gone postal
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- St. Augustine, FL
Well, my brother called me today to say that he was taking out his '00 XJ to try and find some mud. I said I'd tag along in mine in case he had any problems. Well, turns out I had the problems.
We were just riding through the woods on some fire trails and there were random mud holes along the way. Being that both vehicles were stock, we kind of hung toward the outside of the holes b/c the bubbas out here plow through the middle w/ 38"+ tires, militaries, etc, so the middles are deep and soft. Well, my driver's side slide in on one hole and it was pretty bad. Water was coming in the door and was over the driver's rear taillight (brother was behind me and I could see the water line). I kept rocking it back and forth and at one point the Jeep stalled on me. I got it restarted (took a lil while) and eventually got it out. I was revving the crap out of it (4LO) which I'm sure the 167k old motor didn't like. The motor had a knock (how many 167k motors don't?), but when I came out of the hole, it sounded like a Cummins diesel. I checked the air filter and it was soaked and muddy, but it didn't appear that much got through to the other side (only 1/2 of "engine-side" was wet). There was about 3" of water standing in the box. I apparently don't have drain holes.
Well, I got out of the woods and probably scared every animal in them. When I got to the main road, the Jeep shut off. Tried to restart, ran for 2secs. and shut down again. So, I figured I blew it and we unloaded all my tools, etc into my brother's XJ. We sat around for 5min. and decided to try and restart one last time. Took a good 10secs. of cranking, but it started and continued to run and surprisingly enough, it was quiet again - actually seems quieter than when we started. We sat another 5mins. to see if it was going to shut off and when it didn't we decided to head home. Made the 5mile trek successfully.
So, what can be done to "mud/water-proof" XJ's? I have a 4" ready to go on and will run 32" tires, so I know that'll help get the vitals out of the mud/water, but is there anything else to help? Guess I should look into a snorkel. I'm going to change my oil, front/rear diffs, tranny fluid and obviously air filter. Anything else I should look into? Also, what do you think caused the two shutdowns? Light case of hydrolock? Electrical short?
I'll admit that it held up well for a $650 vehicle - these things are pretty impressive.
We were just riding through the woods on some fire trails and there were random mud holes along the way. Being that both vehicles were stock, we kind of hung toward the outside of the holes b/c the bubbas out here plow through the middle w/ 38"+ tires, militaries, etc, so the middles are deep and soft. Well, my driver's side slide in on one hole and it was pretty bad. Water was coming in the door and was over the driver's rear taillight (brother was behind me and I could see the water line). I kept rocking it back and forth and at one point the Jeep stalled on me. I got it restarted (took a lil while) and eventually got it out. I was revving the crap out of it (4LO) which I'm sure the 167k old motor didn't like. The motor had a knock (how many 167k motors don't?), but when I came out of the hole, it sounded like a Cummins diesel. I checked the air filter and it was soaked and muddy, but it didn't appear that much got through to the other side (only 1/2 of "engine-side" was wet). There was about 3" of water standing in the box. I apparently don't have drain holes.
Well, I got out of the woods and probably scared every animal in them. When I got to the main road, the Jeep shut off. Tried to restart, ran for 2secs. and shut down again. So, I figured I blew it and we unloaded all my tools, etc into my brother's XJ. We sat around for 5min. and decided to try and restart one last time. Took a good 10secs. of cranking, but it started and continued to run and surprisingly enough, it was quiet again - actually seems quieter than when we started. We sat another 5mins. to see if it was going to shut off and when it didn't we decided to head home. Made the 5mile trek successfully.
So, what can be done to "mud/water-proof" XJ's? I have a 4" ready to go on and will run 32" tires, so I know that'll help get the vitals out of the mud/water, but is there anything else to help? Guess I should look into a snorkel. I'm going to change my oil, front/rear diffs, tranny fluid and obviously air filter. Anything else I should look into? Also, what do you think caused the two shutdowns? Light case of hydrolock? Electrical short?
I'll admit that it held up well for a $650 vehicle - these things are pretty impressive.