Gaurav

I will def clean the bottle and coolant is less than a year old. Any clue why expansion bottle turned brown...?

Well looks like Ford following the footsteps of Raptor bringing down V8 - 6.2 to V6 with twin turbo. Hope they don't fall in Range Rover mindset of keeping RR with 3.0 and when sales dip they brought back the V8. For 64,000 Euro = 264,000 dhs this Ford Ranger raptor must be good. Running 33 inch BFG must be dead heavy for dunes with 2.0 litre having 210 hp and this big body.

They are good too, but not better than Xterra in terms of offroad capabilities and approach and departure angles.

There you go, but don't visit as mentioned by @Emmanuel it's a private property with guards. https://goo.gl/maps/rczkCsi26vhxEaCF9

I second on everything @Srikumar has mentioned and advice. If you don't have any special affinity for Jeeps or Wrangler then Xterra makes a better choice - hands down. In 25K you can get cleaner and more latest model than Wrangler. Stock Xterra is absolutely capable of all type of drives you ever wish. If you continue this hobby, simply get the bash plate on Xterra (500-1000 dhs) and you are sorted. They are an awesome climber and damn reliable for offroading in the UAE as far as you can develop an ignore mode for it's squeaking suspension - known issue (minor). For any offroad ride, make sure that it not been previously used for dune bashing as it takes a huge toll on engine, gear, suspension, bushes. Pick the 4x4 that comes with skinny road tires and visually inspect the car interior for the presence of sand under the seats, mats and small crevices. If 4x4 has been regularly used for dune bashing it's very difficult to eliminate complete traces of sand. Go for full-service history car as far as possible and with as low mileage so that you have some good usable life, remember dune bashing takes a lot of toll on the overall life of the car.

I have been using original Mitsubishi coolant in the radiator and in the expansion bottle always. To top after some time I use ENOC green coolant occasionally. Just now open the coolant expansion bottle as it was low, and noticed that green coolant has turned brown, literally rust or sand color brown. Opened the radiator cap to inspect and coolant was full with bright green color. Wondering, what can cause coolant in expansion bottle to turn brown?

Totally agree @Barry that closed shoes/boots should come automatically than making a choice. I feel the problem is the impression you get from advertisement, lifestyle magazine, social media videos showing up people sitting bare feet or with sandals in the sand. This take away applied to offroad drive without using common sense is simply astonishing. We do take off our closed shoes off while sitting down on a mat or lying flat on my recliner chair, but that doesn't mean that people should see that 15 min impression and multiply that with 6 hours drive. After a continuous warning and briefing points, I still see people showing up in sandals with some or the other excuses.

@sertac it was your lucky day that I was all ready and loaded in my car to head to Dubai lake area and able to do a quick detour to reach you within 30 minutes, faster than pizza delivery boys lololol. Imagine a scenario, if I am in office or out with my family this can easily take 4-5 hours to reach you. Thankfully you have rescued all passengers and brought them to the Bidayer shop as that's the most important thing to do, well done. Cars can stay in heat for a couple of hours but humans may not. After this quick recovery, I headed to Dubai Lake area and found that Emmanuel and Sri left from the entrance as it was guarded and appeared to be private property. Seems like Dubai Lake is primarily developed for offering a good aerial view for Skydive and hot air balloon visitors than visiting and chilling like at Qudra lake or Love Lake in Qudra Desert. At least, we have explored and marked one less thing in our to-do list that Dubai Lake is not a place or a park which is open for public visitors and we shouldn't get tempted with a picture or description posted in google maps.

Sure you can join this drive as you have previous experience of driving in sand, so you should be fine with this night drive. Only absolute newbie is not fit for this night drive.

Eid Mubarak to all of you and your loved ones

Dont know, will check it out tomorrow

I agree dude on walking with kgs of sand is no fun. To this problem I found a solution by chance to wear a boot cut Jeans that snuggly cover the shoe neck and prevent sand seeping in 90 out of 100 times. I hated the military shoes long neck as you cant drive comfortably for long with tight hold of ankle and calf area.

Emmanuel spotted this new & beautiful "Dubai Lake" near Margham on Dubai - Al Ain road, just opposite SkyDive Dubai. From this Dubai lake picture spotted in google maps, looks quite an exciting place to visit other than Qudra lake. I'm thinking of doing a quick recce trip tomorrow to explore the area and dunes in the surrounding. If anyone wishes to join, please let me know here. When: 3 June 2019 Meeting Time: 5 PM - Sharp Meeting Place: Emarat Petrol Station on Dubai - Al Ain road Coordinate: https://goo.gl/maps/zebzWZVy7cBARF2v7

It's time to visit our beautiful Al Qudra Desert just behind the Qudra lakes and all the way to the Solar park and exit. This area offers a great mix of playable dunes and small technical dunes to test your control. Depending on convoy strength and liking will plan the route on the fly. Though Ramadan fasting and suhoor time are over so will start and end little early to reduce the driver's fatigue to drive back home. When: 06 June 2019, Thursday Meeting time: 09 PM, the convoy will move at sharp 09:15 PM Where: Al Qudra parking GPS Coordinate: https://goo.gl/maps/7zhLC3Mw6iXuiJLy9 Level: Newbie, Fewbie & Above (NO ABSOLUTE NEWBIE PLEASE.) Type of Car: Any proper 4x4 with front and back tow hooks and 10 inches of ground clearance. Plan: Drive, train and enjoy till about 2 am and then break for snacks What to bring along: Snacks whatever you like with little extra to share, water, liquids, smiles, stories, enthusiasm and willingness to learn. Approximate finish time: 3:00 am Please RSVP on the below calendar:

Good find and valuable share @Shamil. Thanks a lot. For outdoor venturing in desert and mountain, every offroader should wear "Closed Shoes" or boots, best is leather or suede to be water resistant and bite resistant. Those fake military shoes I have tried once and they didn't last for 6 months and the sole came off, due to aggressive stress they receive in climbing dunes and soft sand. Best is to go with known brand shoes, and on such model and shape, you get discounts almost all year round as in UAE very fewer people demand them. I used Sketchers for 3 years and now im using Timberland from almost 2 years. I guess they both were in the range of 300-400 dhs after discount. Those fake military shoes come cheaper in the range of 100-150 dhs, but they don't last long like good brands. The second advantage with good brand shoes, your feet will be comfortable for long hours due to better padding, insole and support. I have done 16 hours of continuous climb (13 km) on feet with these timberland shoes.

Can you explain what type of squeaking sound you are getting? Nothing shows on video other than how to fix it in FJC. May be you can record a video or sound file of your car to point in right direction.

Totally agree, as I used wire winch earlier in my Patrol and knew the fraying issue and now almost after a year of use in few places my winch wire is also fraying and im using gloves to be safe. I surely "THINK" synthetic ropes are better and safer due to the fraying issue, but can't comment unless I use.

Its because wires are used since a hundred years around and synthetic rope has recently developed to withstand such load. I went with wire, as it was the one on stock option, for synthetic I need to buy additional rope and keep this wire with me too. So I said, let's break this first and next time I buy a synthetic one

Traction mat - all types - are pretty much useless in the sand. They work in less than 5% perfect scenario. 95% I see them failing. I bought them too and never used it. Tow rope work always and its best thing to have but if you are stuck in a sideways position which is very prone to flip, I will prefer winch than a tow rope, so that I can recover slowly and clear the sand pile up on the lower side of the vehicle, which causes the flip. This way after every few inches we have a chance to clear the sand wall in front of lower tires, with rope it's just one jerk and you might come out or you will flip. With patience in hand and at a certain angle you can also use tow rope and do softer tug, maybe 4-5 soft pull and clear sand after every tug to not to build up that sand wall in lower tires. A few weeks back we had that situation with @Shamil and @edouard asked me the same question. A winch is also very helpful when you are stuck in some difficult spot where tow rope recovery isn't possible due to no space, like in a sand pocket or in the soft sand area, where the tugging vehicle will also get stuck due to extremely soft sand, all around. Seen this in last Bidayer drive, with Aqeel pathfinder in a soft spot and I was digging myself in with tow rope when I tried to recover him, so used the winch. In short, you can do pretty much everything to anything without winch if you have little patience and common sense to adhere to safety issues rather than relying on ego or muscle power.

A winch is the second best recovery gear after the Shovel. It's very good to have, but it's not mandatory if you are driving with people who already have the winch. As in the whole group if you have 1 or 2 cars with winch it's very safe and optimal to venture. As in some sticky spots, a winch can save a lot of time, and in other dangerous pulls, a winch can do on slo-mo so that you can dig and clear after every few cms move to prevent the flip.

There you go, 4 months of consecutive increase in fuel price

I would say stick to Honda Civic or Hyundai Accent or Mazda 3, if fuel saving is prime in this ever increasing fuel prices economy. There is no end to upgrade from 4 -6-8 cyl. Although I totally agree with dude that 8 is better than 6 on highways for fuel consumption and drive comfort. Also sticking to boring Japanese is better and recommended as you are putting 5k kms every month for long drives and regular maintenance on German cars will be higher and also reliability of 10 years old German car would be highly questionable vs 5 year old Japanese with another 5 year of usable life in 20k budget.

Instead of drive arabia car compare, which is meaningless for him at the moment unless he decides a couple of cars. Go to car classified sites and search with 20K - 25K price filter, select sedan, coupe and hatchback option to drill down to see what all options are there in the used car market.

Hahhaha, my all three fines have weird stories and caught me one off. 1) radar was mobile one set on 80 road and short spot reduce to 60 and that's where it must have flashed. 2) lane discipline was cop car blocked lane in one way lane in deira, waited for few minutes behind him and then moved ahead from wrong side as traffic was pilling behind me. 3) interrupting traffic was a parking fine, next to my office where hundreds are parking in same fashion since last several years.