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COVID19 Compliant - Morning Fewbie Plus Desert Drive - Shuwaib to Al Badayer - Sharjah - 26 Feb 2021


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The Xterra was behaving little sluggish from the start of the drive and credited me with some refusals and stucks. Thanks to the team overcame all the difficulties. Fortunately after @Shamil's trick of disconnecting the battery to reset the ECU and restarting from the flat area at iftar bowl the Xterra found its sprint back. The drive back home was very exciting as the machine was responding instantaneously to every small thrust of the throttle. After couple of refusals I was thinking what happened to its power. Thankfully everything returned to normal after the ECU reset but got to check with garage if the MAF sensor or throttle body is dirty as @Shamil suggested. Overall I am very happy to own the beast as it proved its very sturdy and down to earth technology employed by the manufacturer. The nasty ditches and bumps the Xterra took it like piece of cake. I was afraid after the nose hit the sand very hard so many times that the machine will fall apart or maybe the suspension will crack. Next moment the Xterra sprints like nothing happened. Wow. Kudos to Nissan for bringing out such a sturdy 4 X 4. Built like a ROCK. Sad they discontinued it. 

Will check tomorrow if any sand has gone inside the MAF sensor or throttle body which made the engine run at safe rpm's. Its been more than 10 drives in the sand after the last clean up. 

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14 minutes ago, Thomas Varghese said:

The Xterra was behaving little sluggish from the start of the drive and credited me with some refusals and stucks. Thanks to the team overcame all the difficulties. Fortunately after @Shamil's trick of disconnecting the battery to reset the ECU and restarting from the flat area at iftar bowl the Xterra found its sprint back. The drive back home was very exciting as the machine was responding instantaneously to every small thrust of the throttle. After couple of refusals I was thinking what happened to its power. Thankfully everything returned to normal after the ECU reset but got to check with garage if the MAF sensor or throttle body is dirty as @Shamil suggested. Overall I am very happy to own the beast as it proved its very sturdy and down to earth technology employed by the manufacturer. The nasty ditches and bumps the Xterra took it like piece of cake. I was afraid after the nose hit the sand very hard so many times that the machine will fall apart or maybe the suspension will crack. Next moment the Xterra sprints like nothing happened. Wow. Kudos to Nissan for bringing out such a sturdy 4 X 4. Built like a ROCK. Sad they discontinued it. 

Will check tomorrow if any sand has gone inside the MAF sensor or throttle body which made the engine run at safe rpm's. Its been more than 10 drives in the sand after the last clean up. 

The MAF sensor is fine I believe as I blew off some sand from the sensor of your truck. I would suggest you drive the car for a few days and see if the error resurfaces. And if it does, then get it checked from a reliable garage for usual suspects like sand in throttle body, cam sensors etc

Edited by Shamil
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1 minute ago, Shamil said:

The MAF sensor is fine I believe as I blew off some sand from the sensor of your truck. I would suggest you drive the car for a few days and see if the error resurfaces. And if it does, then get it checked from a reliable garage for usual suspects like sand in throttle body, can sensors etc

It will only take an hour to clean the sensors and throttle body at my garage. Got another fewbie plus drive with @Foxtrot Oscar Angela tomorrow afternoon. Its better to check and be safe than get hopelessly stuck in the middle of the desert. The dunes which the Xterra had some difficulty in climbing up today was surprising to me as its never shied off any dune. 

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38 minutes ago, Lorenzo Candelpergher said:

DRIVE REPORT

Dear Desert Wanderers, 

With 3 dropouts within 24h from the drive (@AlexPol, @N@ved and @Sinol) our convoy had only 9 cars. 

By 7:15am we were ready to go in a surreal atmosphere due to an unusual grey sky. 

Not even 10 mins in the drive we had a first serious stuck with @Thomas Varghese, in his first experience ad a 2nd Lead: his X-Terra got trapped in a tricky patch of very soft sand and bushes, to the extent that winching was required.

The medium / small technical dunes in Shuwaib are all but simple: with very unpredictable shapes, sudden pockets and sharp crests, they put immediately the convoy under pressure. 

As we reached the 1st group of large technical dunes, I totally missed a sharp drop on a fairly flat area, landing nose down on the sand, causing quite a damage to my car, which fortunately could be temporarily fixed with some tape (a stop at a body shop this time will be unavoidable) so we could continue our drive. 

The high and complex dunes we drove through forced everyone to give their very best, as they require a combination of control, speed, power and determination that are certainly a big step up from normal Fewbie Drives, let alone a good quantity of criss-crossings and very extensive ridge riding and side sloping in and out multiple bowls, a with a very high pace. 

Overall we crossed 11 areas with such high and demanding dunes and the convoy certainly paid its due toll of stucks and refusals, with my winch called in action other 3 times, as equally tough were the stints with small dunes in between. 

@Thomas Varghese was a good 2nd lead, following my tail very efficiently and surprisingly well in some of the trickiest and most adventurous moments. A few refusals here and there, well handled overall. 

@Aus Alzubaidi came through with very good pace and control of his capable car.

@Junaid120120 followed impatiently, eager for more dunes, sometimes finding himself a bit to close to the car in front. 

@Arda Yagcioglu was a reliable center forward, providing precious guidance in numerous occasions with refusals and stucks. For the future, a longer recovery rope will be advisable in order to be able to safely operate also in the extreme conditions like the ones we faced today, where - due to insufficient rope lenght - we opted for winching @Thomas Varghese down from the credit where he had ended up. 

@varunmehndiratta followed, showing a great improvements from previous drives, even in much more challenging terrains like today's one

@Arman had a hard time climbing some of the tallest dunes we attacked today due to the limited power of his Wrangler, but did overall very well. 

@Ali Abas did was magnificent with his Landcruser: today's drive wasn't certainly easy with such a large beast. At times it may have sounded a bit scary, but it was certainly a great learning experience. 

@Shamil at the back was a precious sweep. He had a couple of uncomfortable minutes where he was left behind, with his engine not pushing enough to get him through a huge and challenging bowl, while the convoy, unaware of his difficulties, moved away. Luckily someone at the back finally realized that @Shamil was not with us: having reastablished radio contact and understood his position, the convoy backtracked to get hold of him and then restart along our planned route. 

It was during the rerouting that followed the reconjunction with @Shamil that @Aus Alzubaidi got stuck in a nasty pocket, front and back deep into the sand and the rear right wheel spinning in the air. Once again the winch was in action and we could soon move again. 

By 11am we had just exited Super Bowl, where we probably indulged a bit too much, giving @Junaid120120 the chance for a frontal attemot after he had already successfully made it to the top, as also @Thomas Varghese and @varunmehndiratta (or was it @Aus Alzubaidi) did.

We were ready to hit the sabkha and make our exit, however the convoy asked to continue to Iftaar Bowl, which was in sight right in front of us.

As usual, the last minute extensions of the drive proved to be an unfortunate decision. We quickly made it to Iftaar Bowl oy to get held there with @Thomas Varghese's X-Terra showing an engine fault light while stuck in a dangerous position close to the west side ascent to the top of the bowl, where too many irresponsible drivers from other convoys were ignoring the presence of a car clearly in trouble and with an open bonnet.

Under @Shamil's experienced guidance, based on his own experience with X-Terra, the battery was disconnected a few times to force a total reset of the computer, which eventually got back to normal only after tugging the car down to the middle of the bowl, on flat area.

Having sorted out this last challenge, we gave up any further attempts to climb Iftaar Bowl and we made our exit to Tawi Ghadaya by 11.50am.

Overall we drove for 4h 37' of which moving time was 3h 1' (not to bad, considering the number of stucks and refusals). We covered 43.4km and a total ascent / descent of of over 250m, with a moving pace of 4'11"/km. 

Kudos to the whole convoy, who came out unscathed and hopefully entertained in a very demanding Fewbie+ drive today and thanks to @Arda Yagcioglu and @Shamil for their precious help. 

See you soon in the sand again! 

Thanks for the kind words and appreciation @Lorenzo Candelpergher. As my 1st drive as a 2nd lead that too in a fewbie plus drive it was very challenging. I was in a dilemma. As per your instruction to follow you at some distance I tried for sometime but its not easy as you disappear very fast in those never ending dunes. As it was a busy place with so many convoys and tracks it was easy to lose your trail. Moreover I could see even your car was struggling sometimes in the soft sands when we side slope or criss cross. The best strategy was Vodaphone's old advert - The puppy which follows wherever his master goes. Forget everything about leaving some distance and follow @Lorenzo Candelpergher wherever he goes before he vanishes out of sight. I suppose I did good in that aspect. 

The drive was very exciting except for some glitches from my car and me. Thanks for the support extended to me by @Lorenzo Candelpergher, @Aus Alzubaidi,  @Junaid120120, @Arda Yagcioglu & @Shamil for helping in shovelling and winching the car out. The rest of the drivers showed very much patience and waited for the recovery as per Covid protocols. 

See all of you in sand soon. 

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1 hour ago, Lorenzo Candelpergher said:

By 11am we had just exited Super Bowl, where we probably indulged a bit too much, giving @Junaid120120 the chance for a frontal attemot after he had already successfully made it to the top, as also @Thomas Varghese and @varunmehndiratta (or was it @Aus Alzubaidi) did.

 

It was me me me me ....😃  

 

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It is this breathtaking beauty of nature which hooks a casual offroader to roam the deserts forever

IMG_2973.jpg

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