Essex Greenlaning

Today I went and did some lanes in Essex with Martin and Steve. Just getting to Essex yesterday was fun as I had a knackered alternator and overheating engine due to mud from last week. I limped back home and tried to further clean the rad while it was still in the car which gave some improvement. A 3 hour drive at about 45 mph, careful use of the heater and batteries running low was "interesting"

Martin had already ordered up another alternator just in case it was needed, after over 5 hours in his workshop the rad had been taken out, cleaned, refitted and refilled. New alternator fitted after finding that the screws on the old one that holds the brush gear are made of cheese, also the bearing on the old was gritty with loads of play. We finally slept at 3-30 this morning.


I took very few photos and will upload later, but I'm sure Steve/Martin will be posting up soon. A good day out if a little soggy at the end.

Working on your truck till 3.30am to get it fixed for a days laning!

Glad you got it sorted and went on the trip.

Looking forward to the pics.

Was it just your 90, Stevens 90 and Martins 70?

Just the 3 trucks Ben, now I have to get mine ready for December

You seem to be out laning every weekend at the moment Trev.

Not envious at all!

Had a great day out with some great laughs, still smiling even now

Keeping your cards close to your chest there Trev

Here's a taste of how it went

Day started like this for me, got up looked out of window towards Maldon and saw this



Looks like its going to be a great day for a bit of laning me thinks

Wasn't wrong, another epic

Oops......

Martin grafting away at stupid 'O Clock




New alternator in




The rad, Sat night turned out to be one of those horrible "nothing goes right or easy" jobs, lots of faffing and struggles but our sense of humour got us through.




The second obsticle of the day, a working party was formed and we were soon on our way again.










Happy Laners




Steve "I grew up round here.....where are we again?"




Ooops

1st thing.

Oh and this is how mine looks at the moment





Things you do to help out a m8

A few from the day,






Just before Trevors jeep turned its self off, due to water getting into the airbox,

Steve saying its just round hear somewhere. Oh no its a river.

Looks like you had fun!

Steven, did you take them down the longest ford in Europe?

Bet that would have been epic this weekend with all the rain we've had!

No Ben, we didnt go down vilots lane, we have had far too much rain to do that one. A great day was had by all.

Ben said:

Looks like you had fun!

Click to expand...

It was a good day with lots of laughs There was so much water about, that every time we came out of a lane back onto tarmac we had to drive through 100/200/300meters of 12"+ deep standing water So no cleaning to be done on the trucks There was loads of people out playing in the water from walkers to cyclists and even a chap in the newest shiniest black new Disco just out with his kids to drive through some big puddles It was just a very British 'Mad Dogs & English Men' day out

Ben said:

Steven, did you take them down the longest ford in Europe?

Bet that would have been epic this weekend with all the rain we've had!

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We met up so close to the longest Ford you could have spat at it, but after some discusion it was decided to give it a wide berth due to the amount of water everywhere else. Good job we did as Tony wouldn't have got 100yards up it before his engine filled with water and that would have been that right at the start of the day

Ooppss guess the airbox was not sealed then. Or did water get through a joint in snorkel pipework?
Was engine ok after its drink?

I have been through water before without issue, what I haven't done before is be in water and stayed in it for a number of minutes. The engine was running all okay and I went to hit reverse and the engine stalled, water had got to the air filter so the air box must have a leak, I also suspect the rest of the pipe work from the airbox to the inlet has leaked through the jubilee clips.

The engine was running lumpy, backfiring and lots of diesel smoke but cleared up after 10 mins or so, I drove home and all seemed well. Later on last night I moved the truck and the missing and smokiness has come back, it needed a couple of warming cycles on the glow plugs before it would start. At this point I don't really know what the next diagnostic steps should be, is it a top end problem or worse, could it be a slightly bent con rod.

Answers on a postcard please

Sunrise over ESSEX


The get together











Handsome Chap


And we are off











And then we are stopped There was some talk of waffling over it Then we came to the conclusion that it would be easier to turn around and drive in from the other end, so we did








Some water








Some more water





Even more water








Guess what, yep you've got it more water You would have been prety hard pushed to have avoided any water this weekend as it was round every bend and up every road as Trev found out later on This was where we met the shiny black new Disco playing












































Excellent road name






































I'm not going any further








Trev says 'Back out Steve, I'll give it a go' 'All yours m8' I say





It then goes like this














'Hey guys my engine just stopped and I'm filling up with water!!!'








So back in I go to facilitate a rescue

This is as close as I can get without filling up with water myself

In fact I have to back up a bit as this is just what starts to happen









































She's a bit smokey, but running, kind of


Here's a photo of inside my truck as it started to fill





So back home it was straight out with the seats and a good wet Vac to get out the worst








Got up about one and a half liters with Charles


I then popped the Dehumidifier inside with an oscillating fan and a fan heater that were going from around 6ish to midnight before I turned it off for the night. The Dehumidifier had pulled about another 1.5Ltrs out during this time. I put it back on this morning at around eight, it'll be interesting to see how much comes out today. All of the carpet felt dry to the touch and there's no wet smell as yet. Fingers crossed it'll sort itself out over the next three or four days. I'd like to see a good decrease in the amount that the Dehumidifier pulls out each day over this time

Was it wet

He , he , he , that's about as much wet laning I have ever seen.

Gra.

Trevor said:

The engine was running lumpy, backfiring and lots of diesel smoke but cleared up after 10 mins or so, I drove home and all seemed well. Later on last night I moved the truck and the missing and smokiness has come back, it needed a couple of warming cycles on the glow plugs before it would start. At this point I don't really know what the next diagnostic steps should be, is it a top end problem or worse, could it be a slightly bent con rod.

Answers on a postcard please

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Hi Trevor, judging by the lumpy running; smoke; poor starting and the water coming out of the cylinders in the pics, my money would be on a bent con rod.

When a piston is on the compression stroke the inlet and exhaust valves will be shut, so if the cylinder has water in it (which can't be compressed) the valves are only going to be pressed harder into their seat so they are unlightly to be damaged, instead it's the con rod that bends when the piston is stopped by the water. If it was only a small amount of water in the cylinder, then the con rod could only have a slight bend in it, hence the motor still runs. If there is a slight bend in one or more of the con rods, the engine will be down on compression which would lead to poor combustion which would be the possible cause of the smoke; poor starting and lumpiness.

A good friend of mine had the same situation with a discovery. After the initial damage the disco towed another dead 4x4 back to base, but it was exhibiting some of the issues that your encountering. After some attempts to rectifiy the damage failed, it was decided to pull the head off and turning the engine over by hand showed that one piston didn't travel as far up the cylinder bore as the rest. The cause was a bent con rod, swapping out the con rod with the head and sump off, leaving the block in the car, saw the disco back to full health.

This is only an armchair opinion of the info that's in this thread, so I could be way off.

Good luck with the repairs.