Beach driving high temps and bad smell

[mjr350]

Hi guys. Im thinking back to a few weeks ago while driving on the beach and i remember watching the temp gauge hit around 100 - 105 deg which is supposedly normal for soft sand (high tide on arrival) but there was also an awful burning smell. It smelt more like an oil smell rather than clutch. Is it normal to get a bit smelly when temps rise above normal?

[FNQGU]

Temp on what? Your engine - I take it since you mention a clutch, thus a manual box.

Based on what my donk is currently doing and all the playing I have been doing with my Auto, I would not be surprised to hit those temps, but there shouldn't be any sort of oily smell.

How are you getting that temperature? Do you have a temp sensor or engine watchdog etc.?

It isn't clutch slippage is it?

[mjr350]

Yea sorry. 2000 GU TB45E manual low range 4th - 5th.
Its coolant temp via a gauge sending from top radiator hose.
I'm used to a little clutch pong in my V8 VY ute and its certainly a different smell.
Is clutch slip common on the beach? Maybe different clutches have different perfumes.
The best way to describe it would be engine oil spilt on headers after an oil change.
How easy is it to tap into the manual box to attach a temp gauge.

Come to think of it, it has to be clutch because everything else is sealed so a burning oil smell should stay inside a gearbox.

[the evil twin]

The pong might be coming out the breathers

[mjr350]

Yea I've got a complete oil change on the list. Engine, gearbox, transfer and diffs. That might rectify the issue

[Rock Trol]

Do you have a Dual Mass Flywheel? My mates Patrol had a burning oil smell when his DMF cacked it. His stopped working as the oil got between the clutch plates and he lost friction and car would not move. Maybe yours is leaking some oil out of the buffers under stress.

[Gecko17]

An easy one to check is your battery... I just had to replace both batteries on my site ambo (V8 tojo) as the plates in one battery had broken (usually due to the corrogations on the roads) and made it boil... the smell came thru the cab and it smelt like a fan belt had stuck and burnt... was a sort of sulphurous smell...

[HappyCamper*]

Just to clear something for me when you say manual low range 4th to 5th gear , does it mean you got the smell when you where driving in the soft sand in low range trying to hold 4th & 5th gear .

[threedogs]

holding 4th-5th would put one hell of a strain on the driveline.
what was wrong with using High ratio and letting some air out
of your tyres ??

[krbrooking]

Don't quote me but he might have meant high range, as to be sitting in 4th or 5th low you would have to be doing around 80 od k/hr and I would not suggest doing that sort of speed along the beach unless it is very well compacted and then you would not really need 4wd drive.

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[mjr350]

Don't quote me but he might have meant high range, as to be sitting in 4th or 5th low you would have to be doing around 80 od k/hr and I would not suggest doing that sort of speed along the beach unless it is very well compacted and then you would not really need 4wd drive.

Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner

16 psi in the tires and definitely 4L which was around 30 km/h in 4th from memory, certainly not 80 km/h. (High range 5th is highway speeds 110 km/h)
I tried 3rd gear high range (4H) but it bogged down.
I started off in second and it was too slow to keep any forward motion. Got into 4th and 5th on the harder sand after my paranoid mate worked out that we weren't going in the drink but it still had a bad smell on the hard sand.
Reason for low range was because my previous beach trip in high with range same tyre pressure ended up with the same foul smell plus a mate who does a fair bit of beach driving suggested low range for soft sand otherwise you'll put too much stress on the motor because low range supposedly reduces the strain on the driveline because of the reduction.

[the evil twin]

There is your problem...Your tyre pressures are too high.
The comment about bogging down in 3rd is the giveaway.

If you have to maintain that amount of speed so you don't "bog down" you are getting the flotation not from the tyres but from speed like a boat planing.
If your tyre pressure is correct you should be able to swan around at whatever speed and gear you choose, indeed, that reduces temps and loads dramatically and also allows you to use a lower gears.

You will be amazed at how much difference a couple of PSI will make and every truck and tyre combo is different.
Flotation isn't linear IE the difference between 14 and 16 PSI is a magnitude above the difference between 18 and 20 say.
So I suggest trying 14 PSI (or even 12) next time you are in the soft stuff and see how you go.
You should be able to stop, start, crawl along in 2nd or tonk along in 3rd or 4th no worries

[threedogs]

just go easy turning or you'll peel a tyre off
quicker than you can skin a cat at those lower pressures

[the evil twin]

just go easy turning or you'll peel a tyre off
quicker than you can skin a cat at those lower pressures

Agree, you do have to be aware thats for sure.

We have to run down to 10 in some places over here, again depending on vehicle, tyres and load, occasionally 12 but 14 is reasonably common on some parts of the coast.

You have to go pretty hard to peel off a safety rim and like many others Yes, I've done it, totally laziness and driver error and on a track not open sand.
It is certainly easy to get shit in the bead if you get over enthusiastic on the steering inputs tho

[mjr350]

Fair enough. I thought about dropping further but the idea was to hit the wet sand asap but my mate almost went to grab the wheel out of my hands thinking we would get bogged by the waters edge.

[the evil twin]

snip...
my mate almost went to grab the wheel out of my hands thinking we would get bogged by the waters edge.

Handcuff his wrists to the Jesus handle, ban him to the back seat or find a more chilled out mate (just jokin).

[BigRAWesty]

See I think everyone is different.
Today most beaches it was L4 4th and 5th just cruzing along.
The reason is the beaches and short and the dunes are SOFT AS MELTED ICECREAM!!!
I sunk 10-12 inches walking them.
We got into one spot. Spent 2 hours getting out.
Anyway back to op's original question.
I think it's possibly so oil on the block maybe. Or even exhaust manifold.
If the smell is now gone I wouldn't worry to much about it.

[Wizard52]

Oil vapour on exhaust or clutch is most likely as vehicle is working too hard for too long.
I've learnt the hard way over the last almost 40 years of driving on Fraser. If possible to get bogged in any way-I probably have done it.
However the older we get the wiser we get-allegedly.
To reduce load on vehicle, tyre pressure is the most important thing. Then in some sort of order are --momentum, total weight, tyre type, beach conditions, driver experience, engine type, amount of clearance and a lot of luck.
In the "good old" days, blokes with the old rovers and beach buggies used to put aircraft tyres on with no tread so they could float over the loose sand. Worked well but illegal for the road.
I always use high range no matter what "the magazine" says and only go to low range when travelling over the rocks or the tracks behind Middle Rock and Waddy so I can reduce speed and not for traction. At all times I go looking for the hard sand at water's edge (in 2wd drive) even on rising tide and regularly at night time as we have to return to camp after dark as best fishing is late afternoon/early evening on rising tide and I hate getting up early.
The 7 klm south of Indian Head at high tide is probably the hardest bit of beach as it is chewed up so much so momentum in 2nd or 3rd high is your best friend but not necessarily so fast so engine is revving to high and speed to high- if that makes any sense. If there is an obvious "main" track through the soft sand, stick to it as others have compacted the sand for you. Only problem is if your clearance is too low like 80's and 100's the spare tyre below acts as a plough which is good for us as it lowers the mound in middle.
Just make it easier for the vehicle and yourself.

[HappyCamper*]

I will second the info Wizard52 has said , after family living on the Island ( Yidney Rocks ) for over 30 years & father ( Yidney Jack ) owning the 1st island based tow truck & than first tilt tray . I have hardly ever used low range on the actual beach .

[BigRAWesty]

As I said every situation is different.
The beach below was a solid beach on the tide line.
But this hill I was sinking in a good 10 inches up my shin.
Had him at 10psi, max tracks and a double line winch.

54291

Took an hour. And still 2 to make it up..

[93patrol]

It's all about tire pressures. The lowest I have been is 6 psi and the going was slow but I was able to climb a hill much the same as that one in westys picture. Once I got out of the super soft stuff I put a bit of air in and off I went

[the evil twin]

snip...
It's all about tire pressures.

... and there endeth the lesson.

If you have the correct tyre pressure you can use any ratio or gear you wish.
Neither Low or High is right or wrong.
Thinking about it I pretty much use L and H equally I s'pose.
Low ratio is almost mandatory on the SW W.A. beaches because of the way they form with huge scallops, hidden drop off's, lots of weed wrackand are very narrow from break to dune
Down Esperance way and up North it is a bit of a mix but High range is the go on wide beaches minimal washouts and limited seaweed wrack