Gaurav

Done sir, nice suggestion and it will save more time for deflation and briefing. Thanks. Hope he is riding with you.....? If he is driving, please make sure that he is at intermediate level and his experience and car can support this level of drive.

Thanks buddy, will do that for sure as I myself got stuck in those nasty technical dunes few years back chasing the gazelles. Those gazelles are trained to make any 4x4 crested, after all they are running for their life.

With every carnity drive setting newbie level higher and higher, so this week demands bit more challenging and thrilling terrain of Murqquab to Lisalli. It's a combination of various set of dunes from small - med - large, where smaller takes the name of nasty technical dunes and big dunes demand good momentum to continue riding until you are through to a flat area. This time I plan to introduce ridge riding, slip face attack and side sloping. These all three are expert level skills, but we will start learning these in the intermediate terrain to give time to absorb and react. This area is very famous for Gazelle sighting so riding with your best long range camera is highly advisable. When: 17 March 2017 Meeting time: 12:30 PM Starting time: 01:00 PM (SHARP) soon after Friday prayer Where: Mosque inside the Marqquab area. GPS Coordinate: https://goo.gl/maps/n3iAGB7m2KJ2 Level of drive: Intermediate Type of drive: Although it's not a typical family drive, but feel free to bring them if they like more of drive time Plan: Lunch and Learn advance sand off-road driving What to bring along: Ready lunch (no bbq), water, liquids, smiles, stories, enthusiasm and willingness to learn Approximate finish time: 6 PM Safety advice: All vehicles should have proper tow hook in front and back Drive is open only for proper 4x4 vehicles, not for SUV's and Sedan's Vehicle should have minimum 10-12 inches of ground clearance Every vehicle should have proper shovel, tow rope, tire pressure gauge, deflator, inflator and two way radio

First and foremost I would like to THANK the real Hero behind the scene, without whose support this drive wouldn't have been possible. On Thursday evening I went to get my car speaker wiring changed at Barry's workshop and finished work at 9:30 PM. After that we have spotted little fuel smell from my Pajero engine bay, and after further investigation we found that one of the injector is leaking fuel in the engine bay. With leaking fuel my car was in no state to make it for Sweihan drive. After day long shift and after extended hour barry still decided to fix my car so that Carnity Sweihan drive can go as per schedule. He fixed the car by midnight by endless tiring effort to support this intermediate level Sweihan ho-ha drive for which everyone was so excited. I really want to thank @Barry for his continuous support and love for this car community. God bless you man and I am very sorry to hold you for so long and spoiling your weekend. Trip Report: After lot of effort in sketching the newbie track through google earth, I thought we are well prepared to venture newbies in Sweihan but I have been proven wrong miserably with so many challenges that in end we all love the altered plan and drive route. Initially drive got really delayed as all new radios need to be set, which @Rahimdad has set all 3 radios with a big smile instead of seeing my frustrated face over loosing so much time......! As soon we are about to start, someone spotted that @Mujtaba Jeep's one of BFG tire has almost lost the tread chunks and wires are sprouting out, so we got to stay back more and change that to spare wheel. To my real wild surprise spare wheel was 9 years old and now we are sitting on a bigger risk to drive or not to drive in with his Jeep. After all this we decided to venture in and see what we can go through. All the points that I have marked gone for a toss as whole area now is fenced heavily that we literally have to waste 30 minutes to get inside by constantly trying to find an open spot. We deflated by 3 PM (2 hours delay) and started the drive and almost everyone kept a good pace in this first leg without any incidents or major stuck. We break for late lunch by 4 and had a quick bite with most yummiest food brought by everyone. Thanks @waqaszohair for bringing those amazing food choices including the awesome dessert. Thanks @Saadia waqas for planning that in advance in waqas absence. Soon after lunch we started the drive and heard the thumping noise from Jeep's tire, which was already almost deflated to 0 psi. Pumped it back and thought of exiting Mujtaba jeep to track so rest of us can continue, but unanimous decision said we all stick together and slowly exit and slowly drive near the track. Leading in front with Jeep with 3 tires as a second lead, gave me enough chills to find an exit strategy asap, coz still we have to cross the medium and long range dunes to get out to the pylon track and that was the toughest task to do to find the nearest exit because all area near that track was also fenced by multiple layers. Just before the sunset we were fully stuck inside the barbed wire maze where we cross one fence to get inside the another fenced area. After wasting an hour in the maze, we decided to back track to cleaner dunes to exit from other side and thankfully this idea worked and we all exited on road by close to 7:30 PM. Waqas as his second off-road drive started with lot of fear and unexpected feeling, but he ended up the drive as a seasoned off-roader who knows how to handle Sweihan level serious terrain. He showed totally amazing learning curve in few hours, keep it up. It was fun to see @skumar83 to joining back and his response to this terrain was terrific with zero stuck. @jason200 and his jeep Grand Cherokee are becoming better and better on every off-road drive, sorry to see the seat belt pretensioner stuck after little bumpy ride, I am sure dealer will fix it in warranty and also advise you how to reset such issue in future, after all it's a Jeep - whose made for off-road more than the road. Last but not least, thanks to @Rahimdad and his trusty pathy to keep an eagle eye on all lads at sweep and made sure everyone follows the convoy discipline that really resulted all of us to exit out safely. During so much challenges, this time I haven't clicked too many pics but my share is uploaded in Carnity's Gallery: https://carnity.com/gallery/category/9-sweihan-sand-mountains-10-march-2017/ Thanks Waqas for clicking great shots you truly understand how to contribute in a community. Waiting to see more pics from everyone now. Thanks @Rahimdad bhai, for all your support, guidance and patience. We all learn a lot from your experiences.

Thanks @Pier200, we will.

Thanks treks, for putting my layman thoughts in technical language. batcha: It's Barry not berry of strawberry, but you can take any berry candy for barry. His number is 052 1742967, if switch off leave a text message or call after few hours.

Well to start clearing the code without fixing the real issue, often surface the same problem again after few days or week. More than likely I suspect same here. Have you seen the P0335 fault code in first instance by your eyes or trusted the mechanic words over the phone? If no, then stop trusting people over the phone. If yes, have you actually debug further what does this fault code actually points to and what all possible ways to fix it: in order from less expensive to most expensive. This way you will debug the right cause in most cost effective way and that's what any sane and honest mechanic should be doing it without even telling. Some time car throw the fault code coz of loosely close fuel filter cap, or loose wiring or loose sensor, so first response has to be correct all these and eliminate whatever you can do it yourself without replacing anything and clear the code and see if it re-appear. Then go with replacing stuff and so on. @Barry should be able to offer free scan of your car and also advise you what exactly needed now to fix it and then you can decide further. He is very trusted mechanic and maintaining all my cars currently especially my 18 years old Pajero. And I couldn't be more happier with my Pajero prime performance after latest barry's engine work he carried out. Sheer perfection and honest mechanic I have met after many years in Dubai.

Thanks Pier for appreciation, that tell us what majority of people here likes and dislikes. Btw, we missed you last week very much when at Shawka and Rahim even made mention of your Birthday on same day at our camping spot. Hope to see you guys soon and take care of April.

lololol, what I "want to think" is ethan saying for everyone else other than my 18 years young Pajero, who is still in her teens.

Awesome click by Sadia, she is very creative and have good eye for detail. Above all, she is very brave to shoot such selfie video with a smile.

@waqaszohair awesome video made and shared. Thank you very much for your contribution to the community and every effort made (big / small) will always be appreciated. Thanks @Saadia waqas for shooting. That's the right way to go and show your support for such initiatives. And don't worry about shaky video, it wasn't the video but the whole drive was shaky due to wadi terrain, lololol

Way to go Rahim bhai, and I salute you for being so positive about it and ready to learn. It's just that if everyone takes a back seat then soon we all will left with no memories of our good moments, so I tend to push people to preserve these good memories. I understand everyone is busy, but if everyone has spare full or half friday for leisure then they can spare 5-10 minutes in full following full week to share their pictures and video. With gallery module in place now, will be awesome to compile everyone pictures in one place and to cherish them in the future. Secondly with gallery in place new joiners can have a quick look and come to know what to expect here at carnity drives and attract like minded interest. For learning process, there is nothing much as you can upload the pictures directly from your phone even. Login and go to gallery and select the album where you like to add images and click on "add images" big button on bottom of all images and upload your pictures.

Very valid point made +1, After certain years it's your mechanic and your choice of spare part combined together declare the remaining lifespan for any car.

I am still waiting for the pictures from rest of the 5 people out of 9. Like I said before everyone has to contribute to the community and post pictures here after the drive. It doesn't matter if its mobile or SLR, it doesn't matter if its 2 or 20, please start posting pictures to share good moments. P.S. If you have not clicked any, then start taking few for your contribution from next drive. Here is the beautiful video to summarize our precious moments.

Any good "photographer" want to join for this drive as a passenger, more than welcome to ride with me please.

If you are looking for numbers like 10 years lifespan on road = 5 years if off-road, then it won't be a good idea to compare. This is what everyone here trying to make you understand that you can ruin the 10 year lifespan car in first year in offroad if you drive like a maniac, whereas you might get 8-10 year lifespan from same vehicle if you know when and how much to push with gentle heart and sane approach (-) minus EGO. I have seen people destroying their brand new cars in first year thinking it's a tank, king of offroad or indestructible off-road ride and soon after cursing that model / brand. Engines, Gearbox and Transmission are generally speaking built very very tough to serve at least 200k - 300k kms easily. How people use / abuse is entirely up to them. If you don't change engine oil, any engine will be cooked after 15-20k kms. Same for gearbox and transmission oil change as per their schedule interval it must to keep car in healthy state. As far as you are following all car manufacturer instructions for servicing each and every part on time and replacing the worn out or broken parts with OEM or equivalent quality, then car can run for years and years. I once ruined the Land Crusier differential, which was in pristine condition and I was new in off-road and I listen to someone advise but with half instruction. Totally my bad and nothing to do with Land cruiser or Toyota build quality, it was just based on driver's stupidity. I also like to mention that don't measure any car lifespan in terms of years but instead of odometer reading, as everything in car wears off with the number of kms it is driven and not only from the number of years of age. I do drive 1999 MItsubishi Pajero model with 188,000 Kms and still drive like a charm on off-road and on-road. And I am so much in love with that, that I ditch my 2012 Mustang GT for office on few days to spent more time with my Pajero.

Thanks Rahim bhai, really need and appreciate all your support ALWAYS. Route you must have done with JJ was based on my research as I was the one to find the Sweihan long dunes range through Google earth and we did that route twice in 2010 - Same as per pic above. I still have the coordinates for that and that's easy to find as they were next to road (first pic below), but maybe difficult for this newbie - fewbie level. That's why I kept that spot for end after seeing whole convoy performance in Nahel area. If you can get some Nahel area newbie track, that will be awesome as I have sketched some points through google earth (second pic below) but following some known track is always better with newbie - fewbie level and not waste time. Sweihan big rolling dunes: 100% Very big dunes Nahel Area: 25% Medium dunes + 25% Big dunes + 50% track / sabkah + couple of exit points ICE

It's due time for calling a sand dune drive with a little twist for carnity explorers. Twist is that Sweihan sand dunes are the second tallest dunes in UAE, after Liwa humongous dunes. Though we want to keep this drive open for all newbie - fewbies level so we will definitely sketch an appropriate track between those sand mountains. We will start with an easy track and small dunes near Al Haiyir and Nahil town and depending on convoy response we will end up at Sweihan tall dunes range as per my below pictures from 2010. When: 10 March 2017 Meeting time: 12:30 PM Starting time: 01:00 PM (SHARP) soon after Friday prayer Where: First ADNOC service station on E20 (Al Haiyir to Nahil) after turning right from Dubai - Al Ain (after faqa). GPS Coordinate: https://goo.gl/maps/CgheV2mSLp12 Level of drive: Newbie - Fewbie Type of drive: Although it's not a typical family drive, but feel free to bring them if they like more of drive time Plan: Lunch and Learn advance sand off-road driving What to bring along: Ready lunch (no bbq), water, liquids, smiles, stories, enthusiasm and willingness to learn Approximate finish time: 6 PM Safety advice: All vehicles should have proper tow hook in front and back Drive is only open for proper 4x4 vehicles, not for SUV's and Sedan's Vehicle should have minimum 10-12 inches of ground clearance Every vehicle should have proper shovel, deflator and tire pressure gauge Two way radio, air compressor, tow rope and shackle are advisable to carry if you have

What started with lot of oops, turned out to be an awesome wadi experience. I and @Rahimdad been to wadi after several years of break and soon after we posted this Wadi Shawka drive, I have cautioned by an old friend (Faisal) saying that it's no longer a place for family anymore as during Friday's there's lot of rush on the dam area. With this fear in mind I did the recce trip on Wednesday and scouted 3 places for plan A, B and C. Thankfully by god's grace we really got lucky with Plan B and managed to secure an awesome waterfront spot with swans and lot of shade with refreshing breeze. Overall we had 9 cars: Ford Escape, VW Touareg, Toyota Prado, Jeep Wrangler, 2 x Nissan Pathfinders and 3 x Mitsubishi Pajero's. We started soon after the Friday prayer and went straight to the Shawka Dam through little off-road patch starting from Canyon parking connecting to the Dam area. As soon as we reached there Faisal's prophecy came true as there were no shaded area left for us, as there were already too many people and cars around. Tried to find a sweet spot under the dam area, but failed. Although everyone was hungry by now, but they chose the hunt for shaded spot over the food. We decided to trail back to canyon parking to detour towards the area behind the dam. This drive gave everyone enough food for their eyes that they actually forgot how hungry they are. After a little exploring we found the sweetest spot in Wadi Showka, right in front of Dam water with swans and covered with shade right under the big mountain shadow. We unpacked the cars and laid down the lunch setup. By the time @waqaszohair started his amazing chicken bbq, other folks open the snack counter for sandwiches and other side items. Kids started exploring the mountain climb and then feeding the swans in dam water. For starting our very late lunch we all sat down under the mountain shadow and enjoyed the multi cuisine lunch with so many different flavors. Thanks everyone for bringing such an amazing choices of food in good quantity, which always force to over-eat. Soon after the lunch and photo session was over, we did a quick poll of who wants to further drive in river bed or stay there and play games. All hands up, majority wins the river bed drive and we all started packing up our cars to rush before it gets dark. After little exploring we actually found small to medium size of water pools to splash and everyone was so happy and excited after the water wading experience by dodging the big wadi boulders. Although sun was getting down and we got to reach almost dead-end in the Shawka bed, so we decided to turn back and end this beautiful drive. All cars drove very well and followed the safety brief and instructions during the water crossing, and all cars came out with zero causalities and happy faces. It was an awesome wadi drive mixed with couple of different off-road flavor, but the mix was quite enough to excite everyone and enjoy their much-earned Friday with great company. All the pictures are uploaded in new Carnity Gallery section for better retention and quick access in the future. My Images: Wadi Shawka - 3 march 2017 P.S. Request everyone to please upload their images there and including any of their previous drives.