A Lesson in Fuel Management !
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We are all aware of the basics in off road preparation. Starting with a full tank of full is always wise as its one less thing to worry about when an off road trip doesn't go according to the original plan. Besides the obvious advantages of having fuel in your tank I discovered the hard way yesterday afternoon of venturing into the dunes with my fuel gauge close to empty.
While there was sufficient fuel in my 4x4 for my short trip to Qudra desert taking the dog out for a late afternoon walk I discovered a little more than "sufficient" always helps. My tank was just under quarter full and I was about to exit the desert. I crested a medium sized dune to find a large bush at its base. I stopped just over the crest with my car at about 20 degrees tilt. The sand was soft but I could just about manoeuvre down short of the bush using gravity, low ratio and a lot of steering input. All was going well for a minute or two until the engine spluttered to a halt!
Although I had enough fuel to return home now that my Patrol had banked over about 25 degrees the remaining fuel collected at the corner of the fuel tank and effectively I was out of fuel! A passing off roader luckily came by to assist. The next lesson was how much more difficult a recovery is when you don't have any power. A dead Patrol is a heavy Patrol! After about 15 minutes my Nissan was off the crest and level. And as expected it started up again.
If I was more remote than Qudra this would have been a long night! I would have had to dig the car level! Lesson learned. Just wanted to share my story and hope it helps others !
While there was sufficient fuel in my 4x4 for my short trip to Qudra desert taking the dog out for a late afternoon walk I discovered a little more than "sufficient" always helps. My tank was just under quarter full and I was about to exit the desert. I crested a medium sized dune to find a large bush at its base. I stopped just over the crest with my car at about 20 degrees tilt. The sand was soft but I could just about manoeuvre down short of the bush using gravity, low ratio and a lot of steering input. All was going well for a minute or two until the engine spluttered to a halt!
Although I had enough fuel to return home now that my Patrol had banked over about 25 degrees the remaining fuel collected at the corner of the fuel tank and effectively I was out of fuel! A passing off roader luckily came by to assist. The next lesson was how much more difficult a recovery is when you don't have any power. A dead Patrol is a heavy Patrol! After about 15 minutes my Nissan was off the crest and level. And as expected it started up again.
If I was more remote than Qudra this would have been a long night! I would have had to dig the car level! Lesson learned. Just wanted to share my story and hope it helps others !
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- Joined: Fri Sep 06, 2013 3:54 pm
No sub tank [MENTION=10405]Adam[/MENTION]. Actually very little on my GL model. I do have a clock but that's about it!! And thanks for the kind suggestion of calling you for help next time I run low on fuel [MENTION=8687]Mohammad[/MENTION]. The reason I would be waiting till the next day for recovery is because you'll spend the whole night laughing at me!!