unfortunate incident, engine now knackered

[boggy2006]

hi,

I had an unfortunate incident driving back from a holiday in Port Campbell yesterday. I was going down one of those roads which is tarmac down the middle, a single lane wide and gravel/soft verge at the edges. A car approaching in the opposite direction did not make any attempt to move over and I had to swerve onto the soft edge of the road. Unfortunately it was very soft and marshy, I couldn't pull back onto the road and ended up nose diving into some pretty deep marsh, it was up to the top of the bull bars!!

This was in the middle of nowhere with no-one around and my family in the car. We were all ok, but it took me 2 hours to recover the car. Everything seemed ok, but on the way home, the engine became more and more noisy at the top end, very tappy and rattley. I checked the engine oil and it was grey, clearly water had got into the engine oil. It took 4 oil changes to clear it out.

Now my nice sweet engine sounds like a rattley diesel. I'm sure extensive damage has been done. I'm considering an insurance claim, as it was an actually crash, I just hit water rather than something hard. Do you think I should make a claim and if the insurance will cover this sort of crash?

Just glad I wasn't in a 'normal' car as the water would have been over the roof!


Thanks

[Bob]

I would advise your Insurance Company as soon as possible. Have no idea if damage will be covered by Insurance but put in a claim anyway. In the meantime I would have a mechanic look at it.

[YNOT]

That's no good mate, sorry to hear about it and glad you and your family are OK. Some drivers are so inconsiderate.

You can try lodging an insurance claim but it's really up to your insurer if they pay out or not. Get a PDS for your insurance and read the fine print VERY carefully. You know what insurance companies are like, they'll try anything to get out of paying up even for legitimate claims and bluffing is just one of their tricks. Read the PDS and know what is covered so you can be ready to throw it back in the faces if necessary.

If insurance won't cover it you shouldn't have much trouble picking up a good second hand TB42E for under $1500 and drop it in yourself if you're a bit handy on the tools.

Tony

[Bigrig]

So sorry to hear about the rig mate - buy at least you and the family are ok which really is the main thing.

[GUtsy ute]

Glad you're all OK, definately go the insurance route.
If no good, Tony's advice would be the way to go.

[the godfather]

That suck a bit. Sorry to hear it and glad you are OK.

[patch697]

Hate, bloody good work keep the family safe & I bet the other car never stopped either.

I'd make a report to the cops just to have it on record encase anyone suffers any delayed injures from it & it may even help if you do make a claim.

[Maxhead]

Glad your family is all good, the vehicle can be replaced...

[boggy2006]

thanks all, I spoke with the insurance yesterday, they seemed sceptical it could be economically repaired, so they are sending someone to look at it tomorrow and potentially tow it away. I'm nervous they are coming out to see how they can get out of the claim, so I've read through the policy and double checked all my mods and accessories are covered. Biggest concern is that it's close to the maximum height (difficult to measure as the middle of the roof is higher than the edge so you have to judge where the maximum is) and whether you call it a wagon or a hard top (10mm higher). I've taken into account the larger tyres (265/75/16 instead of 265/70/16) allowed and have a placard for that which gives 13mm on top of the original height and also the 50mm legally allowed. With my Kuhmo 285's and suspension lift, it's pretty close. I could put my original 265/70 tyres back on, but the tread is only just legal as opposed to the Kuhmos which are new, so they would probably use that as an excuse if I did swap them.

[DX grunt]

Take pics, PLENTY, of pic of everything inside and out of your truck, BEFORE they take it away. Tyre depth, the whole lot.

Once it goes, you can't prove anything.

Please get onto it straight away.

Ross