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As we enter the summer season, @Sam Selim and I have been watching the gauges on our Jeep JL 3.6L 4x4's - which quickly raises a question...what does normal look like? Our hobby means we push cars harder and in unusual conditions, often in ways for which they were not directly designed. A quick glance will tell you if everything is OK (i.e. all the needles are below red-lines), but over time many of us develop a gut feeling for what looks normal and when things are outside of what we would expect to see. I decided on today's drive with @Mark B to snatch a few data points and look at things with a bit more detail: Couple of major points to relate my gut feelings to what you see: The oil pressure on the Pentastar engine varies with RPM, with typically around 30 PSI below circa 3000 RPM, rising to 70 PSI when revving higher - the key point is just to ensure you don't have too low oil pressure (<<30 PSI). Oil temperature is a leading indicator: if you push hard, it moves up quickly, and vice-versa. This is to be expected, as engine oil has the dual job of lubricating the engine as well as drawing heat. Coolant temperature is a lagging indicator: The coolant temperature rises when pushing the engine, but at a slower rate - it also cools down less quickly too. Also on the Jeep JL, the fan will kick into max power at 110 degC and pull the temperature down again. If you see the temperature going beyond 110 degC and can't hear the fan (or the temperature keeps rising), it's time to do something (like come to a stop!). Transmission Temperature: It's a slow mover with plenty of margin to the limit value. However my suspicion is that once this gets hot, it will take some time to cool down again. What does normal look like on your car, and what are the big red flags for you?

Great drive today ! Thank you for joining me. This area of Nahel is never disappointing. Great views, nice variety of dunes, not too many bushes, and usually empty. We made the most of it, starting softly in the first dunes. I got stuck, pointing down against a bush, and the whole team joined supporting the shoveling 🙏. Luckily it was still early in the morning. Then progressively we went into higher dunes, took the time to circle a large bowl. Then we had a more tricky portion, as a long climb with pockets and soft sand. You have been amazing coming through with only a few minor refusals. Congratulations to @edward-392, @Rajath Shetty, @Raptor Runner - Praveen, your driving was excellent ! Thank you @Danie for the second lead, you had great anticipation of my moves, and @Mahesh_ and @Jose Luis Campos, supporting the convoy, and guiding out the refusals when required. Have a great weekend !

It was a very enjoyable drive this morning. Thanks, @JeromeFJ, for organizing it. It was great meeting some new faces and sharing the drive with them, while also catching up with our old friends. Thanks as well to @Jose Luis Camposfor your support. The recovery session was a valuable learning experience. I managed to capture a few photos during the break and have added them here. Looking forward to seeing everyone again in the sand soon. Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

Thanks Glen was a really good ones and yeah we hit 74km at the peak 😬😬 and thank you for the last minute sweep you did a fantastic job as did the other guys on the drive @Giacomo and @ChrisW! But everyone drove amazingly! Definitely going back! Maybe minus the bushes 🤣

@Mark B thank you for a great drive this morning. Great start with the fast flowing dunes picking up some serious speeds even with some of the many cross tracks. Second half of the drive was more technical and bushy but was still a lot of fun 🙃 Thanks for the great second lead @Giacomo and great support from the ever dependable @ChrisW. Very Good driving shown by everyone today. Enjoy the remainder of the weekend and see you again soon.

Post Drive Report A big thank you to everyone for arriving early and being ready for the briefing—great to see the drive starting right on time, and we were rolling by around 2:15 PM. We initially followed the sand track toward our first set of dunes, where @Thomas54675 began experiencing power issues with his Jeep, struggling to sustain above 3,000 RPM. After some checks and a few test climbs, the issue persisted, so we continued cautiously toward the Murquab playground. While Thomas waited there, the rest of the group enjoyed some nice sidies, hill climbs, and descents. From there, we crossed the sabkha and took a sand track toward the next dune area between Murquab and Qudra. During a break, and with @Jose Luis Campos’s help, we identified the issue—Thomas’s new aftermarket hood liner was getting sucked into the air intake at higher RPMs. Once removed, the fix worked perfectly, and he was back in action. We spent some time playing in that area before heading to Qudra Secret Dunes, where we wrapped up the drive with some excellent sidies, ridge riding, and controlled crossovers. Overall, really solid driving from everyone—special mention to @Jerzi and @Riyad for their control and pace. Also great to see proper convoy discipline and spacing, especially when some vehicles needed to exit early, turned down, and had to make a re-attempt—exactly how it should be done for safety. Unfortunately, @lucas amat had an issue with his front driver-side wheel liner coming off on a small step-out, causing some rubbing on metal now. Given the situation, we decided to exit, about 15 minutes early—well managed and no major impact on the overall drive. A big thank you to @Jose Luis Campos for strong center support and @Fabien Monleau for covering sweep, as well as @lucas amat for stepping up as second lead. Drive Stats (Gaia GPS): We covered approximately 57 km, with a great mix of terrain. The elevation profile clearly highlighted some of the more enjoyable climbs and descents we tackled along the way. Relive Video: Thanks again everyone—fantastic drive and great teamwork throughout. Wishing you all a wonderful weekend ahead, and I’ll see you when I’m back from holidays in Canada!

Thanks guys ! Thanks to you I managed to get out of desert on 5 l of Al Ain mineral water 🤣 indeed lots of learning and new gadgets ordered on Amazon 😱 was super fun all along and see you next time

On my Expedition Timberline, the cooling is simpler than your JL. There is no separate air-cooled transmission cooler from the factory. The gearbox uses a heat exchanger that runs engine coolant against the transmission fluid. This means the ATF basically cannot get colder than the coolant. When the engine gets hot, the gearbox has nowhere to dump its heat. I log data with CarScanner and an OBDLink adapter: ATF temp, coolant, intake air, RPM and boost. I drove up Jebel Akhdar to the Saiq plateau and back. The trip had three very different parts: Going up (about 38 min, around 38°C at the bottom): For the whole climb I kept the gearbox locked in 3rd gear manually. I did not let it shift higher. This held the revs around 2500-3000 and stopped the gearbox from jumping between 3-4-5 all the time on the corners. Less shifting under load means less heat, and the car felt more stable. With this, ATF went from 92°C up to 110°C, and coolant reached 108°C. You can see the heat exchanger limit here — ATF and coolant climbed together and stayed only about 2 degrees apart. Intake air went from 39 to 61°C. No knock, everything normal. On the plateau (about 26 min, around 2000m): This was the easy part. ATF stayed between 77 and 99°C. The air up there is cool, so intake dropped to 36-54°C. The car was relaxed. Going down (first 8 min): ATF went back up to 106°C, even with engine braking. The interesting part: knock retard jumped to almost 7°. This was on a closed throttle while braking with the engine, going downhill. High revs, hot engine, thin air at altitude. The computer pulled timing to protect itself. I only use Super 98, so it is not the fuel. Just something I did not expect to see going downhill. What I think is normal, and what worries me: ATF below 105°C is fine. 105-110 I watch it. Above 115 I would stop and let it cool. Coolant near 100°C in summer is normal for this car. The radiator is working hard but it is okay. After a hard climb, the ATF temp can keep rising for a few minutes after you stop. So I let it idle 5 minutes before turning off. One question for you all: my "Fan Speed Desired" reading stayed at 0% the whole time, even at 110°C. I am not sure if CarScanner is reading the wrong value for the Ford fan, or if something is wrong. If anyone knows the correct fan PID for the 3.5 EcoBoost, please tell me. The biggest help was holding a gear manually on the long climb. Much less shifting and the car feels more stable. PS. Car was loaded (Me, wife and 2 kids, and full trunk of different staff)

@Looper Thank you for organizing this early morning trip and your excellent support. Thanks to @Frans M and @nithish468 for your amazing help. @Lukas Wii Welcome at your first Fewbe drive. You learned a lot today! Looking forward to see all of you at the next trip. Short movie: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZQPrZzIr2f/?igsh=ZXE0Z3drcm52OWM2 Photos:

After 3 seasons of driving with us in Carnity, @Aser will unfortunately be leaving us as he is relocating to Canada. We want to thank Aser for his help and support he has provided to so many of us in the club and wish him well on his future adventures! Perhaps not in the sand but maybe with an F150 in the Canadian woods! Let's all say THANKS and wish him all the best!

Thank you to the BIG Carnity family, all the leads, support, members and specially to @Luke K P for introducing me to this club where I found everything I was looking for, a way to learn and explore with a focus on safety. If I ever was too "direct" to any of you in my "support" role please keep in mind safety is integral part of my daily job. 😅 Don't stop learning on every drive and enjoy the desert freedom! I will keep an eye on the gallery and deeply miss sharing the desert with all with you. For the newbies, keep that convoy and radio discipline, "Enforcer out"! 🤣