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It's time for Wadi Shawka - All level - Family drive with easy and scenic route for all drivers to enjoy the natural beauty of Wadi Shawka and it's mountainous range all around. Drive will end with BBQ, so we can rest and enjoy drinks with family and friends while doing the BBQ in the evening till night. As it's a all level drive, so it's gonna be easy for all drivers and 4x4 and if enough participation is there for an adventurous run, then I can take few cars for an hour long fun & challenging drive through the Shawka - Esfai river bed (with or without water). What to expect: Hiking, Farm, Pools, Bird/Duck Watching/Feeding, Kids friendly, Water wading (optional) When: 25 October 2019, Friday Meeting time: 2:00 PM (SHARP), convoy will move at 02:15 PM (No Exceptions) Where: Adnoc Fuel Station at Sharja - Kalba Road GPS Coordinate: https://goo.gl/maps/pKRuHHdxBtSRZ8cLA Level: All level - Family Drive - Spouse, kids, friends all are welcome Type of Car: Any 4x4, SUV, Crossover are welcome Adventure drive (optional): Any proper 4x4 with front and back tow hooks and 10 inches of ground clearance. Plan: Drive, train and enjoy till about 9:00 PM What to bring along: BBQ - whatever you like with little extra to share, water, liquids, smiles, stories, enthusiasm and willingness to learn. Approximate finish time: 9:00 PM MUST READ: Off Road Driving - Roles & Responsibilities Off road Driving Etiquette's Off-road Convoy Rules Please RSVP on the below calendar:

That museum is Land Cruiser Porn! I'd take the H1 over this but I bet this one never breaks down.

Love the video @Xaf. They say a pic speaks a 1000 words your video is worth a million words. Essence of the drive nicely captured and presented.

It was a nice drive again. Sometimes I am in the writing mood, not today, but instead of a write-up, I made a video of the drive. See you on the 8th of November!

It looks a bit like a bicycle pump that clips onto where your radiator cap goes. Usually you pump it up to 12-14 psi and it will push coolant out through any leaks but you could go up to 18-19 psi and it something is bad you will find it

Is the radiator new? or used. Well you gave your car a good jolt that whacked the radiator into the main fan. Which could have also damaged the water pump which the main fan is bolted on to. The water pump is not designed to take any physical abuse. Causing it to start weeping. https://www.amazon.ae/dp/B07VX79GY8/ref=asc_df_B07VX79GY8/?tag=googleshopp09-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=386233137014&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7611363433706531902&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9047580&hvtargid=pla-822032744129&psc=1

Probably a good idea to stick a pressure tester on it and put in a few more psi than normal and see if anything else starts leaking

Steering rack can be rebuild, last year trailblazer steering rack leaked due to winching when tires were pointing in the other direction. I think it costed me 600 dhs, can't rem exact amount. Two months later it leaked again and the guy who rebuild it, fixed again without any additional charges as rebuild had 3 or 6 months guarantee, i paid for labor only for the second time.

Self-desert driving was amazing fun and much better than sitting and watching someone else drive. Being first time in the desert, it was really exciting. At first, it was a bit scary when driving in the desert, climbing and drifting down the hill...! It’s like swimming in the ocean of sand. Those are the opportunities to explore new things. Special thanks to team Carnity making this belated event happened in an organized way and the team members were very humble and cooperative. Thanks to Mr. Rahmimdad @Rahmimdad and Mr. Srikumar @Srikumar for instant response to clear a refusal couple of times, and for guiding important tips of self-recovery. Then we headed towards one of the region’s most striking areas of outstanding natural beauty known as “Fossil Rock”. Hiking to the top of Fossil Rock was amazing and truly a spectacular experience to watch the surrounding dunes. But the biggest challenge was to pass your SUV through the unforgivable Terrain, so some of us took the alternate way to reach the exit by leaving this challenge for some other level.. Great job by team carnity for bringing everyone safe and with a smile.

Friday morning after our drive in Sweihan, we noticed a redish oil leak on the ground under my Xterra model X 2012 (driver side). Our first thought with @Gaurav and @Javier M was transmission fluid, but after checking the level, color and smell, it seemed OK. Then I noticed that the steering fluid was lower than normal. The car is running totally normal and I don't have any light signal on my dashboard. Yesterday I took it for a quick visit to a mechanic and, after confirming it was power steering related, he told me that I have to change the PS rack - which is quite expensive. I would like to ask the experts here : does a steering fluid leak really require to change the all rack ? Could it be only joints or rubbers for example ? I know it's hard to answer without seeing the car, but in theory ?

Few drives back I had a bit of nose dive and (I assume) radiator clutch fan has touched the radiator. No immediate damage or leak spotted but after 2-3 weeks, coolant started leaking under the radiator from the center. On first look, mechanic spotted that clutch fan stamp on the radiator and assume that it is the radiator leaking and we need to change the radiator. After layers of headache as it was custom made radiator, we sourced identically same radiator (3 core, copper and brass) and replace the old one and leak stopped. After one week, coolant started leaking from behind the engine. This time mechanic spotted that coolant feed and return pipe to the heater is burst and need to be changed. We changed both pipes with OEM part and leak stopped. After one week, now coolant leaking from center of the engine and on recent diagnose it seems now water pump is leaking. First two incident may or may not be the coincidence, but third failure of water pump now make me wonder what is wrong here to have these series of failure one after the other.

New custom made with same working specs as the old one.

Thanks Barry, where exactly should we stick this pressure tester? And how we can put in few more PSI than normal for testing purpose?

I understand what you are saying, but it is leaking from different components and not one hose after another hose. Radiator -> Heater Hose -> Water pump. Something is not right to fail 3 different things in a row. Even it's old, all parts are original OEM and changed regularly, then why all are failing one after the other, crazy coincidence. If this new custom radiator has some flaw (just assuming), can it burst things in cooling system....?

Its just getting old. Its like if one hose burst or belt breaks, its good practice to change all hoses or belts since all are of similar age and worn out equally.

Welcome to the group Adil, nice summary about your first drive.

Trip Report - After a fight within myself to join Sweihan champs or future prospects for champs I decided to go with the Newbies. Most of us were excited and were well ahead of time specially @Halit Mert Issever who was first on the scene. Like @Gaurav bhai mentioned being late is disrespectful to those who make it ahead of time and nobody should be late. Timings are given on every drive thread and without exception should be adhered to by all. After a delay we started with the absolute newbie brief and it was good to see people like @Xaf understand, embrace and able to convey the message to the new people joining in. We started moving right after the brief in heavy fog to the deflation point. We reached safely and started deflation. Luck being on our side the fog had lifted by the time we deflated so after a quick convoy numbering we were off. I love @Srikumar lead as it is very close to the way I handle such drives as well. He started with a few tracks to settle everybody in and later increased to difficulty level to keep everybody engaged. Plus in general the learning curve is much better once people get to a goid start. However we were not without stucks or refusals, and I love @Halit Mert Issever smile every time he was able to clear a refusal. We eventually reached our play area where all the experienced drivers took a shot at side slopping. Once the concept was clear and after a few attempts everybody enjoyed that little play time. This got us hungry and led us to a shaded area near the camel farm. As guessed by the kids the little black things might have looked like stones, but we're actually camel dung. We sat around having breakfast, a few stories, but loads of smiles and my day was already made. After pack up the fun was not over and we headed towards the top of Fossil Rocks. This space presented more challenges than usual. However as a team we were able to March on and find ways to defeat the terrain to reach the top. Upon close inspection of the top it was decided we would not go down straight but around the Fossil Rocks. But with me around no is not an option, so I found a way around with Abhay, Roshan, Xaf, Mert, Bony and Shamil all making it down straight. I had to go back up to support Sri, Adil and Atif bhai around the Fossil Rocks. We met at the base of Fossil Rocks to head out to the Adnoc pump to inflate. Everybody managed well and looking forward to many more such drives in the upcoming season. Keep rocking, until next time this is Rahimdad signing off.