espnfreak
Explorer Addict
- Joined
- February 5, 2001
- Messages
- 3,733
- Reaction score
- 2
- City, State
- Elgin, IL
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- '99 Maxima SE-L *5spd
The suspense is over! Here are the long-awaited pics from our most recent trip up to Silver Lake dunes. The day was a bit overcast and cloudy, but there was no line,so we figured it would be a great day. The day started out pretty cool. we watched trucks try to climb the first in the series of 3 large dunes, then headed down by the lakefront to splash around. We decided to explore some other areas of the dunes and came upon a nice water hole. Several people made passes at it and were having a lot of fun...but th efun soon came to an end. I was riding in ESPNfreak's black 96 with my friend in the back. I didn;t want to bring my new truck out there since i promised my parents I would not offroad my daily driver. So anyway..we go through the sides a few times, then Jason heads for the center....before we know it a huge wall of water comes up and bathes the entire truck in it's spray. Right after that sight came another sight I wish I never saw...it was the sight of the tachometer sitting at the "0". L look over at Jason and basically just said Oh ****! Next thing we know...water start flowing into the truck. I quickly roll down the passanger side window and climb onto the roof, take off my shoes and sox and climb onto the rear bumper where i try to catch a tow strap without falling into the water. I got the strap hooked up and everything. The truck was towed out sucessfully, but the poor engine would not come to life. The truck was then towed to the parking lot where we sat thinking about what to do. First I removed the K&N filter, only to see it full of water, looked in the TB and it too was wet. Not good..... Next thing we got the spark plugs out and then the engine turned over ok. Dryed plugs and stuck then back in, only to have the engine not crank again....what could it be? Flooded exhaust..... So the muffler is disconnected, then the engine sputters to life. White smoke poured out for a while, but at least it ran!. They shut it off, reconnected the exhaust, but then it would not start. Ends up the battery didn;t like the little bath it took, so the next daya new battery was installed, the engine oil was changed and the truck was drove the 300+ mile trip home. The interior was pretty wet. AFter we were towed out, jason opened his door and water just poured out. hopefully a good detail job will make that truck better again. the water line on the driver's side was up to the gas filler cap, just to give you an idea. Now if this story isn;t proof that those 4.0L engines are tried and true, then I don;t know what is. Here are some pics (and maybe movies) for you to view and enjoy. It's unfortunate when trucks get ruined, but at least some are well-documented! (I still think it would have been cool to catch my truck flying some 40 feet down the backside of a dune totally airborne...too bad I wasn;t that lucky) Anyway here's the pics!
