Thomas Varghese

After researching on this subject I found out why Nissan engineers have designed the fan clutch like this. All Xterras are built as per US, Canada weather which is colder. Not much of an issue if you drive your SUV on tarmac. Different ball game when you take it to the hot desert. DON'T switch on your additional fans if you have any when you drive. This will make the engine run hotter as the air flow is disrupted by the additional fans. Only switch it on when you are idling. Dismantling the thermostat valve will help you cool the engine more but I will not recommend if its a daily drive. This procedure will not help the engine to reach operating temp if its a daily drive. 

@Zixuan Huang - Charlie how much did u fill the silicone? The silicone comes in 10ml in one plastic bottle. After my experience you don't need more than 5ml ie half a bottle. This way the fan roar will be less. The fan roar makes up for the slight loss in power but you will feel you are driving a race car. 

Further to this thread I wish to write up a little more about the car going into limp mode. It can be the A/F sensor aka the O2 sensor connection issues or a broken sensor too which can prompt a car to go into limp mode. In fact it is always an electrical issue related to the myriad number of sensors which puts a car into limp mode. If the car stops while running most probably the crankshaft position sensor or the camshaft position sensors are going bad. If the car misfires and coughs it maybe the knock sensor. Recently found out a very interesting phenomenon which makes the car stops while in idling and you try to park. The power steering sensor is the one which creates this. This sensor tells the ECM to increase the RPM while you are turning the steering wheel so that the engine can accommodate the additional power requirements demanded by the steering pump or the engine has no clue the pump is turning and needs to rev up, stalls and dies off. 

Congrats @Rajiv Sam

congrats @munkybizness

Congrats @Ranjan Das. It was due for your performances. 

Hi all, I am sad to leave the drive but not that sad. I had brought an engine wiring harness from US for my car and a gallary gasket which is inside the timing cover. The wiring because all my wiring connectors were breaking apart. The gallary gasket because my car VVT was getting starved of oil and it was rattling at low rpm's. Car was in garage and both got fixed. The rattling stopped and engine is super silent after fixing the gallary gasket. The wiring fit like a glove everywhere except at the A/F sensors. The wiring as it was bought from US came with US specifications, not GCC specs. The A/F sensor for GCC spec has 5 wires whereas the US model has 4 wires. After rummaging through the 2nd hand market for a A/F sensor with 4 wires I found out its the same for Armada and Infinity QX 70. Unfortunately I will get the sensor only today afternoon by 12.30 and there is not enough time to fix it and join the drive. Will see you all soon in the sands with a better performing car soon. 

@Ale Vallecchi I have to leave the drive as my car has a check engine light and I need to source an A/F sensor. 

2 hours ago, ASAD. said:

Great drive @Shaaz Sha, lots of learning on as you mentioned and thats the beauty of any sports. It was wonderful to be amongst such experienced driver especially @Looper our sweep, @Ranjan Das,@Ashok chaturvedi & @Thomas Varghese. 

@Thomas Varghese always nice to listen to you and read your report. But you didnt mention me. Just because the Prado had a relatively uneventful drive doesnt mean u ignore altogether 😂

@Tom B was a pleasure following u, u were brilliant and remained calm in a tricky situation. Its imp u reflect on what went wrong but get the event out of your system and not let it affect your driving next time. Hope to see u soon. 

@Mohamad Anwer i hope the Mrs is well now, wish her a speedy recovery.

To the rest of the gang, was great meeting you all. Hope to catch up with you next time. 

Really sorry @ASAD.. As @Looper mentioned I was looking at the convoy list too to thank everyone. Thanks for helping me out with the pop out. By the way you had such an uneventful drive. Never heard you on the radio seeking assistance. Well done buddy. 

Don't be annoyed @Tom B. You provided us with an opportunity to practice what @Gaurav taught us and pass on to new drivers the skills needed very much. Situations like this happen when you do an extreme sport like desert driving. It could have been anyone in the convoy including me in that situation. The most important thing in these situations is give up all your intuitions on what to do. 1st thing 1st is immediately shut off the engine and wait for instructions from the team lead and others in the convoy without panicking. You did great in all the 3 areas. By the grace of God we tackled the situation with ease and you and your car came down unharmed and we continued our drive. 

@Shaaz Sha is fast becoming the king of Faqa as @Hisham Masaad is eyeing Badayer 

Agree with you Mayank. The reason I opened the topic was to get feedback from all the club members and management. We call ourselves offroaders but in the true sense we are only partial offroaders. We do only in the desert sands. There is this area in Umm Al Qwain where there is a beautiful mangrove with a very challenging marshy terrain. Always wished to explore the area but as a disciplined offroader trained by wise Carnity marshals I can't do it alone. Couple of days back I had to take that route to reach RAK and  they looked so inviting to explore with all the trees beconing  come and explore us and see our secrets 

Its only a suggestion which I hope @Carnity management will consider. As summer is at its peak and driving in the desert sands after 10am is very demanding I wish Carnity management will consider hosting drives in other areas of offroading in UAE like the mountains, Umm Al Qwain mangroves at least for FB+ drivers & above. After all offroading doesn't mean strictly driving on sands. Offroading means driving where no proper paths are available. Its only a proposal for the club to consider. Most of us are proficient on sands but other areas of offroading is still left out just for the pleasure of driving on sands and I wish the club will consider this to make us all a complete offroader. 

The UNEVENTFUL DRIVE

Drive started by 5.15am as when the lead arrived all the convoy was ready to move deflated and flags up. After a very short briefing @Shaaz Sha went on to lead as usual. It was straight adrenalin drive from the start. No warm ups and immediately into serious offroading. As an experienced driver I was thinking when will be the 1st refusal and thought within 10 min of start up as Shaaz went into his overdrive mode from the time he switched on his 4X4 dial. Surprisingly the convoy was made up of drivers with nerves of steel combined with careful and responsible driving techniques. Didn't hear anyone asking help for atleast 30 min into the drive. When the need arised Shaaz decided to hand over the responsibility to @Sudhanva Sonawane the freshly promoted CF for a tug which he executed like a ballet dancer. Precise instructions to the driver of the car being pulled and a gentle tug. Kudos @Sudhanva Sonawane. I appreciate the handing over of responsibility to him. There is a point where everybody has to learn and get experience. 

The convoy moved smoothly through all the challenges Shaaz had put forth sans some minor refusals here and there. @Imteeaz the sweep rose up to the occasion and handled the recoveries like a pro. Please bear in mind he is relatively new as a sweep. But he held up the responsibility Shaaz gave him and handled situations at the back like he knows it by heart. Nobody could be left behind under his watchful eyes at the very back. Congratulations @Imteeaz. I'm impressed. This made the task of the lead at the front much easier as he didn't have to go back to recover refusals himself 99% of the time. The instructions given were crystal clear and precise. The only time Shaaz and me had to reverse was when there was the pop outs. Pop outs 🤣. We had our share of pop outs in the drive. Just 2. Considering the challenges and the track I was thinking there would be minimum half a dozen. It all started with @Shaaz Sha's front left tire protested about the punishments he had been giving them since they were installed and decided enough is enough. There was a ply separation in the tire and it became flat. But Shaaz had his spare tire intact and spared no time installing it and was gone wroom. After that came the 2 pop outs. With a hefty 3 ton jack in our convoy and some able bodied men to do all the work the pop outs were fixed in less time than a professional tire shop would do. 

The drive extended upto 10.30am to reach the exit as the title of this drive mentioned, it was an uneventful drive. Pop outs, refusals, stucks were all dealt with how a professional desert convoy would do. None of this adversities can dampen the spirits of passionate offroaders. Even the blaring sun couldn't dampen our spirits. 

Thank you @Shahid Mehmood, @george charbel, @Ignacio Quindos, @TT_Dubai @Alfred Alinazar for joining the drive and giving me an opportunity to drive with you. 

See you soon in the desert.        

Happy Birthday @M.Seidam

Thank you @Sunil Mathew & @Tom B for your kind words. I joined this drive to support my friend @Rizwanm2 on his 1st drive as a lead. I was not disappointed and neither do I feel anybody else who joined would be. It is always a pleasure meeting new friends in the drive. @Sam K who drove behind me did exceptionally well. @Jonny90 behind him did too. The surprise was @Gurcharan Mehta who I am meeting for the 1st time and his LC. Drove exceptionally well. It was a beauty to watch him climb all the dunes with ease. 

The sunrise was beautiful but more beautiful was the grin on @Rizwanm2's face from ear to ear right from the beginning of the drive till the end. Well done buddy. Wish you all the best. You will also have much fanfare as a lead in coming days. Nothing to comment on @Hisham Masaad as he is always at his best behind the wheels. I don't wish to comment on a maestro and make him look ordinary.  

This is 111th drive. Keeping my fingers crossed

2 minutes ago, Mike. said:

Noted. It’s not all for off-roading purposes and performance of course but for personal taste and preference as well.
How many more years before retirement @Thomas Varghese?

Once I think I can survive without depending on my kids for financial assistance without me working. All these years I was investing on their studies. By the grace of God all of them completed.Daughter is a manager in a hospital and married. Son is an Aerospace engineer and working in Bangalore. Youngest daughter finished her B Com recently 

Confirmed

Ok everybody. Let me put it in another perspective. When I started driving with @Carnity every time I get bogged down or couldn't match the climbing abilities of other drivers I was sad my car was not living upto my expectations. It was the same when I started to click pictures. Every picture I took I felt was not upto the mark and was always looking to spend money on better gear so that I could at least come near taking some good photos. Both cases I was wrong. It is never the gear. Gear can help but its always the man who uses the gear who unleashes the potential of the gear. I was wrong with my car. Thank God I kept it in stock condition. Once I started to understand the capabilities of the car I understood the car was never to be blamed. It was me and me alone. Over time I got to know how my car behaves when I ask him to perform certain tasks and what I have to do to make my car do it. Every gear has its limitations. Its good to upgrade once you are done with the present gear. Same with my camera gear also. I bought all the lenses I could afford to improve my photography, Do you all know which lens I use the most? The nifty fifty which is the 50mm prime lens and which is the cheapest. Sometimes the 75 - 300 if I need so much of a close up from far. All other lenses are simply resting in my camera bag. Same with car mods also. At one point of time you will realize the company settings were the best and you have sunk all your money into an endless moneypit for nothing and you will no longer recognize your car. Go through @Carnity website and propaganda. It clearly says the club teaches you to offroad in stock condition. I'm happy with that. The money I may have spend for mods I can use it for my retirement and continue offroading more in those days. 

Mike looks like the offroad bug has bitten you and will stay until you drain all of your wallet. You want to see how a really modified Xterra looks like? I have seen 2. One was my friend's X. It had all the works you can imagine of. I used to gaze at it with wide open eyes. Calmini metal bumpers front and rear with a winch in the front. Imported from USA. Both rear sides had a ladder going up to the roof. 2 petrol cans mounted on either side up the rear tires. Water can mounted at the back door with the steppini tire relocated from under the car to the rear door. For an X this itself is a very expensive mod. Hi lift jack mounted along side the mounted tire. Inside it looks like he has his whole house inside and ready to zoom in case of a nuclear war to his bunker. Man that car looks like a monster out to prey on his victims. Last year I saw his ad in FB to sell the car. Called him up and asked him why you want to sell such a beautiful car. The answer he gave opened my eyes and made me vow I will not do anything to my car. With all the weight loaded on the car it won't run more than 150km on a full tank. The 2nd car belongs to a garage owner. He partially own a club and is a Marshal. I asked him why he is not using his highly modified Xterra on his drives. The answer he gave made my vow even stronger. He said every time he takes out the car it will cost him 1000 AED to repair the broken parts. 

So please go easy on the mods until you know what you are doing exactly and there are technicians who can deliver what you have paid for. 

What shall I say mike? U had a beautiful Pajero which could have given @GauravSoni's tuned Pajero a run for his money. I seriously doubt with these investment on tires you can push the car. U can say an investment gone bad. Do u still have your original rims and tires? Put them on. This mod you can sell to other enthusiastic offroaders and lessen your loss. Lots of forums are there where people who don't know anything are experimenting with all sorts of funny contraptions and finally realise they made a fool out of themselves. 

I'm not saying these experiments are unnecessary. I'm only saying cars are serious machines and the manufacturer has put in so much R & D when they produce a car. When you try to alter a constant other variables has to be changed. I don't know any serious modifier who knows what is he doing in UAE. 

OMG some people here are too serious with offroading and go to any length to make their car look like they are going to join paris - dakkar rally the next moment. My head started to spin reading all the technical jargon. A beautiful Pajero is made to look like a dragon and now the dragon has started to show its true colors.  

@GauravSoni 
Regarding his tire rubbing the fender inner liners is not because of this 1.2inch dia difference. I suspect it has to do with the setting of the suspension hardness or softness. Most people doesn't know how to do it by themselves whereas its a simple procedure if you ask the technician who fixed the lifted suspension.