Haylands
Member Since: 04 Mar 2014
Location: East Yorkshire
Posts: 8190
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Well where do I start.... what a D1ckhead!!,
Went off roading last weekend in Wales, we had two groups going opposite ways around a circular route that takes all day, we started off with the famous Strata Florida which is a track used by monks some time ago to go from where they lived to the Abbey for prayers, it winds up a gentle hill and has numerous river crossings, they are always quiet shallow, maybe 18" at their deepest, Rangie behaved well and handled everything thrown at it... met the other group halfway round and asked about the River crossing that can get deep at times, they had had no problems and reckoned it was only a couple of feet deep.
Some time later we arrived at said crossing and knowing the Range Rover can handle that depth without a snorkel I went first as I was leading the group.... well this is where D1ckhead comes in.... it had been raining hard all morning but had now brightened up, they had crossed the river first thing, it was now pretty late in the day.... yes, you can see where this is going..... Into low box, suspension set to maximum, not too fast but fast enough to push a nice bow wave, in I go...!!!! Got about a car and a half's length into it and the water is several inches up the windscreen!!!!! so much for 2ft more like 4ft, nothing else to do but floor it and hope for the best... well, we didn't make it, it sucked in enough water to stop the engine and we ground to a halt about 2/3rds of the way across, tried once to restart but it wasn't having it.... We were in about 2 1/2 foot of water, it was 1/3 the way up the outside of the doors.... Lee, the chap behind in a snorkeled Disco came to the rescue but by the time he's overtaken us, got out the other side, stripped to his pants, waded in, fixed the tow rope and pulled us out the door seals had let about 6" of water inside....
Got out and let the water drain out, as said about 6inches in the cabin but the boot was full to just under the spare wheel cover... disconnected the MAF from the airpipe and it was sopping, turned it over and after about 20secs it caught and ran well, surprise surprise the radio had stopped working, then the EAS pump cut in, dived for the button on the dash to turn it off but it had run for a few seconds.... left it ticking over and draining out for some time whilst the others negotiated the river... some went the long way on the road, sensible folk....
After it had stopped dripping copious amounts of water we carried on did about another hour of off roading including a very nice set of rock steps with some serious axle twisters and side slope... Rangie was the only one that made it up first time.... Set off back to the camp site where most were staying (I don't do camping so we were staying in a hotel near by) and various funny things started happening, lights coming on and going off on their own, radio screen flashed into life a few times...
We then went into Aberystwyth for some tea, came back to the car and it wouldn't recognise the key, played with it for a bit, disconnected the battery a few times and it eventually started and we got back to the Hotel, dropped Deb off as she is just recovering from Breast cancer and gets tired easily, and went back to the camp site to sit around the fire and tell tales.... Left about midnight and again had trouble getting it going, took 40mins this time, drove back to the Hotel, left it running, woke Deb up and we decided to go home then rather than wait till the morning and maybe end up on the back of a flat bed.... drove the 240miles+ home without problem, disconnected the battery, had a few hours kip then stripped out all the seats, the boot and the carpet, the radio, amp and TV unit had been totally under water as well as the BECM and the EAS pump, all taken out, stripped down and blasted with contact cleaner to drive out the moisture, all plugs treated the same, then all put in the airing cupboard to dry, mopped up the standing water and put my dehumidifier in the car, it's pulled out several ltrs since Sunday, the carpets are the worse bit, backed with between 1-6inches of dense foam, left them propped up to drain off but it's all just dropped to the lowest part of the foam and stayed there so this morning I hired a carpet vac and have sucked all the water out of them and given the carpet side a good clean whilst I'm at it....
New cabin filter and air filter fitted as well...
I'll put it back together over the weekend and see what still works, I sent off for an IID tool this week as I'm sure something will show a fault but none had come up by the time we reached home, then I suppose it's hit ebay for some spares... Funnily the radio module in the boot had evidence of water damage before, a fair amount of green fluff growing on the contacts inside, It was probably from a spillage as the boot is always bone dry, including the black felt covering behind the units, the BECM is covered in thick varnish so I am hoping it's ok but not holding my breath!!!
It seems to be an easy job to relocate the BECM, most wires come from the front of the car, it would only entail lengthening a few wires and it could live in a higher up place behind the dash somewhere, maybe modify the little cubby hole under the knee light and fit it there, not going to do it now as I want to find out whats bust before I start modifying it and add another item into the equation.... the sat nav unit in the boot was high enough to be out of water but it's in the airing cupboard as well just in case... I do plan on changing the head unit for one of those chinese units so most of the other stuff in the boot will be redundant anyway.
The EAS pump worked fine on the way home and the suspension did what it should but the dryer was sopping wet as was the rest of the internals so may have to work on getting water out of the system, It vents the pressure on dropping back through the dryer to dry out the crystals that have got wet by moist air entering so hopefully several dumps of the entire system will get the water out and back into the dryer, then bake the crystals again in the oven to dry a few time and maybe?? it'll be OK....
If anyone has any ideas for anything else then please chip in, using a L322 for offroading was always going to be a learning curve, I accept the responsibility, after all it's just a car.....
The funniest part of it was watching Lee wade through the icy cold Welsh river water, the look on his face when it reached his cohonas was priceless....
And the other thing to mention is there is absolutely no rust at all on the inside of the floorpan and sills of my 12year old example, if it had been a Disco 2 I'd have been welding all week....!!!
This pic is taken just after the deepest part, a bomb hole as you enter the depth is getting less and less
All stripped out, a few pics in case anyone is interested whats under the carpets....
There is a depression all the way down the inner sill for the wiring loom, this was still full of water..
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This is where the BECM lives
Dehumidifier doing it's thing
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Garage full of bits...
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Thickness of the foam on the carpets
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I shall update with more as it happens...
I recon I can modify a Disco4 snorkel to fit the FF so that is pretty high on the list now!!!! Pete
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2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Parchment over Navy Interior. Sold
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand, Jet Interior. Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green, Ivory over Aspen Interior (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-
Last edited by Haylands on 4th Jun 2022 8:48am. Edited 1 time in total
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