated yet was because it was TOO DEEP. :)

I'll have to go and have a look at the hole one of these days, it will be dry by now and can see if there was ever any chance I'd have got through it.

[BigRAWesty]

I just love how after you got stuck the first time and flooded the interior, you went back a second time just to be sure you did the job right.. Thats the spirit..

[cgm]

I just love how after you got stuck the first time and flooded the interior, you went back a second time just to be sure you did the job right.. Thats the spirit..

Kind of like "two for the price of one" :)

[Squalo]

Great effort Cameron, and great write-up :)

Mine took on a little water on that side too recently - nothing like yours, the waterline on the carpet is only an inch wide of the kickplate - but what makes it interesting is that I'd taken the passenger seat for that trip on a night drive, and my mate must have taken my exhortations to "DRIVE IT LIKE ITS YOURS!!!" seriously - he has a GU IV as well as me, but his play truck is a GQ beater... and as well as the mud, his driving was making me spill both my beer, and his rum/coke, which I had to hold because he's only got one arm :D

But hey, why have them if you're not going to use them. I certainly didn't buy mine to do the shopping.

Thanks for the warning on water ingress, my compressor is under the seat too and although I've often championed that location for a compressor I think I might move it to the top of one of the rear wheel arches now...

[Squalo]

I woulda charged on in as well ;)

Twice! :)

Cam my hat is off to you for showing the Saudis how we do things in Aussie ;)

[cgm]

But hey, why have them if you're not going to use them. I certainly didn't buy mine to do the shopping.


My wife was sure that I didn't buy mine for shopping either. We just went to the super market and could hardly fit the groceries in (and I don't even have the fridge in at the moment!)

[schanmala]

Great write up mate. Good thing she's still running.

Check the gearbox/diff oils.
I blew my lux gearbox as the top seal wasn't sealed proplerly and water went in there. Drove it like that for a week then it went boom!

[rusty_nail]

looks like you had a hoot at least mate and no serious damage done. looks like too much speed hey. better luck next time!

[Morton]

looks like you went in to hard, this throws to much water into the fan/cowling area & drops your revs & momentum, you should have made that easily if you where slower, creating the 'bow wave" which inhibits water & actually sucks you along giving you constant momentum & torque, but what the heck, we have all done it haha

[cgm]

Great write up mate. Good thing she's still running.

Check the gearbox/diff oils.
I blew my lux gearbox as the top seal wasn't sealed proplerly and water went in there. Drove it like that for a week then it went boom!

Yep, both diffs and gearbox had to pumped out and flushed about 4 times before it looked pretty clean. I'll get them checked again next service as well.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Motorculture mobile app

[cgm]

Two comments about too much speed. Looks like it is obvious I'm a sand driver. Ha ha

I'll have to keep it in mind for next time ...

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Motorculture mobile app

[cgm]

Hi Guys,

Just a question about the winch after such a dunking of the car. I have a Warn XD9000 (fairly old, like 8+ years) and it wasn't used while I was submerged, but it was sitting in the muddy water for 20 minutes or so all up. Having seen the sludge that came out of the diffs I was wondering do I have to worry about doing any maintenance on the winch? Are they pretty well sealed normally?

Obviously it would be easiest to stick my head in the sand and ignore it. It is a lot of work to pull the bar off to get the winch out, etc., but if I'm going to wreck it otherwise I guess I'll have to.

Interested for some input from the experienced.

Thanks,
Cameron.

[BigRAWesty]

Hi Guys,

Just a question about the winch after such a dunking of the car. I have a Warn XD9000 (fairly old, like 8+ years) and it wasn't used while I was submerged, but it was sitting in the muddy water for 20 minutes or so all up. Having seen the sludge that came out of the diffs I was wondering do I have to worry about doing any maintenance on the winch? Are they pretty well sealed normally?

Obviously it would be easiest to stick my head in the sand and ignore it. It is a lot of work to pull the bar off to get the winch out, etc., but if I'm going to wreck it otherwise I guess I'll have to.

Interested for some input from the experienced.

Thanks,
Cameron.

A week or 2 to tear down and clean out, maybe a tube of grease and some minor parts..
Or take the chance or a complete rebuild when Its all rusted inside..

I'd tear down.. Best to be sure.

[cgm]

Kallen's probably right, but giving this a bump, hoping that someone who regularly uses their winch in anger in the wet might reply (MR?).

I assume they don't do maintenance every couple of weeks?

[93patrol]

give Mud runner a pm might be a good idea

[happygu]

Well done Cameron,

Loved the story...... and the pics ....

I pull my winch down every couple of years and it is always perfectly clean and dry, but then I don't normally sit submerged for 20 minutes.

I would check it out, just to be sure - you may be able to loosen off the bolts a little on the motor and gearbox and crack them open a little, to see if any moisture comes out - if it doesn't then it is up to you if you want to keep pulling it down.

You can drop your winch out, without removing the bar too, by just removing the bottom bash plate.

Mic

[Drewboyaus]

Well that was just silly.... I would never attempt anything like that???? Ba ha ha ha ha!!!!!

Oh the joys of temporary loss of common sense... well done!!!

Yeah, what sort of idiot would do something like that? LMAO


Tip tip tip......tap tap tap....

[cgm]

Well done Cameron,

Loved the story...... and the pics ....

I pull my winch down every couple of years and it is always perfectly clean and dry, but then I don't normally sit submerged for 20 minutes.

I would check it out, just to be sure - you may be able to loosen off the bolts a little on the motor and gearbox and crack them open a little, to see if any moisture comes out - if it doesn't then it is up to you if you want to keep pulling it down.

You can drop your winch out, without removing the bar too, by just removing the bottom bash plate.

Mic

Thanks Mic. I'll see how hard it looks to get out without the bar coming off. Might be good to have a look inside anyway. Pretty sure this is the only time in its life it would have seen water. Very dry here. Having said that maybe the seals could be dry and not working.

Guess I'm answering my own question really - just don't want to listen to myself. :)

[happygu]

I had a Warn M10000, and I used to drop that in and out without taking the bar off, so the piddly little 9000 should be a cinch.....

Mic

[cgm]

I had a Warn M10000, and I used to drop that in and out without taking the bar off, so the piddly little 9000 should be a cinch.....

Mic

I've been busy this week, but just went and took a look now. I've got an Ironman bar and I can't see how I'd get it out without taking the bar off. As long as i had a friend to help me lift taking the bar off probably isn't that hard anyway I guess. It would also let me "straighten" the way it sits as I pushed it back a bit on one side a while back coming over a dune into an unexpected wall of sand!

I found the link that Oncedisturbed put up for the Warn service manual - that is excellent:

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/showthread.php?8836-Warn-Winch-Service-Manuals-6k-to-12k&p=297790

A basic service looks pretty straight forward. If everything looks in place I'd just give it quick clean and grease and steer clear of touching the brake.

So, I think I've convinced myself (with a little help from you all) that I probably should do it anyway. I won't get a chance for another 3 or 4 weeks, but that's good as it should be cooling down a bit by then.

Thanks for the input.